Kongs

[Guest]

Hi there

Today was the second day my 3 month old lab puppy was at home all day by herself (she has the sunroom and a doggie door to a fenced off area outside). I'm worried she spent a lot of the day crying, because she has two interactive toys (plus a variety of lots of other toys) which she normally loves because they were all still in place.

However she has three kongs plus a kong treat ball that were all empty (that's my lovely little lab ). I'd be interested in ideas to make them last longer. Currently we stick a treat in the narrow end, then add kibble, some honey, a few liver treats and a 1/2 - 1 biscuit. Does anyone else have any other ideas for alternative suggestions? I've heard of people freezing their kongs... what do you put in them, and do you freeze them with the food inside?

Thanks :p

[Red Fox]

I used to mix the kibble with yogurt, seal up both ends with cheese spread and freeze

There are a few threads on this already if you do a search. Also have a look at the KONG website - there's a few recipes there too.

[Esky the husky]

I freeze mine full of pet mince or tuna

[fiveplusone]

Peanut butter, grated cheese, small cubes of fritz, top with another dob of peanut butter and put in freezer.

[wuffles]

Ours are frozen with Nature's Gift tinned food.

[Tilly]

I put a bit of peanut butter in the small end and then put small piece fish (or sardines and the juice) inside and freeze - I find the peanut butter stays in place better if it is frozen before adding liquid.

Sometime I freeze with a piece of cord part way into the kong (which I use to tie the kong to the clothes line) - when the kong partly thaws it drops down as a "surprise".

Mince and yoghurt or even just yoghurt frozen is a favourite of my boys.

[Bisart Dobes]

Peanut butter or Yoghurt are our dogs favs

[labsrule]

Here is a doc with some Kong Fillers

Kong_Fillers.doc

[Xyz]

I just soak my dogs ordinary kibble in boiling water, leave to soften then shove it in with a spoon, and freeze. Takes the labs about 45 minutes!!

[PuggaWuggles]

I use his normal BARF,sometimes i will stuff a bit right in the end,then put little surprise in the middle,then fill the rest with BARF again.Then i freeze over night.But i make sure he only gets a bit less than half of his normal breakfast in the moring along with his filled Kongs.

I am not exactly too sure how long it takes him to get through them,at least a couple of hours i hope.I also give him 3 or 4 other kongs,i will put 2 or 3 little round biscuits in them,he spends all day rolling them around the back yard waiting for things to fall out.

[Nushie]

I just soak my dogs ordinary kibble in boiling water, leave to soften then shove it in with a spoon, and freeze. Takes the labs about 45 minutes!!

Ding ding! Same here!

For a special treat i sometimes mix through some tuna or mince. Soak the kibble, mix in tuna, stuff it in the kong with a spoon and freeze. Being a pug he cant get anything out until it has started to defrost, but that doesnt stop him from lying there licking it until it does. And it is always empty by the time i get home from work. But if i go out for only an hour or two, it will still be half full when i get back. So at least i know that it takes a while for him to get it all out.

[wagsalot]

I usually freeze Rileys with a bit of peanut butter round the edges and some chicken stock in summer.

[RealityBites]

I use sausage mince and then freeze

[KAMS]

My labrador seems to always manage to give destroying them a good effort lol.

[Burkes]

I use all of the above but now my lab is a bit on the portly side, I seal the ends with mashed pumpkin.

[Cookiez]

There so great "menus" on the Kong website!

Usually I put mince in it and freeze it. Otherwise depending on what I have in the house- Codi also loves mushed banana with yoghurt or rice and chicken.

I always freeze it to make it last longer though. I prep it the night before and then give it to him in the morning before I leave for work.

Oh and we have a puzzle ball and we put half his breakfast kibble in that. He has a great time rolling it around to get the food out. Hope this helps.

[BCPuppy]

I find melting a teaspoon of cream cheese/peanut butter for about 10 seconds in the microwave makes it coat biccies or kibble better and makes it harder to get them out.

[buggerme]

You can also buy a "kong dispenser" roughy $100 bucks. They can be prgramed to release 4 kongs randomly over either 4 or 6 hrs - the kongs even come with the unit.

While this doesnt help with your stuffing question - it may help you with the duration of dispensing them as it will release them over a good part of the work day.

Just a thought.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the great ideas

Last week we gave her the cheese, fritz and peanut butter frozen combo. This week I think I'll try the soaked kibble and tuna idea.

I looked at the kong dispenser but I'm worried she'd chew the dispenser, as we don't have anywhere high to put it up out of her reach.