Dogs

I know several people who like to fill their with nonfat, plain yogurt. Lots of calcium, and no fat to upset their systems.

I tried it with my dogs, but they just chewed on the outside--didn't like the yogurt. To each his own!

my dog is a 4 month old cockapoo, i give him the kong and treat sticking out, she only eats whats sticking out and leaves everything else inside!

I've found broccoli stems work well inside a Kong for our dogs. It's good for them and isn't messy. My husband and I prefer the flowerettes of the broccoli, so I just chop up the stems and load them into the Kong. Our dogs are Shetland Sheepdogs. A Kong stuffed this way provides at least an hour of entertainment and no extra bad calories!

my dogs favorite treat to put in here is peanut butter

I find that his normal daily kibble in a Kong works wonders. I measure out a meal, and then use some of that so I don't overfeed my dog. I then stuff it further with something that will fit into the cracks, like banana or cheese, but I imagine the soft kong stuffing would work well too. Banana can be a bit easy and a bit messy, but cheese works great. Be warned it is fattening though, so I put some of his mealtime kibble back once I've finished. In the case of cheese, plugging the end and then microwaving it to melt the cheese down, then letting it set or putting it in the freezer works wonders. It can take my 84lb labrador hours to get it all out.

I also like using the Kong to feed my dog leftovers. I've never been keen on feeding dogs leftovers, but I'm even less keen on wasting food, so I will put it into his Kong so at least he has to work at getting it out. Some things are really easy, but others can be really difficult for him, and it has surprised me occasionally what is hard and what is easy for him. Mash works well, as does a steak rind or the end of the crust of a sandwich.

I have a 4 lb. chihuahua. She seems to have a difficult time getting food out of the small Kong. Is she supposed to be "squeezing" it out with her teeth? I don't think she's strong enough to do that. I put a baby carrot in the Kong with part of it sticking out; that worked well. But if all the treats are inside only, how can she get to them?

Kellie -

The best thing I've found is freezing the Kong -- after it's been stuffed.

My dogs have a hard time getting frozen yogurt or frozen peanut butter out of their Kongs. Still the longest my dogs take (with frozen Kongs) is about 1 hour.

Related to this, you might want to "mix up" what you put inside with the peanut butter or yogurt. For example, I put his favorite new treat mixed in there. I find that he sometimes gets distracted picking out the "treat" part that he'll put the Kong aside & come back to it later.

As for your dog getting bored (and maybe destructive with toys, etc) inside his kennel...

The same thing happened to us. At first one of our dogs took to the kennel without incident. Then, he had a complete change of attitude about his time inside the crate and got REALLY destructive. Here's how we survived that:
http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/2006/05/crate_training_accidents.php

As another idea...
I realize your dog's kennel probably isn't very large, but we recently discovered that one of our dogs has a harder time getting treats out of the Buster Cube than the Kong toy. So he plays with it much longer than he does a Kong toy. I think the noise of the treats rolling around inside the Buster Cube intimidates him a bit (we put his regular dog food in it, or else new kinds of dog food that we get in sample size packs sometimes -- that way it's "new" to him & more like a treat).

Perhaps there's enough room inside your dog's kennel for him to roll it around and try to be destructive with IT instead of destroying other toys?...

Here's more about the Buster Cube:
http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/2006/05/buster_cube_vs_kong_toy.php

Finally, I'm not sure how your dog does with bones. And I don't really like to leave bones with dogs unattended. But sometimes a pressed rawhide bone will take our dog WEEKS to finish. Slightly less dangerous (fewer small parts to break off & get dislodged in your dog's throat or stomach) are "real" bones from the butcher or meat dept at the grocery store. Again, my dogs will work on those types of bones for weeks before they get bored with it. (But I still have a hard time giving this type of bone to a dog unsupervised.)

Just some thoughts...

Hello. I have found your info on how to stuff Kongs (and what to stuff them with) VERY useful, thanks for sharing. However, I wanted to pick your brain about OUR dog. He's a 10 month old English Setter. Just last week we tried the Kongs (a smaller then a larger
one). I stuffed it good and froze it. Well, the small one took him less than 5 minutes to empty; the larger one took him less than 20.

For your dogs, how long does it take them to empty a Kong? My husband and I work during the day so our dog is alone outside in his kennel most of the day and I was hoping the Kong would take him most of the
day to empty. Is there something else I can stuff in there that will be harder for him to get out? Or do you have any other ideas? I think he gets bored in his kennel, but he chews up any stuffed toys that we put in there with him. Any suggestions/ideas you could give me, I'd greatly appreciate! :-) Thanks, Kellie

Thanks for the tips! I like the freezing idea, and I am seriously considering the Kongtime, but I need to make sure it can dispense two at a time. I have two dogs with separation anxiety. Do you know?
Another idea--I have friends who put marshmallows in their dog's Kong. Their dog is allergic to a lot of things, so marshmallows are his main treat.

Shari -

If your puppies are sick, take them to the vet. Or, an after-hours emergency clinic.

Don't delay.

Kong Stuff'n is certainly not a complete diet for dogs, especially growing puppies. You need to talk to a vet about what to feed them.

Here's the latest dog food recall info:
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html