Small dogs and Kongs.

[JKramer]

What do you put in the Kong?
Dry or wet or combination of both?
I have been putting cooked chicken in it, the bits near the top are fine and he can get to it.
The bits inside, he seems to push the chicken further in with his tongue.
He is a small dog and the small Kong is too hard for him to squeeze the treats out with his mouth.
Any ideas?

We use peanut butter, cream cheese, dry dog food, cheesy bites, cheese - anything really. If I want to distract him for a long time if for example we have visitors who don't love the over enthusiastic greetings, I will layer it with ham at the very bottom, then some cheese, then a broken up dog biscuit and seal the top with a layer of cream cheese.

Keeps him ocuppied for hours even though he can't always get it all out. He does have the small size kong.

Have you seen the puppy kongs. The small ones really are tiny and they're made of softer rubber, so easier to chew.

To make it easier, you can get something really tasty like a dog biscuit that's an awkward shape so hard to get out of the big hole and put it in the bottom, then fill up the middle with his usual kibble, then put in a layer of chicken, another layer of kibble and plug the top with cream cheese or peanut butter. This design lasts my lurcher pup up to an hour. He doesn't squeeze the kong to get the contents out either for some unknown reason, as he's more than capable of it.

If you want the kibble to be a bit harder to get out, you can either soak it in hot water, then cool, before putting in, or put in some peanut butter or cream cheese or even moist dog food first, spread around the inside and then add the kibble.

I find pouches of fish4dogs salmon mousse work really well for mixing with the kibble and/or plugging the top.

Instant mashed potato works well, add a bit of cheese, or you can mix in bits of anything and freeze. My lab's a kong expert and it keeps him occupied for at least 30 mins. New rescue dog takes all day, carries it around with him and keeps having a go till its empty