Recommended Food Dispensing Toy?

[The Spencinator]

Hi everyone,

I'm on the hunt for a new food dispensing device for my labrador. He has always been particularly adept at inhaling his food so I bought him a Kong Wobbler a while ago which has worked a treat. The only problem with this is he has worked out that if he tips it on its side and rolls it along with his nose, he can finish it in about 10 minutes (or less). Not only would I like food dispensing toys to last longer, he has also managed to develop a bald spot on his nose front the constant rubbing as it rolls along the ground!!

So what I'm looking for is a food dispensing toy with the following properties, yes I'm picky! ;)

- big enough to hold a cup (or more) of food

- preferably not round, we want to avoid bald noses if possible

- big enough holes to allow Royal Canin Maxi Light dog biscuits to fall out (they're about 1/2 and inch wide I reckon?)

- preferably not one where you have to sit there for half an hour putting one biscuit in at a time (although this is negotiable)

So if anyone has any recommendations/suggestions, please send them my way :)

Many thanks!

[Gogee]

Have a look at the Busy Budy Tug-a-Jug maybe? It's bottle shaped, with a rope threaded through the middle, cover at one end screws off for easy addition of food :) Takes ours quite some time to extract the goodies from it!

You'll probably have to look at it to make sure your size kibble will come out easily enough though.

[Yonjuro]

A large bob-a-lot

[raineth]

The Kong genius is good, especially if you get more than one and connect them. However they are also a bit of a pain to fill... or I'm just a bit unco :)

[fbaudry]

I think the large bob-a-lot wouldn't allow off larger size biscuits; I couldn't use it with the regular size adult Advance kibble for example, which is really annoying. Same with the Nina Ottoson pyramid (and that one you can only refill one biscuit at a time).

And I've seen a really food motivated dog destroy a kong genius (and they're a pain to fill up)

Suggestions for the OP:

Large soft drink / milk bottle, slightly crunched up once filled to make it harder to get the food out

Muffin tray with each compartment covered with a tennis ball - though a food obsessed lab might just tip the whole thing over, but at least he will have to slow down to pick up the scattered kibble

Scatter kibble amongst old towels, partly folded and crunched up in a pile to hide it

Edited June 26, 2014 by fbaudry

[The Spencinator]

Hi everyone,

Thanks very much for your suggestions so far! I have tried the bob a lot but my lab decided it would be simpler and quicker to chew the lid off and get to the biscuits that way!

Regarding the plastic bottles etc., my lab will chew and swallow plastic bottles if the opportunity presents it self... great suggestion for a dog not completely mad like mine though!

I'll have a look into the Kong Genius and the Tug a Jug (although I suspect the rope would end up as food too), thanks :)

[FalconRange]

StarMark Everlasting Fireplug works great with my Border (size large).

[Esky the husky]

Put a tennis ball inside the wobbler.

Makes it much more difficuly

[The Spotted Devil]

Put a tennis ball inside the wobbler.

Makes it much more difficuly

Way to drive a Lab insane! Food plus BALL :laugh:

[Akayla]

The everlast was always a good one for us. If you get the blue one that you can buy special biscuits that fit and screw in. So even if he rolls it nothing will come out.

[Sail_Away]

I like the Nina Ottoson stuff... although a bit $$. I got the Twister and although my girl worked it out pretty quickly it still takes her awhile to get all the treats out.. Also have the Busy Buddy one here, Its like a dumbbell shape - I put some kibble in there and big pieces of biscuit + peanut butter to clog up the holes and she spends ages on that one! Maybe also try freezing some of the food in the Kongs so it takes longer to get it out?

Edited June 26, 2014 by Sail_Away

[persephone]

AUSSIE DOG tucker ball LARGE :)

slobrador proof!! ;) yes, it's round ...but ..... it will last for ages ..and you can also slip in bits of apple , a few cat food bites, some chopped up sweet potato .....

[VizslaMomma]

this is a thread from the other day that might be of interest to you as well.

There is a great post on feeding variations. Rather, it suggests a different way to let the dog eat. I intend trying it with Horrible Herbert( Vizlsa). He is a chow hound.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/257991-ways-to-tire-out-young-rescue-dog/

Your thread is another one I am marking to help us.

Edited June 26, 2014 by VizslaMomma

[RiverStar-Aura]

How about just throwing the food around the grass on your yard? That way the dog has to seek it out.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I use a bob a lot with my dog - I usually put it inside the crate to limit how far she can bat it. She uses her paws a lot more than her nose to beat it up, not the least bit gentle tho I did have to explain to her that chewing on it was not acceptable. So she doesn't now.

I used to use a squirrel dude

http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/busy_buddy_squirrel_dude_treat_dispensing_toy

which is a bit like a kong but has little rubber teeth across its bum to slow the treats from falling out. The teeth aren't big enough for black hawk holistic lamb and rice (tiny kibble) but work well with supercoat or nutro natural choice.

Frosty got most of the kibble out by picking it up by the head and throwing it at the floor. She actually figured out that a hard floor (eg concrete) worked better than soft (eg grass). She did eat the bum off one when I put a piece of dried beef lung in and no amount of tossing against hard surfaces would get that out. But she can tell when it's empty and leaves it alone then.

You'd probably need about 3 to hold a whole cup of food.

The other thing I have used occasionally is a bath mat - rolled the kibble up a little bit at a time like a jam roly poly...

[VizslaMomma]

Justice has a Kong Wobbler and is done in a couple of minutes at the most, so we don't use it. He also has a Bob-a-Lot which works on the same principle but you can change the size of the hole the food comes out of so that each piece of kibble can only just get out. It takes him around twenty minutes to half an hour to get half a cup of food out of it.

That's encouraging to know.

Thank you.

[The Spencinator]

Hi VizslaMomma, thanks for recommending the other thread! Looks like I have a nice selection of options to try now... thanks everyone :) I've ordered the kong genius so we will see how we go with that once it arrives.

Also Esky, I tried the tennis ball in the wobbler trick and it worked a treat! I highly recommend that trick to anyone else looking to slow their dogs' wobblers down.

[Simply Grand]

I have a Busy Buddy Twist'n'Treat

http://www.petland.com.au/prod1035.htm

for Quinn. I don't know that even the large size would be big enough to hold a cup of food and I'm not sure about the size of the holes with your kibble, but it keeps her going for AGES with treats and/or peanut butter smeared inside it.

You can twist it closed really tightly so they have to grip and lick and throw it around to try and unscrew it enough for the holes to be big enough for the food to fall out. It's tough rubber too, mine has lasted a good 12 months I'd say.

Kong Wobbler takes her maybe 5-10 mins as a comparison and the one time I tried a Go Slow type bowl she had one attempt at fitting her snout in the gaps between the little blocking bits then just flipped the whole bowl over so the food spilled everywhere :laugh:

[Ranga]

How about just throwing the food around the grass on your yard? That way the dog has to seek it out.

I do this evry morning with my very food motivated Standard Schnauzer puppy. It takes him about half an hour or more to find and eat a cup of kibble. It also helps to slow down the mad eating frenzy :)

[The Spotted Devil]

I also mix a little raw mince with dry food and stuff it (hard) into Kongs. Brilliant :D