Kongs

[Meceme]

We have an incredibly intelligent but bitey six month old labrador. He needs help to entertain himself and calm during hhe day. I have been told that kong dog toys are really helpful but what do you stuff yours with?

I use cream cheese and freeze them but people also use soaked softened kibble
Frozen carrots can be useful too

I put Greek yoghurt in it and freeze it or a mix of Greek yogurt and banana melon etc or those baby pouches

There are lots of recipes online. Peanht nbutter is another but it calorific and only some are suitable for dogs. Liver paste too.

I don't let d dog have it unsupervised though it does help with calming as licking is calming. I find a lickimat better than a kong as my bonkers dog got to excited with the kong. But the mat is flimsy where as the kong is tough

There is something about putting a straw in the kong as it freeze maybe related to a choking hazard but I can't remember what or how or why even. Ddog is 30 months now and much more sensible! Good luck! Some good fb groups for canine enrichment. Look at also snufflemats.

Depends on what I have in. Frequent appearances from (cooked!) sweet potato, cream cheese, yoghurt, banana, peanut butter. Or a whizzed up blend of a selection of the aforementioned!

I fill it with kibble, pour boiling water on it and then squish the kibble down. And then freeze.

lasts for a good 20 minutes!

I buy the cheap pate from supermarket, proves irresistible to mine.

Soak kibble in low sodium broth, mix with sardines and freeze. This one kept my two Lurchers quiet for ages. If you smooth over the top of the large hole it takes them a while to get through there before they even get into the kong itself.

Lots of people use loose dry kibble and peanut butter for it to stick to - but peanut butter had an, erm, interesting effect on my dogs’ wind production, iyswim. If I wasn’t freezing and didn’t need it to last a long time I would use either wet dog food or mushed sardines to hold the kibble instead. (If you do decide to try peanut butter make sure it doesn’t contain xylitol - sometimes listed as wood sugar, birch sugar, and birch bark extract.)

Greek yoghurt, blueberries and banana, again, frozen was popular with mine as well.

Basically, if you want it to last a while, you need something they like to eat, plus something to act as the glue. (Eg Scrambled egg, chicken, sweet potato, pumpkin, mashed potato, cheese)

Thanks everyone, lots to try.

I use pate, cream cheese, grated carrot or apple, dog treats, primula cheese, occasionally peanut butter, wet dog food…

Buy a larger kong than you need and it takes them longer to have it as it’s hard to reach the bottom (kong recommend sizing up anyway to reduce choking risk)

I also find natural chews helpful to keep mine occupied/chill them out. Puffed cow or pig snouts, buffalo ears, camel skins all last the longest.