Beating the Winter Blues

Written by: Valerie Ferguson Customer Service Lead at ZimmVet

We all tend to go a little stir crazy when the weather is so cold that you can’t walk outside without your nose freezing, dogs are no exception. Long, cold winter days with minimal activity can cause your dog to be bored and may become destructive causing damage to your home or injury to themselves. Mental exercise has been proven to minimize behavioral issues. The goal of mental exercise is to engage your pet and exercise their brain. According to www.wagspgh.com – studies show that 15 minutes of mental exercise is equivalent to 60 minutes of physical exercise.

Some ideas for mental exercise include:

Puzzle toys

Setting up an obstacle course for your dog

Hide-and-seek – searching for treats

Stuffing a Kong with tasty treats (frozen)

Playing tug

Indoor fetch with a soft ball

Shown above are a couple of photos of my dogs, Dakota and tucker, working for their dinner with a couple of their favorite puzzle toys.