Stuffing a hollow dog chew toy

I love using rubber hollow chew toys like the Kong to keep Dexter The Dog busy & occupied.  I recommend this to virtually all my dog training clients.  Why?  Well, for starters dogs love to chew!  Dogs get bored easily.  I think using interactive dog treat toys is a great way for canine enrichment.

What I dont like are fat dogs.  So, I tend to find ways to stuff The Original Kong & other stuffable dog toys like the Rita ball or Kong Quest Bone (large) with Dexters food calories.  You probably know by now that I home cook for Dexter, so this makes Kong stuffing incredibly easy since all of his food is soft & wet.  For those dogs who eat a high quality canned dog food, this would work well too.  For my dry dog food friends, I recommend substituting some of the dry kibbles for canned food. 

Hollow Dog Toys

Getting  your dog use to eating out of a Kong, Kong Quest Bone, Rita ball or Jed sometimes takes a little trial and error.  What I typically do is take something wet like canned dog food or organic almond butter and smudge it on the outside of the toy.  You want to make it easy enough on your dog to want to interact with the treat toy.  This may take a few days. You are looking for your dog to anticipate the chew toy and eagerly lick away.  Once this happens, I smudge some  organic almond butter  in the opening so he has to start licking inside the toy for his reward.

The other thing I do in conjunction with the above tip is to place a very high-value dog treat just under the toy, so all your dog has to do is move the toy with his nose to collect the treat.  As your dog advances & moves the toy quicker & quicker, you can start to place the treat inside the toy so he has to knock it around to get it out.

Once your dog is readily interacting with his Kong, Kong Quest Bone or Rita ball with food in it or on it, its time to raise the bar a bit more.  If you are home cooking or using high quality canned dog food, just place a couple of spoons inside your dogs toy. Then hand over to your dog to figure out this new challenge.

Kong Quest Bone-Large

If you are using dry kibbles, place about 1/4 cup of kibbles in a bowl & add about 2 spoonfuls of canned dog food.  Stir & mix together so that the dry kibbles are coated with the canned dog food.  Now place that mixture inside the toy & give to your dog to enjoy.

Once this step is mastered, its time to raise the bar once again.  Double your mixture & place 1/2 the mixture once again inside your dogs toy.  But this time place the toy in the freezer!  Once frozen, remove & stuff the remaining mixture on top of the frozen mixture & present to your dog.  Your dog will be able to enjoy the unfrozen treat as the bottom half starts to slowly thaw.  The frozen mixture will be quite challenging to master. 

Once mastered, fill the dog toy & freeze the entire toy!  This should keep your dog busy from anywhere between 10 minutes to 35 minutes!  Now you can do some other things while your dog his happily chewing away.

I personally enjoy making new Kong, Kong Quest Bone or Rita ball stuffed chews with different ingredients.  This keeps  your dog interested & it doesnt become the same old thing over and over again.  Have fun & Im sure your dog will thank you for it!

Tip-If your dog leaves the toy & is not interested it typically means the food inside is not valuable enough, or it is too challenging.  Increase the value, decrease the difficulty.

FYI-most of these dog toys are dishwasher safe (top shelf).  But I prefer to use cool water & a baby bottle scrubber to clean.

·         Rita Treat Ball Review

·         Smoothie Frozen Dog Treat (in Rita)

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