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Behavior & Enrichment Walk Guide

A quick reference for Canine Behavior & Enrichment Specialists, with ideas you can use on any membership walk.

What we provide: R+ walks.Every membership walk is a positive reinforcement (R+) walk. We use force-free, low-stress, Fear Free-focused methods. We reinforce the behavior we want to see more of, respect each dog's emotional state, and never use corrections, force, or intimidation.

How to describe it:Call them "R+ walks using positive reinforcement and Fear Free-focused methods." Our trainer is Fear Free Certified, but our walks, team, and company are not, so please don't describe any of them that way.

Four Questions for Every Membership Walk

Before the visit ends, ask yourself:

  1. What was this dog communicating today?Look at their body language and emotional state.
  2. Did they get time to decompress or think?Sniffing, exploring, watching, playing, problem-solving, or slowing down.
  3. What did I positively reinforce?A behavior, choice, skill, check-in, calm response, or other success.
  4. What did I learn or notice?A win, preference, pattern, or challenge the Care Team can build on next time.

Choose What This Dog Needs Today

You don't need to do everything below on every walk. Pick what fits the dog's mood, energy, surroundings, and Walk Plan that day.

Decompress & Regulate

  • Sniffing & Exploration Give the dog time to investigate smells, surfaces, and spaces.
  • Observation Let the dog watch their surroundings calmly without asking them to interact.
  • Slower Pace / Decompression Slow down, ease the pressure, or spend more time in familiar areas.
  • Recovery & Regulation After excitement, fear, frustration, or overstimulation, help the dog settle before you move on.

Engage & Enrich

  • Enrichment Games Find It, treat scatter, hidden treats, tug, flirt pole, or environmental enrichment
  • Choice & Agency Let the dog make safe choices about route, pace, sniffing, and whether to approach, continue, or create distance
  • Movement & Exploration Use the route for variety, movement, and new things to investigate at a comfortable level.

Build Skills & Confidence

  • Loose-Leash Skills Reinforce the moments when the leash is loose.
  • Engagement & Check-Ins Reinforce the dog when they look back at you or choose to reconnect on their own.
  • Confidence Building Set the dog up for success with new places, surfaces, objects, and situations.
  • Skill Practice Touch, waits, pattern games, position changes, door manners, settling, or another skill from the dog's Walk Plan.

Support Behavior Positively

  • Positive Reinforcement Reward what you want to see more of with whatever matters to that dog: treats, praise, play, sniffing, movement, access to the environment, or distance.
  • Triggers & Environmental Challenges Use distance, a change of direction, visual barriers, treat scatters, pattern games, counterconditioning, or another R+ strategy.
  • Calm Choices Reinforce watching calmly, disengaging, choosing distance, keeping four paws on the ground, waiting, or moving past a distraction.

Never force interaction or push a dog past what they can comfortably handle.

Before You Leave

Quick check:

  • I observed the dog’s emotional state
  • I provided enrichment or decompression
  • I positively reinforced at least one thing
  • I have one useful observation or win to share

Journal

You don't need to describe everything you did.

Choose one or two highlights that show the family what their dog experienced, practiced, enjoyed, or accomplished, and include photos.

For example:

"Max was especially interested in sniffing today, so we slowed down and gave him extra time to explore. He also checked in with us several times around distractions, which we reinforced with treats and more time to sniff."

Your Toolbox at a Glance

Decompression
Sniffing, exploring, watching, rolling in grass, slowing down
Enrichment
Find It, treat scatter, hidden treats, tug, flirt pole, environmental exploration
Confidence
New surfaces, watching from a safe distance, making choices, calmly checking out something new
Reinforcement
Food, praise, play, movement, sniffing, environmental access, distance
Trigger support
More distance, crossing the street, U-turns, visual barriers, pattern games, treat scatters, counterconditioning
Skills
Loose leash, check-ins, touch, waits, settling, door manners, disengagement

Internal team resource: please don’t share this link outside the Care Team.