Boredom Busters for Dogs: A Back-to-School Guide to Puzzle Toys
Caline Maalouf
Every fall, as we go back to school and overload our human schedules, dogs everywhere get a little bored. Bored dogs are expert mischief makers, and they give their humans a devil of a time during conference calls or when they are left alone (to chew up furniture) for hours on end. The solution? Give your dog a job too! That’s where puzzles come in. At AGDT, we recommend Kong to all of our clients as a tool to address an array of issues, from settling, to feeding, and even separation anxiety. It’s safe to say that we love Kongs!
But Kongs aren’t the only puzzle toy around. There are hundreds of brands of unique toys on the market, with varying degrees of size, material, and difficulty. With all of the options available, it can be difficult to sort through what is right for your dog. In addition, there are loads of free things you can do, if you’d rather not purchase a bunch of toys.
What are the benefits of puzzle toys?
Ever hear the old saying “idle hands are the devil’s workshop”?
Because humans aren’t capable of providing every ounce of mental and physical stimulation that a dog requires (without passing out from exhaustion), dogs often find ways to entertain themselves that are irritating to us. They chew up our shoes, jump on our laps during conference calls, bark at the neighbors, and get the zoomies right at that moment that you were about to present your best pitch to your boss. The solution is to provide them with toys that can provide them with necessary mental stimulation at times that work for you.
If you introduce a puzzle toy into their downtime, especially during times when you need to focus and encourage them to wind down, you’ll not only find that they’re content for longer durations of time, but you’ll likely see a decrease in their zoomies and overall anxiety. This is because these types of activities provide an outlet for your dog to focus on a task, which helps them relax.
We often use puzzle toys in our day programs to put anxious dogs at ease so that they can focus on training!
My AGDT trainer suggested using Kong products and puzzle toys for feeding. Why?
In all of our basic manners classes, we teach our clients to use Kongs––or similar puzzle toys––for feeding for many of the same reasons we use them for recreation. It provides relaxing mental stimulation, and satisfies your dog’s instinct to work for their food. In other words, working to extract food from a puzzle toy is good for your dog’s mental and physical health. And, because it rewards them for lying down quietly, doing something they are supposed to be doing, it trains your dog for you while you do something else.
Additionally, feeding through a puzzle toy prevents your dog from eating too fast. This aids in digestion and helps alleviate common problems such as diarrhea, gas, and obesity.
You can read more about how our trainers recommend using Kong products for feeding here!
How do I know which puzzle to buy?
We recommend keeping several Kong toys of different textures and levels of difficulty on hand to ensure feeding time remains engaging for your dog. Many of our clients have found that freezing the toy with the food already inside slows down their dog even more, and adds an extra layer of difficulty to keep dinner time exciting! It’s best, however, to start off with easy levels of toys and then work your way up to the more challenging stuff.
If you’re not sure which specific product is best for your dog, feel free to ask your favorite AGDT trainer next time you see them, or reach out to our front office. We’re always here to help!
What About Free Options?
Although we recommend store bought puzzle toys, because it’s easiest for you, and is often safer than homemade options, you don’t have to spend money to help your dog have a good time. A muffin pan, with treats in the cups, and balls on top of the treats is a cool little puzzle toy for some dogs. Scattering kibble into a shaggy rug, if you have one, or rolling them up in a towel that your dog has to unroll can also be engaging. You can also freeze mixes of kibble and wet food into big blocks that they have to chew on to excavate a bit (warning: messy!). Just be sure to supervise them so they don’t swallow chunks that are too big all at once.
Some dogs, if they aren’t power chewers, will also do okay with used water bottles. Place treats inside, and let your dog work to get them out. Again, be careful and supervise your dog to ensure they don’t chew up and ingest pieces of the bottle.