- Field Day |
- Buildings Alive |
- Visions |
- CLGBT |
- Green Community |
- Fun & Free S#!T |
- Crossword |
- CL Space |
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Is your puppy bored?
Posted by Pam Hogle on Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 4:38 PM
There’s a saying among dog people: “A tired dog is a good dog.” Same thing goes for puppies, it's just harder to tire them out!
Puppies power nap. I really wish I could do this. The puppy has an attack of puppy crazies, runs around like a lunatic, playing, chasing his tail, chewing everything in sight, running some more. Then, the puppy collapses and, within seconds, is deeply asleep. So deeply that you cannot wake him, even for food, and if you try to move him, your 15-pound puppy is as immobile as a 50-pound block of cement. Oh, good, you think, I can go do the laundry. You’re not gone 10 minutes, but when you come back, the puppy is not only awake but has left you a puddle on the floor and is well into chewing your tennis shoe. And the puppy has as much energy as before the play session.
How can you wear the puppy out, protect your shoes and furniture and challenge that puppy’s developing brain, all at once? In a word: Kongs. Read below the jump for the details.
You must ensure that your puppy has a constant supply of safe chew bones and toys, but you have to go beyond that to challenge the puppy mentally and truly burn energy. A number of pet-toy companies offer stuffable toys. Two of my favorites, because their toys are durable and puppies love them, are Kong and Planet Dog. More people are familiar with Kongs, those odd-shaped, hollow rubber toys. Fill them with treats and you will keep your puppy busy and entertained for, well, depending on the puppy, minutes to hours. Planet Dog has a similar toy and wonderfull hollow balls that can also be filled with treats.
Start easy—a large dog biscuit wedged into the toy is enough of a challenge for a beginner. Add some pieces of kibble that will come out easily. This will keep the puppy interested by providing intermittent rewards as he works on the stuck biscuit.
Escalate to puppy kibble mixed with enough peanut butter to make it sticky. Licking the last bit out takes some effort. You can substitute a couple of stuffed Kongs for one of your puppy’s meals.
The next step is softening the kibble with warm water or broth. When it’s nice and mushy, pack it into the Kong, then freeze it. That should keep a puppy busy for at least 20 minutes, maybe more! From there, use your imagination. Some people pack Kongs with kibble and cheese, microwave them just long enough to get the cheese gooey, then let it harden.
Filling Kongs with broth or yogurt and freezing them makes a nice hot-weather treat (one better served outdoors). For these, you’ll need to plug the hole at the small end of the Kong with a treat or some peanut butter so the filling doesn’t leak out before it’s frozen. An easier version is making yogurt or broth ice cubes and then wedging an ice cube into the larger-sized Kongs.
As your puppy grows up and becomes more proficient at emptying Kongs, you’ll need to vary the fillings, but dogs never outgrow Kongs. Stuffing them, or other hollow chew toys, is a great way to keep your dog challenged and entertained throughout his life.
Latest in Daily Loaf
-
Final thoughts after a January drought
Salut, Louise Rocco! Her postmortem on the Dry January experience.
-
Two Big Mouths #91 Now Live
-
Musking up with pheromones: Is Erox a real life 'Sex Panther'?
What happens when you drink and dust yourself with human pheromones.
- More »
Author Archives
-
The Thinking Dog Blog: Does your dog have sore paws? Help is available
-
The Thinking Dog Blog: Area canines offer a helping paw
-
The Thinking Dog Blog: Shell Key Shuttle offers a sunset cruise for canines
Dog-friendly sunset cruises are a great way to enjoy sun, sea, and sand!
- More »
Top Commenters
Comments (0)