2. BACKGROUND
What is enrichment?
Enrichment is a term used to describe
various activities that animal keepers
utilize to encourage natural behavior
from the animals under their care.
Why do Enrichment?
To increase the animals' physical and
mental activity levels, and stimulate natural behaviors
resulting in a healthier, "happier" animal.
-Utah’s Hogle Zoo
3. QUESTION
What kind of enrichment toy will provide the most
physical and mental stimulation for my puppy, Ali?
4. HYPOTHESIS
I think that the shoelace alone will get the best
response because one of Ali’s favorite things is
biting my shoelaces.
5. DESIGN
I designed three different enrichment toys.
The basic design is a shoelace tied to a stick.
In the second design a sock with a jingle bell in it is tied
to the end of the shoelace.
In the third design there is food in the sock instead of a
bell.
Record pouncing, biting, and tossing actions for 1 min
6. RESULTS
Toy Pouncing Biting Tossing Total
Shoelace 6 6 3 15
Toy
Bell Variation 6 11 4 21
Food 10 8 8 26
Variation
* It is interesting that Ali did more biting on the bell toy than on
the food. I would have expected her to bite at the food more. I
think that she knew that she couldn’t eat the food until she got to
it and so she spent more time trying to get to the food.
7. CONCLUSION
I was surprised that my
hypothesis was not correct. Ali
played with all of the enrichment
toys, but the one that received
the most activity was the toy with
the food and not the shoelace
alone as I had expected.
I think that the smell of the food
encouraged her to keep playing
with it because she was hoping to
get to the food.
8. APPLICATION
It is important for animal
caretakers to learn the best
ways to care for their animals.
Using enrichment toys is a good
way to help animals be more
active and stay healthier.
By studying an animal’s natural
activities caretakers can design
enrichment toys for their
animals.
