Enrichment Is Not Automatically Beneficial for Shelter Dogs

Enrichment is widely recommended for dogs living in shelters. Food puzzles, toys, training, play, social interaction, and opportunities to explore can make shelter life more stimulating and support behavioural health.

However, enrichment is not automatically beneficial simply because it is provided.

The activity must match the individual dog.

Some dogs become calmer after an engaging activity. Others become more excited, frustrated, vocal, or difficult to settle. This is particularly important in shelters, where dogs may already be affected by noise, confinement, unfamiliar people, disrupted sleep, limited control, and constant exposure to other dogs.

A recent randomized controlled trial examined whether different interventions could reduce excessive arousal in shelter dogs. The study included 50 dogs receiving routine shelter care. The dogs were assigned to groups receiving routine care, calm enrichment, active enrichment, medication, or a combination of medication and enrichment.

The combined intervention produced the clearest improvement. Dogs receiving both medication and enrichment showed reductions in behaviours associated with excessive arousal, including jumping, vocalization, panting, and lip licking.

The findings do not mean that every shelter dog requires medication. They also do not mean that enrichment is ineffective. The study demonstrates that behavioural support may need to be individualized and, for some dogs, may require more than one intervention.

What is excessive arousal?

Arousal refers to a dog’s level of emotional and physiological activation. Arousal is not always negative. A dog may become more alert when it notices something interesting, more enthusiastic during play, or more prepared to respond to a cue.

Problems arise when the dog becomes excessively activated and cannot easily return to a calmer state.

A dog with excessive arousal may jump repeatedly, bark, whine, pace, pant, pull, mouth, lunge, or struggle to disengage from people, dogs, toys, food, or environmental activity. Some dogs may also show lip licking, scanning, rapid movements, or difficulty resting.

These clinical signs do not identify one specific emotional state. They may reflect excitement, frustration, fear, anxiety, conflict, discomfort, or a combination of factors.

The context matters.

Why can enrichment increase arousal?

Many activities are stimulating. Chasing a toy, searching for food, interacting with people, playing with other dogs, learning new behaviours, or exploring an unfamiliar area can all increase activation.

That increase may be appropriate if the dog can engage and then settle. It may be unhelpful if the activity leaves the dog more agitated or unable to rest.

For example, an active play session may be enjoyable for one dog but frustrating for another. A food puzzle may encourage focused problem-solving in one dog but produce frantic manipulation or vocalization in another. Social interaction may reward a socially confident dog but overwhelm a fearful dog.

The same enrichment activity can therefore affect different dogs in different ways.

The important question is not simply, “Did the dog participate?”

It is also, “What happened afterwards?”

Watch the recovery period

A dog’s recovery after an activity can provide useful information.

Following enrichment, a dog may:

• settle and rest;

• eat normally;

• move comfortably through the kennel or room;

• respond to familiar cues;

• show relaxed body language; and

• can disengage from the activity.

A dog may need a different plan if it:

• continues pacing or vocalizing;

• repeatedly jumps or grabs;

• cannot disengage from the toy, food, person, or neighbouring dog;

• pants heavily despite minimal physical exertion;

• becomes increasingly frantic;

• redirects behaviour towards people or other dogs; or

• cannot settle during the expected recovery period.

These observations do not prove that the activity caused the problem. Medical conditions, pain, fear, frustration, sleep deprivation, environmental stress, and previous learning may also contribute.

They do show that the intervention should be reassessed.

Calm enrichment and active enrichment are not interchangeable

Enrichment is sometimes treated as one broad category, but different activities place different demands on a dog.

Calm enrichment may include quiet scent investigation, chewing an appropriate item, licking food from a suitable device, resting in a predictable area, or engaging in low-pressure training.

Active enrichment may include vigorous play, rapid food acquisition, chasing, high-energy interaction, or activities involving repeated movement and competition.

Neither category is automatically superior.

An under-stimulated dog may benefit from more activity. A dog that is already highly activated may first need support with predictability, rest, environmental control, and gradual exposure to triggers.

Shelter staff must also consider timing. An active session immediately before a stressful transition, kennel change, veterinary procedure, or exposure to barking dogs may not produce the desired result.

Why medication may sometimes be part of the plan

The study’s results also highlight an important clinical point. Some dogs may be too fearful, anxious, frustrated, or activated to benefit fully from behavioural interventions without additional support.

Medication may reduce the intensity of emotional responses and help a dog participate more effectively in enrichment, training, rest, and social interaction. It should not replace environmental management or humane behaviour modification.

Before considering medication, the dog needs an appropriate assessment. The veterinarian should consider medical history, pain, sleep, appetite, gastrointestinal or neurological concerns, current medications, environmental triggers, and the specific clinical signs being observed.

The goal is not to suppress normal behaviour.

The goal is to improve the dog’s ability to cope, learn, rest, and recover.

What can owners learn from shelter research?

Although this study involved shelter dogs, the findings also apply to dogs living in homes.

Owners often assume that more exercise, more play, more social contact, or more activities must be better. That is not always true.

An enrichment plan should be based on the dog’s response. The activity should be safe, achievable, and appropriate for the dog’s age, health, behavioural history, and current emotional state.

A useful plan includes opportunities for activity and opportunities for recovery. It should also allow the dog to make choices where possible and should avoid forcing participation.

If a dog becomes more agitated after an activity, repeating the same activity more intensely may not solve the problem. The activity may need to be modified, shortened, moved to a quieter setting, or replaced with something less activating.

In some cases, the dog may require a broader behavioural and veterinary assessment.

The practical message

Enrichment is not a competition to provide the most activities.

The goal is to provide experiences that support the dog’s welfare, learning, emotional regulation, and ability to rest.

A successful activity is not necessarily the one that produces the most excitement. It may be the one that helps the dog remain engaged without becoming overwhelmed, followed by an appropriate return to calm behaviour.

The best enrichment plan is individual, flexible, and based on observation.

More stimulation is not always better.

Better-matched stimulation is better.

Reference:

Cisneros et al. (2026). Combined enrichment and pharmaceutical intervention reduces excessive arousal in shelter dogs in a randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2026.1931203