We all have some paper lying around somewhere – and it’s one of my favourites when it comes to enrichment. Giving your animals the opportunity to explore different textures, sounds and materials is great enrichment on its own!
If your dog is sensitive to sound or a different texture under their paws, then I would recommend the first step is simply to place treats on a piece of paper.
Easy: Treats in a scrunched up piece of paper.
Medium: Treats in a folded packet of paper. You can get fancy if you want to, but I simply fold it into a square packet.
Buckle up friends, this next one is Origami…
Difficult: origami ball
Take a normal printer paper (8.5 x 11″).
Fold it long edge to long edge, making a triangle to get a perfectly square piece of paper. If you happen to already have a square piece of paper, skip to next step.
Cut off the excess little rectangle that does not complete your triangle.
Take your triangle and fold it in half to make an X so you can find the very centre of your paper.
Fold it in half too so you get to see these pretty lines…
Now, I know this looks like voodoo, but you take the horizontal line (the one that DID NOT go from corner to corner) and fold it so it pinches together in the middle.
Fold the corners of the triangle to the top corner.
Flip and repeat on other side. 
Now, with the open corners facing away from you, fold the side corners to the middle line. Try your best to be precise.
Flip over and repeat.
Now, take those loose, open corners at the top and fold them into the pockets you just made. Repeat on the other side.
Put your mouth to the hole and puff out some air so you can blow up the origami balloon.
I used some scissors to cut the hole a little wider so treats could fall out. This was definitely a ‘more difficult for you’ than a ‘difficult for your dog’. But also makes a cute instagram pic.
Never did I think when my grandmother taught me to fold this little ball did I think that I would be using it for a dog enrichment toy.
Note: make sure you get your cute pics before, because you never know how your dog is going to use it….
