To learn more go to www.dunbaracademy.com/ In this episode Kelly talks about basic Kong stuffing techniques and how you can switch to feeding your dogs from stuffed chew toys instead of bowls.
Very helpful! I bought a kong and was clueless what could be done with them. I had put his previous kibble in it and put a beef stick at the opening to hold them in. He ate the beef stick but not the kibble. Today I bought frozen raw goats milk to hopefully help with whatever is causing him to itch. I changed his kibble to a better brand with salmon, and he's better, but still scratching. When the goats milk thaws, I plan to soak some of his kibble in it, then put that in a kong and freeze it. I hope he likes it! Also, I made little frozen treats from a recipe of plain coconut yogurt, peanut butter, a banana, and a little raw local honey (because he has itchy skin). I poured it into silicone doggy molds and just took the treats out of the freezer. My dog loves to eat snow and ice, so I figured he might like these frozen treats, and he LOVES them! Tomorrow I'm going to get a second kong and make similar concoctions to freeze in them. Now I'm going to check out your other videos. Thank you!
The frozen stuffed Kongs can be a challenge at first, if your dog is having trouble you might start with just soaking the kibble and stuffing the Kong and refrigerating it. If it's just chilled, not frozen, it will be much easier to get the food out, which can be helpful at first. We're happy you found the video to be useful and we hope you enjoy our other videos!
Thanks BarkingBakers, we hope to be loading up more stuff soon. So much going on behind the scenes keeping us busy. Jamie will be putting up a Quick Tips later today so keep and eye out for that as well.
This is how we condition all our service dog candidates. Very near 100% success rate to condition a nice quiet, calm dog. Thank you Kelly Dunbar for a great how-to!
I just got Kong for my dog. I got red classic, M size. Goood!! thank you for this toy. I can't believe I have an hour or even two for myself for the first time since I got him (in march this year). Now I miss him 😂😂 but trully amazing thing! Thank you for interesting filling idea. I will try tomorrow. I love that look at 5:00 mins 😂😂😂 Sending love ❤
Thank you! I can't wait to try the frozen method for my growing Boston Terrier TseTse. I have given it to her with kibble in it and tried to do a seal with peanut butter on the top. She loves it, but mostly she loves rolling it around to get the kibble out. I did order her the puppy size because that's what she is. I can see Kong's being a lifelong pleasure for her! I don't feed her chicken because every dog I've ever had became allergic to it. She's getting a good brand of puppy kibble, and I want her to not have tooth problems later in life. So not sure I want to get her started on mushy foods...but I can see that she will need some for her Kong. Got some kibble soaking in water now and will try your methods/recipes maybe tomorrow night. We got our hands full, and to have her learn to enjoy and take her time with food will be a miracle! Was surprised that honey is on the list of things puppies/dogs can have. Do be careful though, as many of the store bought honeys are not 100% honey!!!
We're glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Yes, getting a puppy or dog to enjoy eating from a Kong or other toy can be a real game-changer and freezing is a great way to increase the time it takes them to get the food out. Best of luck with TseTse!
This was super helpful! The concept of stuffing a kong seems so easy but I always get stuck when thinking of what/how to put food in it. I always used to learn best by reading, but lately it seems really helpful to actually see it. Looking forward to more videos, as always.
Thanks Cindy S, we are glad you found it useful. We try to give our info in as many ways a possible so that everyone who learns differently can get something out of it. We have a lot of written info on our website for free if you want to check that out, as as well as on our sister site DogStarDaily.com, all free of course.
It isn't because normal peanut butter has more salt or anything, it's just that some peanut butter has a chemical called xylitol that is dangerous to dogs, so you can give human peanut butter but check the ingredients for that chemical.
Hey, Kelly, You said you let the kibble soak overnight to get it goopy. Do you just leave it out, or do you refrigerate? Just wondering about the bacteria issue...
Measure out his food in the morning and then put some of it into chewtoys and save the rest in a jar for training throughout the day. If there's any leftover, you can put in chew toys for tomorrow. If you want to get more value out of your stuffed chew toys, moisten and freeze it and it will take your dog much longer to empty each one. -Jamie
For starting my 9wk old aussie just starting with this way of eating, should I get the medium puppy kong or an adult medium kong? I'm guessing the puppy one is softer? Thanks so much!
Yes, the puppy one is softer and puppies often like them better. You can also try the Planet Dog Snoop, it's another of our favorites. It's especially good for dry kibble. -Jamie
My concern is that the sticky gooey food will get into the dog bed and other places in the home. Also I use dehydrated raw, and I don’t like the idea of wetting it because it might “go bad” if it’s left out...
8-week old pups of different breeds can be very different sizes. Generally speaking though, when it comes to Kongs, you usually need one size larger than you think. And if you get a larger one, they can grow into it later and you can go back to the store to buy a smaller one for now
Not off the top of my head, sorry. After a quick Googling it looks like some companies use proprietary materials, like, for example Zogoflex®. I don't know if that contains rubber but it might be worth looking into it. -Jamie
You can do the same thing with a smaller Kong and using the food you are already feeding the puppy. Just make sure that as the puppy grow so does the Kong, you don't want a Kong that is so small that the dog can swallow it.
@@DunbarAcademy Thanks for the response. We're getting our puppy soon, but she won't ever weigh more than 15 pounds. So, do you think we should ever graduate to the "large"?
Hey camofrog, you are correct you are not supposed to plug the hole PERMANENTLY. However you can plug it with something like cheese or freeze dried liver that will easily come out in the event a vacuum is formed. This will keep any liquids from the wet food inside form spilling out and likely already be gone by the time your dog gets deep enough in the Kong to create a vacuum of any sort.
This is a great tip Margaret, thank you for pointing it out. As always if you can buy local and organic then do so but not everyone has access to a local beekeeper, especially in large cities. Also always use honey sparingly as a treat and not in every Kong you give your dog.