# Food Toys



## LOVEisGOLDEN (Jan 4, 2008)

nicely written, thank you. a 2-liter (clean) bottle with a few kibble sized holes punched in it, makes a nice cheap meal toy.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

I just bought the 'Linkables' elbows after you recommended them for our future puppy. I let my parent's dog, Bea, try them out. She LOVED it. Actually, the dogs love all of the treat/food dispensing foods like the kong a buster cube. They really do provide the dog with something interactive to do and it keeps them mentally stimulated. 

I think your advice is always great.  I especially thank you for this recommendation!


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## Mal (Apr 21, 2010)

Thank you for posting this! I'll be keeping my eye open for different food dispensing toys from now on. My little guy is an explorer so I think this will be a big hit with him!

Thanks so much for all of your advice.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

Which food toys do you recommend? We have the atomic treat ball, kongs, and the buster cube. We tried the tug-a-jug, but Maya had a hard time figuring it out, and just gave up. She also chewed the rope off it (I know, my fault for not supervising well enough). I like that the buster cube takes her a while to get the food out, but it also takes a while to fill up, and sometimes the food doesn't come out fast enough to keep her interested. I looked at the kibble nibble in the pet store this week. Is that a good one? We started always feeding her with these because she gobbled her food down so fast I was worried she was going to choke or bloat. She would often cough quite a bit after inhaling her food from her bowl.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Great advice!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

I'd love to hear people's suggestions for what food dispensing toys are their favorites. Flora's alone a lot or stuck in my office with me; one of these might be a good way to keep her entertained while I work!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

The kong wobbler is my favourite, by far. Ranger learned how to work it within a minute but it still took him at least 20 minutes to get his supper (1 cup of small size kibbles) out of it. By the end he was panting from using his brain and went off for a thirty minute nap. 

I tried the a-maze-ball and it wasn't anything special. Not to mention annoying to fill up. I also sometimes throw Ranger's supper in the backyard on a nice day so he has to sniff and hunt around for it. 

Kong wobbler for the win!


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## GoldenJoy (Jul 30, 2009)

We love our Kongs! Joy also has a rubber toy that looks like a barbell and is hollow on both round ends. We fill it with kibble, and she has to bounce the kibble out. She also loves her hollow soccer ball. I put two or three big milkbones in there, and she can roll it for 20 - 30 minutes trying to get them out!


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Tug a jug: It's the hardest of the premier toys. If you have an older one, with a plastic "rope", you can remove the rope to make it easier and put it back in once your dog has more experience. When a dog is really good at the tug a jug and kibble nibble, you can put ping pong balls/tennis balls/crumpled paper/etc that makes it harder for the kibbles to come out.

My dogs love the linkables but they aren't very hard and you can't make it harder like with the above two. If anyone is getting these..I recommend just buying the elbow pieces. 

The kong wobbler and the Nina Ottoson pyramid/tornado are similar...I don't have either one yet!

It's great to hear what everyone else is up to! The water bottles is a great idea. milk jugs, other containers, and even kibble tossed out into grass can all be other sorts of variations. 

Melissa, I'm glad to hear the linkables were enjoyed!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I like:

Kongs
Buster Cubes
Kibble Nibbles
Tug A Jugs
Squirrel Dudes


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## macchelle (Dec 28, 2008)

Okay, how do you make sure that each dog is getting the correct amount of food? My concern is that Molly is a picky/slow eater and Mosby is a vacuum. If I give them toys to eat their meals through I am afraid that Molly would never have an opportunity to eat because Mosby would be all over her food and his. Right now I have to physically stand guard over Molly while she eats because she will walk away from her bowl if disturbed. I would love to do the toy feeding for Mosby because he really does inhale his food and I think would greatly benefit from learning while eating.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

macchelle said:


> Okay, how do you make sure that each dog is getting the correct amount of food? My concern is that Molly is a picky/slow eater and Mosby is a vacuum. If I give them toys to eat their meals through I am afraid that Molly would never have an opportunity to eat because Mosby would be all over her food and his. Right now I have to physically stand guard over Molly while she eats because she will walk away from her bowl if disturbed. I would love to do the toy feeding for Mosby because he really does inhale his food and I think would greatly benefit from learning while eating.


We had a friend with a golden live with us for a few months, and I fed Maya with her food-dispensing toys during that time. It wasn't an issue at all. All I did was separate the dogs. I would put Maya in a bedroom by herself or put Sophie in the finished basement for the 15 minutes or so it took for her to eat. I let her out when she had eaten all her food. We didn't have any problems.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Measure food. Dispense toys in separate rooms/gated areas.

Stuff like kongs filled with soaked and frozen kibble can be given in crates, but toys that drop out dry kibble don't work as well in crates... some of the kibbles go outside the wires and my dogs get quite sad!


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Thankfully I do not have food aggressive dogs, but what suggestions do you make when having more than one dog and using a food dispensing device. My two eat at the same time side by side. I did at one time have a food dispensing toy, but one seemed to do all the work by knocking the food out and the other learned to follow and gobble it all up! We don't use crates. 

OMGoodness...I swear you just read my mind!


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## scottie (Oct 1, 2007)

I used a kong and buster cube when Charlie was a pup and they were great for amusing him and also for training him to settle down (especially the kong).
Sometimes before I go out I spend a little time hiding bits of dry food or biscuits around the house still.
I do think you need to buy good quality food toys though, I bought Charlie a busy buddy twist N treat toy and he managed to eat through the plastic, luckily it was while I was there.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

The twist-n-treat does tear/break quite a bit. Most dogs LOVE doing that with it..but it's a little too expensive for that to be a frequent activity! It's not so great for kibble dispensing but can work as a frozen-soggy-food type dispenser for dogs who are not keen on chewing.


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