Enrichment Through Food Dispensing Toys
We’ve posted a few times about providing your pooch with enrichment and mental stimulation through interactive toys, games, play and training. So, you might be starting to get the idea that we think enrichment is important to our canine companions. Yep! If you think about it, our dogs have to fit into our lifestyles and follow a lot of rules. This can mean hours upon hours of boredom for them. So, it’s important that we provide both physical and mental exercise. (Don’t get me wrong. I’m not underestimating many of our furry friends’ love for long, midday snooze sessions. Naps are good too!) Some really simple activities can make a big difference in a dog’s overall well-being. And many of those activities do not require much effort on our part.
Keeping that in mind, we wanted to share this little video (above) that we created a couple of years ago. It includes one of many recipes for stuffing a kong. There are a variety of different recipes, and you can select ones that are increasingly more challenging for your dog. We are big fans of freezing stuffed kongs to make them last longer. Our own dogs have a pretty impressive collection of kongs. To save time, we fill up a bunch all at once. One shelf of our freezer is typically filled with kongs, ready to go whenever we need them.
Just in case this kong thing is brand new to you, here’s a little overview. Kongs are rubber toys with a cavity in the middle, a small hole at one end, and a larger hole at the other end. They are available in all different sizes, so that you can find the ideal size for your dog. They also come in different materials. The kong classic is the standard, which is red and the one featured in the video. The black one is the kong extreme, for strong chewers. Finally, there are even versions just for puppies and senior dogs.
We hope this inspires you to add some simple and fun mental exercise to your dog’s life!
Like the idea of enrichment, but already feel like your life is too hectic?
We can provide enrichment for your dog with our Brain Games and Mental Stimulation Packages.
For more ideas, check out our previous posts about enrichment activities.