My Senior Dog Is Bored. These Cards Actually Help.

Freya has always been a dog who needs to do things. She’s a Pharaoh Hound, a breed that I will forever maintain is one of the smartest dog breeds on the planet. This is a hill I am perfectly willing to expire on (although these days, Freya would prefer that neither one of us climb the hill in the first place). That’s also why Your Dog Is Bored cards from Sniffworthy caught my attention. They’re a deck of 32 simple enrichment activities designed to give dogs something interesting to do without requiring a bunch of special equipment. For a dog like Freya, whose brain still expects a full daily itinerary even though her body has developed other ideas, that sounded pretty much perfect. For most of her life, keeping her entertained wasn’t particularly complicated. We went for long walks. We hiked. She raced around the yard at approximately Mach 3 after chipmunks. She patrolled her property for squirrels, deer, bears and anything else that had the audacity to exist within her line of sight. Then she got older. And then she developed heart disease. Suddenly, figuring out how to keep her entertained became a whole lot more complicated. She can’t do all of those big physical activities anym...