How to give my dog everything he needs but not everything he wants!

krlyr

Wet food can go in a Kong. You can mash it with a fork, mix in some dry, and stuff the Kong. Frozen Kongs last even longer - but build up to that slowly, if it's too challenging then the dog may get bored or frustrated and ignore it.

The Green feeder can be used with wet or dry too. Things like activity balls, Kong Wobbler, etc. would be dry only, but you could make it more interesting with a mix of treats - so a handful of dry biscuits, a small bit of cheese cut into cubes, some chopped up hotdog, etc. so it's a bit more interesting.

coinxoperated

Thanks both

I think that's where I'm going wrong! I'm ignoring but not reinforcing what I DO want him to do! Seems so simple now you've said it!

A shop for goodies for the new training to begin is on the cards! Thanks so much for all the advice

Raksha

I think the Wobbler might be a bit on the big side for a Chi cross, but Busy Buddie Squirrel dudes or tug a jug come in a veriety of sizes, as do Kongs ofcourse

krlyr

The Company of Animals do a smaller version of the Wobbler (don't know if the Kong one comes in different sizes)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dog-Treat-Dispenser-Pyramid-Small/dp/B0045S4SD8/ref=sr_1_7?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1384089984&sr=1-7&keywords=dog+pyramid

The treat maze also comes in small
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Company-of-Animals-Limited/dp/B00CDOVIXO/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1384090011&sr=1-3&keywords=dog+treat+maze

I use the Busy Buddie squirrels as well as Kongs, the squirrel has these rubber prongs you can trim to adjust the difficulty of the toy (longer the prongs, harder it is for the food to get out) which is good. I've cut them completely off since I freeze their food in it anyway, so it's already quite tough, but they should help prevent dry food on its own falling out so easily.

Lots of ideas here too
http://www.traininglines.co.uk/treat-dispensing-toys/


If you're using treat dispensing toys a lot, remember to monitor how much you're feeding. You may find it helps to use a scoop/cup to take his daily amount of food out and then top up the toys from this cup - then you know he's just getting the same amount of food, but spread over the course of the day.

Wellyboots6

With the wet food try mixing the biscuits in to it and then freezing it in blocks (I use take-away containers). Then if you pop the food out when it is frozen and give pooch the solid block, they can have hours of fun scooting it across a wooden/tile/lino floor. You then get to have hours of fun cleaning up the sticky mess afterwards Not great on carpet though!

Raksha

The Dog pyramid is a pain to get a whole Springer or Labradoodle sized meal in, and difficult to clean ( just don't ask about the slug that went looking for some crumbs when one of ours was left in the garden....)