A New Look At Enrichment and Building Sustainable Enrichment Programs

In the pet and sheltering communities, people typically think of enrichment as play and exercise. However, by going back to where enrichment started and looking at its original purpose, we can re-evaluate our definition of enrichment and how that impacts us on a practical level when implementing enrichment programs in shelters. Enrichment is defined as meeting all of an animal's needs in order to empower them to perform species-typical behaviors in healthy and appropriate ways. When viewing enrichment through that lens, we can design enrichment programs that are both easier to implement and more effective.