What do you use to stuff your Kongs?

[NoNamesLeft86]

Hi all. I have an 8 month old romainian mioritic Shepherd (possibly crossed), who loves his Kongs and tbh with 4 young children and the puppy, the kongs give me a little bit of sanity when im busy/tired etc. Currently im just stuffing with tinned wet food (and freezing it). But would rather vary it and make it more interesting for him before he looses interest. He has around 5 a day . He doesn't seem interested in peanut butter or the kong liver paste filler thing. Needs to be heathy enough to have lots of. would appreciate any recommendations

Fish 4 dogs salmon mousse

5 a day sounds very excessive to me, my dog has peanut butter mixed with his dry dog food, probably a couple of times a week, the rest of the time he just his toys to play with

My mum mixes soaked dried food in with bits of cheese/meat/fish, for her 8 month old lab. Ddog only gets a kong when DM going out for 2+ hours. She tries not to leave Ddog that much so this is probably only twice a week max. 5 per day seems a lot...

I hadn't read your full op properly you have a lot on your plate! I don't know much about dogs but my DM uses an acupressure head collar on her Ddog when Ddog is being a bit manic. Calms her right down. It's called "Quiet Dog". Like I said, I don't own a dog myself and have no idea if this sort of thing is frowned on in the dog community or not...sorry if so, but thought it could help you.

Five a day is loads.

But (answering the question. Veggies are good for this. Things like pumpkin and sweet potatoes can be mashed and frozen.

Smear the inside with a little peanut butter or yogurt and freeze. Take ages to eat (be careful which products you buy so you don't feed pup sweeteners.

Small amounts of fruit. Apple and banana are pretty common to use.

Broken biscuits.

Rice and small amounts of plain chicken or fish.

Soak dried food in water for an hour or more, block the kong hole with a tiny bit of peanut butter and pour the water (and food if you like) into the kong to make like an ice lolly for pup.

Raw minced meat, maybe with an egg mixed in so its more of a paste, then frozen.

Mine love their kongs,we've had quite a few mixes & they have all been enjoyed.
I stuff the little hole with a bit of cheese then use combinations of :

soaked kibble
Un soaked kibble
Raw mince
Cooked veg
Grated carrot /apple
Mashed banana
Mashed hard boiled eggs
Un sweetened Plain bio yoghurt
Cottage cheese or full fat cream cheese
Tinned fish (not in brine)

There are probably loads of other things I've used,I've never had one wasted either. greedy boys!
To make them last longer I always freeze them,makes them work a bit harder for the goodies

My dog loves half a Carrot shoved in keeps him entertained for ages trying to get it out!

Also, if you're using five a day I'd be looking into additional options. Kong make a wobbler, a quest toy, and a stuffing ball. West paw does some good food toys. White sterile bones can change the challenge and you can buy pre stuffed ones (bulk buy for better value). And there are puzzles you can buy Nina Otterman maybe? That doesn't sound quite right but if you google dog puzzle Nina you should get into the right ball park.

Forgot to say that the kibble I use is Millies wolfheart which is high meat content & grain free.
I read that you shouldn't soak kibble that contains grains or lots of fillers as it can cause/contribute to bloat?
I'm not sure if it's true but worth looking into if you are going to soak it.

Marmite
Homemade dog treats shaped like a bone so they don't easily fall out
Dehydrated meats (mince rolled into balls is my pups favourite)

If you are giving it to him 5 times a day, I would recommend marmite, because even when they've licked most of it out, the smell is still there so he'll keep coming back for more but you are giving him a smaller portion.

I dk realise 5 a day is a lot. But if he is just having tinned dog food in it, which he is at the moment - surely there is no harm? Please tell me if im wrong, i dont want to do anything that's not right for him.

We do have a Kong wobbler but he isnt interested in it . The foster dog we had before him absolutely loved the wobbler.

Have also got some toys that you put the dry food/treats in. Which he wasnt interested in before but i will try them again today with something more smelly.

He has loads of toys but the issue we have is that he only plays if we play with him, which is fine except we are having a lot of issues with play biting and the kids can't play with him until we have sorted this out. The younger 2 are already covered in bruises and marks from him. We are working on this and start dog classes in a couple of weeks and have discussed this with the trainer already who has been advising us. So basically its entertaining him in the meantime. If he stops the biting then he would havve somebody to play with him all day if he wanted to! Its such a shame. But we are trying to teach calm behaviours and to play games such as fetch.

We have also been giving him raw ham bones a couple of times a week - are these ok? He has a strong bite and any dog chew things like a jumbone type thing are gone in seconds, so we dont really bother.

I'm starting to think my dog is the only one in the world that isn't interested in Kongs!
I've been looking at some of the dog puzzles but they aren't cheap.

Our dog trainer told us to give his entire food allowance in th Kong. Five a day is fine, if it includes his actual food. I'd worry about him having a lot of tinned food though, doesn't it upset his stomach?

Sounds like you have a busy household, is your pup perhaps over stimulated, you don't want a pup to get used to being entertained or played with all day because if it's on offer they will take it up but also get very overtired which is where the bitey behaviour starts. My nine month pup gets a short play and training session in the morning after her breakfast, a good walk mid morning and then left to sleep for a couple of hours, a potter/race round the garden, short play outside or inside, short training session literally three or four minutes, cuddles and then settle down. Our sticky bit comes mid afternoon when she is anticipating her second walk and is unsettled, following us around, sly dig of the garden etc and a kong often comes in useful then or a treat ball. Is your pup getting enough peace and quiet to rest and have you tried deer antlers as an alternative to kongs to keep him occupied while you get on with other things.

I find with the wobbler it helps to put a "stinky" treat along with the boring kibble and that gets them interested.
In my other kongs I put goats youghurt and freeze or just chicken.
I also find a tube of cheese (primula) squirted in a long works well.
Chew wise may I recommend hooves? A bit stinky but have always worked well for chewy pups.

We found that whizzing some soaked dry food in the blender until it was a mush and then mixing it with some meat/treats and freezing lasted the longest.

Takes a while though so I do a few in advance.

Coco - thats interesting as no, he doesn't get much peace/sleep in the daytime. He has a crate but doesn't really like it. But we did today move the main room around so that his crate is much more "with us" as I think it was too away from everything for him to enjoy sleeping as he likes to be close to everyone.

Trouble is he tends to sleep right in the way where everybody needs to walk.

As for too much wet food. Its probably only around half a tin a day, and he is a big dog (the size of a fully grown lab so far and still growing).

He does have deer Antlers, pigs/cow ears, various dried meats etc.

Ive just tried again with some really tasty smelly treats mixed with his dry food and he has finally got it! Yay! That's fab news for me.

Think he was too new when i tried before and just too overwhelmed with everything else to think about games.

Im very happy. Hopefully this is less kong stuffing for me!

Woohoo that's great news :)

I also meant to highly recommend these:
www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-horn-dog-chew-natural/dp/B01615R4XI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490362099&sr=8-1&keywords=buffalo+horn&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Natures Menu frozen marrowbones are really good if I want to keep my dogs busy for a few hours. They keep going back to them days and days later to try and get all the marrow from the inside.