In our last blog post I listed all the dog products on Amazon that I recommend, which included a Snuffle Mat. After that post I received so many questions about what a snuffle mat was. So I decided to do a whole article dedicated to the wonders of this amazing tool.
A snuffle mat is a tool to feed your dog that activates their sense of smell, encourages their natural foraging instincts and stimulates their mind. It is essentially just a rubber mat with strips of material, but the benefits are huge for your dog.
Your dog’s sense of smell is one of their greatest super powers! And as dog owners we often times don’t encourage them to use their sense of smell enough. A snuffle mat is one way we can help do that. This means your dog will have to work to get their food. They have to use their nose to find every last bit of kibble. Nosework in dogs has been shown to improve a dog’s self-reliance and increase their positive judgment. (Science Direct)
Dogs have a natural drive to hunt or forge for their food. In making your dog work for their food through either training or enrichment tools like a snuffle mat, helps your dog feel as though they have earned their meal. Pairing a snuffle mat with training cues is a great way to engage their forging behavior and also helps teach your dog impulse control as well.
To introduce your dog to their new snuffle mat first sprinkle some treats on the top of the mat so your dog will get use to this new toy. Once they have successfully eaten all their treats from the top of the mat, place a higher value treat like cheese or chicken onto the mat and ruffle the mat to ensure the treats are deeper down. Then once your dog has gotten use to this new tool you can start to place their kibble onto the mat for each meal.
Let me know if you or anyone you know currently use a snuffle mat and what your thoughts are on how it effects your dogs behavior? I hope you found this article informative and helpful.