Has anyone any experience with Kong overload at all? (if there even is such a thing) My pup will typically take around 30 mins to empty out a frozen Kong and my go to is 2 Kongs at breakfast, lunch and dinner so I get a reliable hour each meal where I know he is content and occupied. However aside from walks/play and training sessions I struggle to effectively fill out the day for him before he starts becoming destructive so my thought was to up the Kong intake each meal to say 3 or 4, however I had a concern that it might be too much and he may eventually get bored of Kongs and thus ruin their usefulness. Has anyone experienced anything like this or am I just overanalysing things here (Its an object filled with food and labs love food, how could that possibly be a bad thing right?) Also, out of general interest, what is everyone else's daily Kong routine like? Every mealtime? Just when you're leaving the house?
For me, that would be too many Kongs in that you're getting dangerously close to "puppies should be seen and not heard" territory. A puppy's inquisitiveness and, yes, destructiveness, is an important developmental stage and suppressing it could have long-lasting detrimental implications. You need to find a range of constructive ways of occupying your puppy that can include Kongs, for sure, but isn't limited to them. Give him a few cardboard boxes to rip up. Get toilet roll middles and fold kibble into them. Pile boxes and pans up and hide kibble in amongst it. Hide food around the room for him to find. Use a snuffle mat. Kongs are great, but over-reliance on them isn't healthy. Six Kongs a day for a healthy puppy is already way OTT in my book, and I certainly wouldn't be increasing it. If your puppy was on crate rest for injury it may be another matter, but for a normal puppy, I find it excessive. How old is your puppy? My adult dogs sometimes don't get any Kongs at all in a day. On exceptional days they may get four, but that would be once in a blue moon. As a puppy, Luna, who was definitely the most high-maintenance of the three, would probably have three a day most days.
Rory has 2 when I go to work. One is given as I leave and I hide the other one so he has a bit of a hunt too. He seems happy with that he's nearly 5 so he's much more chilled than a pup. I also use the khong lotus equivalent for him but because it's fabric only if I'm with him. I couldn't use boxes or cardboard tubes with Rory because he would eat them even when closely supervised. I also got a wide selection of puzzle toys which he loves.
Are the kongs filled with part of his meals? If they are as well as his meals he will get overweight rather quickly. Kongs are meant as a treat toy. Mine get their treat after a long walk.
Gotcha, I never thought about it that way actually, perhaps I am going a little OTT... What sort of long lasting implications are we talking about here? Incidentally, I do use snuffle mats, hiding treats about the place etc and a variety of other activities. We tried cardboard boxes once but found he just wanted to swallow them so stopped doing that, also empty milk cartons but had the same problem. He has a variety of different toys but they don't seem to hold his interest long, same goes for playing with me (I guess I must be really boring!). He enjoys his training sessions but there's only so much kibble to go through before I'd just be overfeeding him and obviously being a pup, we're limited in how long we can go walks for too... I guess I'm just struggling for ideas to occupy him before he decides that the wires behind the TV or the pipes of the radiator look fun
They're from his allowance. Each morning I measure out his entire allowance then split it into kibble for kongs, kibble for training etc... That way I can be sure I'm not overfeeding
If a puppy isn't able to spend plenty of time doing the things that puppies do, they run the risk of being developmentally stunted, not learning normal life lessons. That could lead to a dog that is more fearful of novel situations. Just like babies learning to crawl, putting different things in their mouths, grabbing, pulling etc. Your puppy needs to learn to use his body and all of his senses. See how children who are allowed to play in the mud, create forts etc differ from those who are simply plonked in front of the TV for their entertainment. A bit of TV can be stress-relieving and even educational. Too much is not good for development.
My kongs so far have been really simple as Chewie can lose interest if they are too hard. Mostly kibble with some mashed sweet potato or unsweetened yoghurt. Tried carrot and... let's just say he can't digest it properly. Also, the fish for dogs squares make a great plug for a puppy kong. I might give him a frozen one today and see how he goes now that he is a bit bigger. Also try some apple soon.
Come pay day think I am going to try out some of these idea and see if it helps Balder when I have to leave the house for a few hours.
I haven't had one that just split, they are the longest lasting toys we've had! Def would say to contact the company.
I put small chopped carrots and some of his kibble inside of it. Then I use a very little KONG brand puppy flavored spray (like spray cheese) to seal the hole. Then freeze. It takes a bit to lick the frozen cheese and then he gets the carrots (finely chopped) and kibble.
