Best "finds" for keeping dog busy

[NotJustACigar]

Please can you tell me your best toys, methods, treats etc for keeping your dog busy and entertained without giving her too much to eat? Mine are:

1. A brush/chew toy from "busy buddy". I put a bit of Primula on the brush and she chews it to get every last bit of Primula off. I find this works better than a stuffed Kong as it gives her fewer calories per minute of distraction! I do use a stuffed frozen Kong sometimes though when I need her to be entertained even longer, like when I'm on a zoom call.

1. A fabric gift bag thing that came in this month's wufwuf box. I stuff some of her toys in there and she takes a while to "unwrap her presents". When she's done I just stuff the same toys back in 😁.

My puppy is six months old and loves to play tug of war etc but I can't be playing with her quite as much as she would like as I have other stuff I need to do, so am looking for more ideas.

Current favourites with our cocker puppy are the cardboard inner tube from a roll of wrapping paper, an old muslin cloth with a couple of knots in it, and any toys which belong to the cat

I got a load of chew toys really cheap in TK Maxx, £1-2 each. So I bought loads and keep switching them round. The puppy loves the variety and doesn't get as bored.
One of them was a purple glittery thing that you can put primula or peanut butter on, we haven't bothered yet but that'll definitely get used when we're back to work next week.

I also got a monkey toy with two chewy rings but he destroyed it in less than a day so we had to take all the stuffing out.
That was a tenner! 😄
He doesn't destroy his cuddly toys which I'm surprised about, he clearly knows which ones are for rough play.

I do think swapping toys and hiding them works, he likes the novelty of something new
to play with.

Empty plastic bottles with a great in and the lid on. She'll chase that round the room for literally hours. Noisy though on wooden floors!

A treat in.

Just tried the plastic bottle with a treat in idea which was great for a few minutes but then she managed to gnaw off bits of the plastic. She is a mixed breed but big (I think part German shepherd) and has very strong jaws! She loved it while it lasted though and I'm jealous they last hours for you, Ulelia.

Oh, and I definitely agree about swapping toys around - I have several stuffed toys awaiting repair (she tears them to get the stuffing out) and once I've sewn them back up I know she'll be delighted to get them back!

Towel burritos (towel rolled up with squeaky toy and treats in)! Pig snout or pizzle to chew on. Bob-a-lot dispensing toy.

Do you for tie up the towel to make the burrito or just roll it? Sounds like a really good idea and I will experiment. Pizzles are great and last my girl a little over half an hour, however not cheap - I find I pay about £2 each. I didn't know about pig snouts though, off to Google

Natural chews are the winners here - anything else lasts him about three minutes

I switch between pizzles, pigs ears, stuffed cows hooves, stuffed trachea, pork rolls and yak chews.

@NotJustACigar I don’t personally tie knots in the towel, I just do it so she can nudge it with her nose and unroll it. If you grate a bit of carrot, cheese or apple in, that can make it last longer. Furry buffalo ears are also fab and last ages!

Oh and you can put kibble inside some scrunched up paper inside the towel for extra fun lol!

Lick mats with doggy peanut butter.
Empty kibble bags - these only come round about once a month but she goes nuts for them.

Kong wobbler. Absolute favourite in this house.
Huge knuckle bones.

B and M bargains do some plastic toys that look like a snake, the inside of the snake is hollow so you can put food in it. We use some kibble mixed with either peanut butter or primula cheese then freeze it, this keeps our puppy busy for ages!

Some great ideas here! I even have one of those snakes but never thought of freezing it for some reason. I use a wobbler-type thing to feed her meals while we're eating ours- it's a lifesaver.

Just thought of another great one - scatter a handful of dog food in the grass in the back garden and leave her to search for it. Luckily it's well fenced but she doesn't like to hang out back there on her own unless there's food involved

Put mashed carrot in a kong and freeze it, takes my dog ages to lick it all out :)

If you want to make sure you’re not overfeeding through using all these methods, then it’s easier not to feed from a bowl at all. Portion out all their feeds and use it for a variety of different methods and training treats throughout the day.

We have a greenfeeder, snuffle mat, kong wobbler, kongs (although my boy won’t entertain traditional kongs for some reason) and a couple of brain training games. We also use the teatowel method others have mentioned, plus hiding treats within a boxful of screwed up paper, toilet roll and kitchen roll inners etc. Finally we have been working on scent games, so we use folded up toilet roll inners as little parcels, which we hide and also do the find-the-treat under the yoghurt pot game, gradually building up to lots of different sizes and shapes of pot for him to search through. In the summer we freeze low salt broth into ice lollies and with our other dogs in kongs.

Mine is an old boy now and generally prefers things that are a little slower paced. His favourites are the snuffle mat, kong wobbler and one of the lift-the-peg type brain training games he had for Christmas.

Our pup adores antlers.
He trots around the house with them all the time.

He goes though them at an alarming speed though.

Old bath mats. Mine loves to drag one around the house and then chew the ends off.

Snuffle mats with sprats hidden in them is a favourite here, along with treat treasure hunts outside.

You might like to consider giving your dog actual 'work' I taught my last two dogs to fetch the post and as the post can arrive here anytime from 9.30 to 11.30 both of them often spent half the morning in the hall waiting for the postie. I'm between dogs at the moment and really miss not having that single tooth mark on all my letters. Admittedly both were rescues and 2 years old when they arrived, so past the mad puppy stage.

Stinky puzzles
Rabbit ears
Hairy goat stripes

All smell dreadful but last a while.

Pizzle not puzzle.