What Do You Stuff Your Kongs With?

[FluffyDuff]

So when I leave for work at 930pm I always give Frostie a kong filled with various things. He is now starting to NOT want to go into his crate when it is time for me to leave. I don't make a big production out of it. I turn on the box fan, turn on the TV to a Classic Country channel, grab his kong out of the freezer, let him sniff it and get all excited and then off to the bedroom we go. He is starting to turn around and leave the bedroom and his kong. Iv'e been stuffing it with treats, kibble soaked in warm water or low sodium broth and then plugging the hole with peanut butter. When his is let out of his crate at 1130pm or 130am depending on what time my husband gets off work, Frostie usually brings his kong with him to finish it because he hasn't hardly touched it. I'm looking to fill his kong with some enticing, too good to ignore food. Today I'm trying some kibble, peanut butter, and come canned dog food with more peanut butter to seal the end.

 

Honestly I would just like to not crate him, but we have only had him since April 4th and we are still learning from him. I am happy to say that last night we left his crate door open and just pet gated him in our bedroom and let him free roam the bedroom. We awoke this morning to absolutely nothing wrong or disturbed. He first slept on the floor by the closet but later that night he did go to his crate to sleep on his bed. If it wasn't for our 2 cats, I would probably try and leave him uncrated, but if something happened to one of our cats I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. He hasn't tried anything with the cats to make me think he would hurt one but.......... If no one was home and the cats got into one of their zoomie parties and were tearing throught the house I wonder if he would try to join in or no.

 

 

 

 

 

[2greyhoundMINI]

We actually ONLY put peanut butter in our Kongs.

But we don't use them to crate them either... they go in just by saying "crate".

 

There was a week or 2 where June suddenly didn't want to go in her crate anymore. We would coax her in and gave her lots of praise. She hasn't minded at all since.

Edited April 14, 2014 by 2greyhoundMINI

[Guest OPointyDog]

We have special "crate cookies" that they only get for when they are crated. Zoe knows the sound of the bag rattling and will sprint through the house to get into her crate to get one! They are extra yummy apparently.

 

As for kongs, I've put all kinds of things in them. Leftovers - rice, boiled hamburger, pasta, soaked dog food, etc. Our current filler is canned pumpkin mixed with broken dog cookies. I just smear it all over the inside of the wall of the kong, then put some big broken cookies that are hard to get out. Then peanut butter to plug the hole. Then into the freezer. It takes them about 15-20 minutes to finish one. Zoe has learned to throw them, unfortunately. It does get the cookies out faster!

[schultzlc]

My pups are big fans of yogurt, so I will usually put yogurt inside and freeze it so that it takes longer for them to get everything out of the Kong.

[2greyhoundMINI]

I maybe need to start freezing them... June, especially can lick the inside of one clean in minutes. She's such a little mooch!

[Walliered]

I would not crate him. I would just use the baby gate. Anyway, that is the way it is at my house. No problems at all.

[KristenMichele]

When u do yougurt or peanut butter and freeze it when it melts is there a huge mess?? What size kong did u buy? I have a large but im worried about the mess.

Edited April 15, 2014 by KristenMichele

[FluffyDuff]

When u do yougurt or peanut butter and freeze it when it melts is there a huge mess?? What size kong did u buy? I have a large but im worried about the mess.

 

I have 2 kongs, a large and an x-large. So far there have been no problems with the peanut butter when it melts. I haven't tried yogurt yet.

[Guest FreeholdHound]

Peanut butter, yogurt/banana, Honest kitchen - always frozen in XL Kong.

[RedHead]

My dogs don't always eat everything in their kongs so I try to put non-drippy stuff in. I often stuff it with leftover shredded meat from chicken or roasts which they love. They also like a bit of cream cheese or cheese cubes which aren't too messy. I also try to mix it up so it doesn't get too boring and is always new and interesting.

[sobesmom]

Chicken, cheese, cream cheese, dinner leftovers, canned dogfood, cooked veggies, rice, pasta, bananas, greek yogurt, liver treats, hamburger, pot roast, etc. Any combination of the above - even weird ones like yogurt and hamburger. The trick is to mix it up - don't do the same thing two days in a row.

 

We used the medium Kong and froze it for Sobe.

 

I'm not a big crater - so maybe you could consider the babygating in the kitchen (or other appropriate room) option.

 

Oh - and I wouldn't let him finish his Kong when your DH gets home and is let out of the crate. He should take it away and stick it back in the freezer if it's still full. Kongs are special treats for being good when home alone - you can't have them ANY other time or they loose their "special-ness". DH can give him some other treat if he wants - but Kongs are SPECIAL for leave-alone time ONLY. It makes them more appealing.

[rschultz]

When u do yougurt or peanut butter and freeze it when it melts is there a huge mess?? What size kong did u buy? I have a large but im worried about the mess.

I freeze the yogurt all the time. I think Lexie licks it so fast there is no mess, at least I never see one when I come home.

[Guest roweboy]

We've had our grey for just over two months and we have 4 cats. It's been a big advantage that I work from home, but still there are times I need to be away for several hours. At first I always crated when I left, but he had very little interest in the kong game at that time, no matter what was in it. Our cats have multiple escape routes if they need them and one escape is a chained door to the basement that the dog can't possibly get through. Although he's not a terribly high prey driven dog, I had no experience prior to this so I wasn't about to risk my cats in any way. When I finally trusted that the cats knew how to get away and the dog began to resist crating, I left him alone for short periods uncrated but muzzled. He needed some desensitizing with the cats (we have 4) and the one he does best with is fearless. That kitty can walk over his nose when he's sleeping and stand up to check out his food while he's eating! The others are more skittish.

 

Now we're at the point that the cats have all calmed down about the new dog and know how to avoid him if they choose, and the dog stays alone without muzzle when I leave. I toss him 3 "goodbye" biscuits, turn on the radio and leave without a fuss. He's never done anything wrong - he's not a chewer or looking for trouble in any way. I think I'm very lucky to have this boy as our first greyhound experience. I think it's a good idea to really know how the dog will behave when left alone, and I accomplished that by leaving him for various times at first returning after just a few minutes. You're not leaving him alone for very long. I think he'll surprise you with how good he can be!

[wendell]

For Christmas my mom got Wendell the Kong in the shape of a bone with a hole on each end. A pupperoni broken in half fits inside perfectly and Wendell loves it. It doesn't last as long as the regular Kong, but it keeps him busy for while when I need him out of my hair.

[Guest mhastyy]

I also am curious about what to put in my new girl's kong- she doesn't like yogurt or peanut butter!

 

I tried mashing up a little bit of banana and mixing it with some crushed treats, which went over ok. Maybe you could try that. I used probably about 1/4 of a banana

[Feisty49]

My Annie doesn't get kongs because she doesn't like 'em. I've tried, though not recently, but decided since she doesn't like it why bother because she doesn't need the extra calories and I don't want the potential mess. She's also never needed anything to get her over my leaving the house. She doesn't care and I assume sleeps when I'm away.

[Guest CleverJason]

Aww, he looks just like mine. I've never crated him, and he only had a couple of accidents while he adjusted to my schedule the first week. If Frostie has adjusted to your schedule, you can probably begin weaning him off the crate. But a word of caution: I would not leave him uncrated and unmuzzled with the cats. Can you sequester the cats somewhere, or have the grey wear a muzzle?

[FluffyDuff]

Well, we have abandoned everything!!! Which is a good thing! Frostie has gratuated to being out of the crate and well no crate means no kong! Instead he gets a dentastick on my way out the door. He still gets a kong every now and then when we are home but for the most part we are done with kongs! I love not crating him and having him and his wagging tail to greet me at the door. But he is getting lazy and isn't bothering even getting up! All I get is a look and a tail wag.

[Guest fueldeacon]

We usually use our wet food that we normally give them in XL kongs that we freeze. When we are gone for work we give them the Kong and Milkbone to go in their Kennel. They sprint to the Kennel when they see the milk bones.

[XTRAWLD]

Have you tried to kong site? I looked at it earlier this week by chance and they have recipes on there! Freezing also helps because they have to work for the goods that much longer.