Brain Training for Pets: DhohOo Explains How To Keep Your Fido Mentally Fit

 French brand DhohOo are the makers of high quality food and snacks for dogs and cats that are formulated to nourishing your pet’s body as well as its mind. And as our pets live longer and longer thanks to advancements in animal nutrition and veterinary science, the new frontier of pet care is focused on keeping their brains active and healthy as they reach advanced age.

 

Life expectancy for cats and dogs has doubled in the last 40 years, with two years being added just in the last decade. And with new dietary research and advancements in medical science being applied to veterinary purposes, we can expect lifespans to extend further still.

 

Cat and canine cognition is the main factor involved in maintaining a healthy mind for a pet. As mentioned before, exercises and dietary supplements will keep their minds sharp as they live longer lives thanks to the care of their owners, however according to the pet food experts at DhohOo, there’s more to it than that.

 

Foods and exercises that are good for your dog or cat’s brain will allow you both to communicate more effectively and most importantly, keep their unique personality intact for as long as possible as they get older. DhohOo’s team of health and nutrition specialists have shared some of the activities that will train and improve your pet’s brain, which include:

 

Learn a new trick. They say that old dogs can’t learn them but that’s just not true. The act of training is a great brain exercise for a pet as they get older as well as during younger years. Bottom line, the mind is a use-it-or-lose-it tool: pass or fail, the act of training is a brain boost.

 

One very beneficial new trick to teach your dog is simple enough: eye contact. Start by holding a treat up to your forehead and getting them to look at your face. Over time, turn it into a hand signal that draws your dog’s attention to your face and eyes. Doing so will go a long way to keeping your dog’s focus during times of distraction, as well as increase the connection between you.

 

Shake up the routine. Doing something out of the ordinary is a perfect way to evoke new ways of thinking and opening up new neural pathways for people, and for dogs it is no different. Try doing this by changing the route you take for your daily walks.

 

Dogs look forward to these walks because it’s a break from the norm: a time when they can see, feel and smell new things. Challenge your dog’s assumptions and expose them to new sensory inputs by taking a left where you’d normally take a right, or go to a dog park a little farther away that you don’t visit as often.

 

DIY dog puzzle. A puzzle made especially for your dog is sure to engage their mind, and here’s a simple one you can try using household items: in plastic Tupperware bowls of varying sizes. Place one of your dog’s favorite treats. Then, with treats at the bottoms of each bowls, stack them inside of each other, starting with the smallest on the bottom and getting bigger every level you go up.

 

After letting your dog get the treat from the top bowl, observe them as they figure out how to get the treat out of every bowl beneath. Perhaps they will simply knock over the tower to get to the treats, or maybe they will pick up and remove each bowl in turn. Either way, it’s an exercise in problem solving.

 

Focus on their food. Yes, there are dietary tricks that will also help you keep your dog’s mind in tiptop shape. The secret is a polyunsaturated type of fat – in particular, omega-3 fatty acids – that help maintain the integrity of the brain’s cell membranes, which are rich in fat.

 

In comparative studies of human infants as well as puppies, babies and puppies fed a diet supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids displayed greater problem-solving abilities over those not fed those same supplements. It’s literally food for thought, and more and more dog food companies are getting on this trend pioneered by DhohOo.