Look at this cutie chillin' on his bed with his toys.
The other day, Melony called me “The Queen of Kongs,” which I really liked because it recognized my obsessive kong-stuffing in a positive light, and also I felt it was a nod to King Kong, which is the second best ape-run-amok movie ever made ("Dunston Checks In" is the first)(It’s about an orangutan staying at a fancy hotel!!).My dog in particular, but really all dogs, tend to act out or get wild when they're bored. He can’t just say “Hey, excuse me human mother, I’m bored. I would like an activity please.” So they try to get your attention in ways that they know work - such as barking - or they find things to do to occupy themselves - such as chewing things up.Instead of letting him get bored and frustrated, I take the Kong and fill it with yummies, and then give it to him to get the yummies out of. It keeps dogs busy and quiet, the dog is happy to be eating treats, and it makes them think and works their brain, which makes them tired, which means you get BONUS peace and quiet when they rest after they finish.
And it’s not just fun for me; Scooter loves them. They are seriously his favorite thing. He loves the treats and he loves thinking and solving puzzles.Our current favorite kong-stuffing is dehydrated lamb lung - just a couple pieces, and make sure they’re bigger than the opening so your dog will really have to work to get them out. You can squeeze the Kong to make the opening oblong and put bigger pieces in that way.Slightly more difficult than that, is putting in big pieces of lamb lung, then filling the remaining spaces with peas and carrots, which Scooter loves for some unknown reason. I tried to tell him carrots are not delicious but he won’t hear it; he loves them. I then plug the opening with a small blob of peanut butter.You can really fill the Kongs with anything. For beginner dogs, you can just put their kibble in there, so when they roll it around, kibble comes out. You can feed all meals from a kong if you want to. Dogs love it when their mealtime is a game.In summer, we like to make cooling Kongsicles by mixing kibble with something soft and moist like canned food, or canned pumpkin, or yogurt, then freezing it. It takes quite a while to get all the food out. You can also just coat the inside with peanut butter and freeze it.It’s important not to start too difficult or your dog will give up. At first, they need to get rewarded early and often. That’s why kibble is such a good starting point. It just falls right out, and it teaches them that it’s worth the effort to work on their Kongs.Once he gets it all figured out, though, you can make it as difficult as you want. I have no idea how Scooter gets some of the stuff out of the kongs. I swear some of the ones I make him are actually impossible. But he does it (teleportation?).You can also boil chicken and rice and put in the kongs and freeze them. The sky is the limit. Anything that is safe for a dog to eat can be crammed into a kong.When I tell people all this, I feel like I lose them right around “boil chicken and rice.” That sounds like a lot of time and effort, right? And if you’re going to freeze them, you have to plan and prepare them in advance.Well, it is a time investment, but how much time do you spend wishing your dog would settle down in the evenings? Is it a non-negligible amount of time? I know it is for me. If so, just allot that time to preparing Kongs. Give the kong to your dog before they start acting up from boredom. You’ll be spending the same amount of time, just using it to prep kongs instead of trying to get a riled up dog to settle. I just really think you’ll both be glad you tried it.
Let me know in comments what your favorite Kong stuffing is!
