Lickimats & Your Dog's Cognitive Development

Licking is a natural instinct dogs have, there’s no need to teach a dog to lick, in fact, they investigate things first with their nose and mouth usually. First, their keen sense of smell will help them identify what interests them, but it doesn’t often stop there. If you have recently brought a puppy home, you can probably attest to them exploring mouth first. That’s exactly why your trouser legs and fingers are usually quite quick to end up in their mouth. Licking is a way of identifying something and if it’s tasty with their developed and complicated pallet.  

When dogs lick, it also soothes them. Licking causes the brain to release oxytocin along with endorphins and dopamine. It’s an activity they often use to self soothe, and dog lick mats are a great tool that pup parents can use to encourage it. Beyond just fulfilling their instinct to lick, they also introduce an element of problem solving and foraging for food that comes in handy, especially if you have a growing and developing puppy.  

Cognitive skills are vital in development as your puppy grows. It’s how your puppy will learn to understand and navigate the world around them. Providing enrichment that can help with key development points will have your pooch ready to face anything. Lick mats for dogs can help to teach your puppy new skills and research has shown that enrichment can even slow the aging brains of older dogs and reduce their cognitive decline. It’s not about giving them a few fun things to do as a puppy, teaching them the skill and doing away with enrichment. Food enrichment should be incorporated into their lives long term. 

Food enrichment activities help in so many different areas of their life. A lickimat can improve their ability to focus on something for longer periods. It also teaches them frustration tolerance and working through issues to get to a rewarding end. If you regularly give your puppy enrichment, when it comes time to do some training together, you may notice they have more patience and are willing to try different things. Their spatial awareness will also improve as they learn to navigate different puzzles.  

A basic lickimat like the Licki Mat Playdate Orange is a great way for dogs to practice simple motor skills and tongue control. Unlike feeding from a bowl, it requires greater concentration and will have them focus on a task for a longer period. This will help your pooch learn that sticking with a task for a longer period of time will continue to provide a rewarding experience.  

Once they are comfortable with a standard flat mat, introducing alternative patterns so that it feels different and requires a little more skill can help improve their navigational skills. Enrichment like the LickiMat Slomo Red is great for improving their awareness and navigation of different surfaces. Each texture will need a slightly different technique to make sure they get all the food out of it.  

Once they grasp the idea of a lickimat, you can start to add different elements to improve problem solving. More advanced lick mats include things like obstacles that make it harder to finish off every bite of food from it. The LickiMat Wobble Purple introduces an unstable base which makes it more difficult to eat from. It’s important at this stage that your pooch has completed an easier lickimat so they can go in with the confidence to solve a more difficult one. Some pups may chase the mat around the kitchen as it wobbles away, while others might put a paw on it to stabilise it. There’s no right or wrong way, but the important part is that they learn to solve the puzzle.   

The even less stable Lickimat Yoggie Pot Turquoise is a play on one of our canine companion’s favourite activities, licking out yoghurt pots when we’re done eating them! They’re a fun way to incorporate different challenges, and your pooch will be a whiz with their problem solving and frustration tolerance skills.  

While lickimats are great for dogs of all ages, they’re especially great for growing puppies. You can get started as soon as they’re eating solids with sturdy, chew proof lickimats like the LickiMat SloDog Green. The ridges won’t be too much of a challenge and it will help build their focus and concentration before they’ve even had their first training session. 

You can even incorporate lickimats into their training. The Rufus & Rosie Lick Mat & Slow Feeder for Dogs has little suckers on the bottom, so can be fixed to most solid surfaces. They’re useful when it comes to teaching your puppy to enjoy a bath and giving them a constant source of positive reinforcement while you get them nice and clean.  

Once your pooch is an expert at the lickimat, you can find new and exciting ways to make it more challenging for them. Not only can you purchase more advanced mats, but you can also freeze their food. Freezing a lickimat means they will have to learn the patience to either let it defrost a little before eating it or they can lick it and use their warm tongue to aid in defrosting it faster. It’s a great way to keep your dog cool in the summer too. You can also try hiding their lickimats for them to search for to make things more challenging, especially if you make use of the garden where there are lots of other interesting sights and smells happening.  

Varying the lickimat design and difficulty is a great way to support cognitive growth and reduce cognitive ageing in dogs of all ages. This handy dandy piece of enrichment is not only fun for your four legged friend, but it’s a valuable tool in development and training. To find your pup’s new favourite food puzzle, visit us in store and online!