Today we're talking about brain games, mental exercise. It's just as important as physical exercise

for your doc. Welcome to the puppy training podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter and Bella,

the online puppy school. Here, we are all about helping you create the best possible experience

raising a puppy, from training tips to practical

tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family.

So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started.

Hey everybody, welcome to the puppy training podcast. It is 2026. Can you believe it?

And many of you are raising a brand new puppy or you have a new dog in your home. And we want to help you know what to do right away. So you're probably already thinking about

walks and playtime and basic training and that's all great. Physical exercise absolutely matters.

But today we are talking about something that's just as important and often overlooked,

which is mental exercise. Because a tired puppy isn't just one who's walked a lot.

A tired puppy is one who's thought and problem solved and learned throughout the day. So

training is really, really beneficial for these new dogs in our homes. Now, in recent years,

trainers and researchers alike have been paying closer attention to canine cognition or how dogs think and how

they learn and how they problem solve. And you may have seen stories in the media about so-called

genius dogs, dogs who can learn the names of dozens, even hundreds of toys and retrieve them by name.

Well, that might sound impressive or even extreme. It highlights something really important.

And that's that dogs are capable of far more mental learning than we used to think. And when puppies don't get

enough mental stimulation, that unused brain power often shows up as all of the unwanted

behavior that we don't like, like destructive chewing, barking, difficulty settling,

frustration-based behaviors, etc.

And so mental enrichment isn't just extra.

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