How to use a Snuffle Mat

 Snuffle mats can be commercially bought, or made using a base with holes in it and strands of non fraying fabric.

They are great a way of enriching your dog's life, and i have even known rabbit and cat owners use them!

So what do they do?
They serve several purposes ...

• help slow feeding down  - they can be used instead of slow feeding bowls;
• relieve boredom - its a bit of fun to break up the day;
• provide mental stimulation - dogs need to have their brains exercised;
• allow sniffy time - if you give your dog opportunities to sniff during their day, it can reduce their need to persistently sniff when out and about;
• helps build confidence - confident dogs make good choices;
• reduce arousal and create calmness - by engaging in a natural behaviour can take the focus away from an arousing event, for example using in training classes to help maintani calmness and focus, to help reduce arousal after a stressful experience.

 So how do you use a snuffle mat?
Its not a matter of just throwing a few treats in the mat and letting your dog get on with it, some dogs need to build confidence and experience around the activity in order to keep frustration levels at a minimum - we are trying to build confidence and calmness, not add in frustration.

So these are the steps I follow when introducing a snuffle mat to my pups ...
1. Get your snuffle mat and just let your dog have a sniff/look at it so s/he knows its not a scary thing.

 2. Introduce the treats - I use really tasty, smelly ones to start with and just place them in a heap on the top.  No burying - this gives your dog the opportunity to find that the mat is rewarding and begin to get used to any tickling from the strands.
Once you have done this a few times and your dog is confidently pushing its nose into the pile of treats you can move on.

 

3. Still not burying those treats - just spread them out over the top of the mat, so now your dog has to move across the mat to smell those treats out.  We are keeping frustration low and building confidence as the activity is still quite easy, especially if your dog has a penchant for sniffing!

Again repeat this stage several times, don't be tempted to rush, focus on your dog succeeding and keeping frustration levels low.

 4. So now we can start burying those treats, as your dog has had plenty of positive, rewarding experiences of finding treats on the mat.  Again, don't make it too challenging to start with, we want success and confidence not frustration.

So know you have a confident snuffler, building up success and developing calmness ... what next/
Well this is where the fun starts, and time to get creative with the snuffling experience.
These are some of the activities I do ..

• hide tasty treats and scatter kibble on the top - does your dog start hunting for the tasty bits first?
• only hide a couple of treats - how fast can s/he find them?
• Create patterns and trails
• wrap treats up within fabric and hide them inside the strand  

The list is endless - if you have any ideas you have done, please feel free to share them in the comments box.

 Hunting out the piece of cheese.

Its got to be in here somewhere - mum showed it me before she hid it.