Why we love this:
If you own a dog, you’ve probably owned a Kong or at least seen one. But have you truly appreciated the Kong? You might not realize all the ways the Kong is there to make your and your pet’s life better. And, while there are many puzzle toys that we love (more on that later), the Kong is the OG. Like that little giraffe toy that everyone needs for their baby but cooler cuz you can put snacks in it. So what is a Kong? It’s an indestructible, stuffable, throwable puzzle toy.
Let’s talk indestructibility: When I adopted Rory at 18 months, his dad gave me a few things to take with me, and one of these was his puppy Kong. Though Rory had chewed up the man’s sofa, rugs, and every other toy given to him, Rory had not been able to destroy his Kong. And before you assume that Rory just wasn’t a strong chewer, you should know that he literally chomped through his leash once when I tethered him to my railing in hopes of kissing a boy without Rory trying to pull me away (the history of Rory’s feelings about Amy’s men will have to wait until another blog post). Indestructibility is not only important for the longevity of the toy, but because it means little pieces won’t be chipping off for your dog to ingest. So, once your pup knows how to use the Kong, they can safely have it unsupervised!
Kongs major purpose as a toy is to be stuffed with …stuff. Although most people stuff their Kongs with a treat or two, very few grasp the Kong’s full stuffable potential. Kongs can be stuffed with little treats, big treats, smeary treats, frozen treats, red fish blue fish one fish two fish. You get it. It’s not just for variety- the type of treat you use can determine the difficulty of the puzzle and allow you to use Kongs for different purposes. You can plop one little treat in there for an easy puzzle, stuff their whole dinner in mixed with something sticky for long mealtime activity, or you can smear it with something lickable like peanut butter or easy cheese, bringing us to our favorite quality of the Kong…
We recommend the Kong toy most often in working with two types of dogs - a dog who needs to work on crate training (puppy or new adult dog who will start in a crate before being allowed free roam) and dogs who are working to defeat (bang, bang, pow) separation anxiety. The Kong toy is designed for licking and it’s this licking behavior that can be calming to dogs, and allow them to focus on something (yummy). This is so important we’ll say it again: Licking is a self soothing behavior - the Kong elicits a behavior that helps your dog calm themself down. *Fireworks* There are so many times that people hire us to train cool activities like off-leash hiking, city-walking, or fetch. But one of the really great things that we like to do is train dogs to be calm and to be able to lower their energy levels to rest. We all need downtime to be healthy. A constantly overstimulated dog, like a constantly overstimulated person, will struggle to be emotionally healthy and practice good behaviors. So next time you’re working on a “go to mat” cue, crate training, or practicing separations from your dog, remember the Kong. It’s one of our favorites.