Enrichment Lab: a 7-day plan from what you already have
Tell us your pet, your time and your space, tick what you have at home, and get a week of activities — each with steps, what to watch for and a safety note from AKC, ASPCA, Cornell, International Cat Care and rabbit welfare groups. No shopping needed.
1. Your pet
2. Time and space
3. What you have at home
Already own any of these?
Your 7-day dog enrichment plan
15 minutes or less · Small apartment
Only 2 activities fit those answers, so some days repeat. Ticking a few more household items, or a longer session, opens up more.
Mealtime training session
Turn part of your dog's normal meal into a short training game: each piece of kibble is paid for with a sit, a down or a look.
Calm massage
Slow, gentle strokes from head to tail: a quiet way to bond with your dog at the end of the day.
Mealtime training session
Turn part of your dog's normal meal into a short training game: each piece of kibble is paid for with a sit, a down or a look.
Calm massage
Slow, gentle strokes from head to tail: a quiet way to bond with your dog at the end of the day.
Mealtime training session
Turn part of your dog's normal meal into a short training game: each piece of kibble is paid for with a sit, a down or a look.
Calm massage
Slow, gentle strokes from head to tail: a quiet way to bond with your dog at the end of the day.
Mealtime training session
Turn part of your dog's normal meal into a short training game: each piece of kibble is paid for with a sit, a down or a look.
Every activity is checked against its sources before it is published. Open each one for the steps, the safety note and what to watch for. If your pet has a health condition, ask your vet which activities suit them.
Want more variety? One item opens up more
- Lick mat — adds 1 activity. Not needed for this plan.
- Snuffle mat — adds 1 activity. Not needed for this plan.
Browse by need
All 37 activities
🐶 Dogs
Calm massage
Slow, gentle strokes from head to tail: a quiet way to bond with your dog at the end of the day.
Cavaletti poles at home
Low poles on the floor for your dog to step over: careful, controlled movement for a day indoors.
Delivery box search
A few empty delivery boxes spread around a room, some with treats inside. Your dog searches them all by scent.
Digging pit with buried toys
A kiddie pool or sandbox of clean sand where digging is allowed, with toys buried for your dog to find.
Find the toy
Hide your dog's favorite toy and send them to sniff it out: a scent game that needs no food at all.
Flirt pole chase
A lure on a rope at the end of a pole that your dog chases along the ground: lots of exercise in a few minutes.
Frozen stuffed toy
A rubber toy stuffed with part of your dog's meal and frozen. It takes much longer to empty and keeps your dog busy and calm.
Hide and seek with you
Your dog waits in one room while you hide, then finds you when you call. No food or equipment needed.
Kibble scatter in the grass
Part of your dog's meal tossed across the lawn, so dinner becomes a sniffing hunt.
Lick mat calm-down
Soft food spread thinly over a lick mat. Slow, steady licking helps many dogs settle, for example during fireworks or storms.
Living-room obstacle course
A mini agility course from things you already have: chairs to weave round, a box to go through, books to step over.
Mealtime training session
Turn part of your dog's normal meal into a short training game: each piece of kibble is paid for with a sit, a down or a look.
Muffin tin shell game
Treats hidden in a muffin tin under tennis balls. Your dog has to move the balls and use their nose to find the right cups.
Nose touch training
Teach your dog to bump your palm with their nose: a quick brain game that is the first step to many tricks.
Sniff walk
A slow walk where your dog chooses the direction and the pace and gets to sniff as long as they like. Twenty to thirty minutes can tire a dog as much as a longer, faster walk.
Snuffle mat meal
Dry kibble scattered into a snuffle mat, so your dog sniffs out every piece. Good for fast eaters and rainy days.
Teach your dog toy names
Teach your dog to bring a toy by its name, then pick it out of a pile: a brain game you can reward with play instead of food.
Three-cup shell game
A treat under one of several cups. Your dog learns to point out the right cup with nose or paw, then you start shuffling them.
Toilet tube treat dispenser
An empty toilet-roll tube with kibble inside and the ends folded shut. Your dog has to tear it open to get the food.
Towel knot treat puzzle
A tea towel rolled around a few treats and tied in a loose knot: a free, five-minute snuffle mat.
Toy in a towel
Your dog's toy wrapped in a towel or blanket, so they have to sniff it out and use their nose and paws to unwrap it.
Tug with rules
Short rounds of tug that end on a "drop it", so your dog gets a burst of play and a lesson in self-control at the same time.
🐱 Cats
Box and paper-bag hideout
A cardboard box and a paper bag on the floor: somewhere to hide, ambush from and explore, for free.
Cardboard reach feeder
A shoebox lid with toilet-roll tubes standing in it, kibble dropped into the tubes. Your cat fishes the food out with a paw.
Cat target training
Teach your cat to touch a chopstick with their nose. It is fun mental exercise and later helps with the carrier or the scale.
Kibble treasure hunt
Small portions of your cat's dry food hidden around the home, so a meal becomes a hunt.
Starting a cat on a puzzle feeder
Move part of your cat's dry food into a food puzzle, so they work for it as they would when hunting.
Toilet-roll slow feeder
A toilet-roll tube with holes cut along its side and kibble inside. Your cat bats it around and food drops out.
Toy rotation box
Keep most toys in a box and put out only a few at a time. Swapping them every few days makes old toys feel new.
Wand toy hunt
A short play session where a wand toy moves like prey, so your cat can stalk, chase, pounce and catch.
Window "bird TV"
A comfortable perch by a window, and if you can a bird feeder outside it, so your cat can watch the world go by.
🐰 Rabbits
Cardboard box fort
A cardboard box with bunny-sized doorways: a hideout, a lookout and a chew toy in one.
Fleece digging blanket
An old fleece blanket on the floor for your rabbit to push, bunch up and dig into.
Hay-stuffed cardboard tube
A paper-towel tube packed with hay, with a few leafy greens or pellets tucked inside, for your rabbit to pull apart and forage from.
Hidden greens hunt
Your rabbit's leafy greens hidden in different spots around the run, so they have to find them.
Rabbit digging box
A cardboard box filled with shredded paper and hay for your rabbit to dig in, with a few greens buried inside.
Scatter-feed in the hay
Instead of a bowl, the small daily pellet portion is sprinkled through the hay, so your rabbit has to search for it.
Want to know which activities suit a particular dog breed? See the breed pages — each scored breed has an enrichment page built from the AKC's energy and mental-stimulation scores.