A Guide to Dog Interactive Feeding
Published date: 28 February 2024
Does your dog get bored? The perfect way to stave off boredom and encourage eating is to make dinnertime more exciting. So how can you make meals more fun?
Ditch the Bowl!
Ditch the Bowl! Did you know dogs have over 200 million odour receptors in their nose? This is in comparison to our rather pathetic 5 million…
Dogs have this remarkable sense of smell and using their nose is both fun and tiring. So, rather than giving them their delicious dinner in a normal bowl, instead make it a more interactive activity.
The Frogg Interactive Feeding Toy range and Licki Matts are easy and versatile ways to make feeding fun. These can be stuffed or smeared with their normal diet, delicious wet foods and pates and even frozen to cool down and challenge your furry friend.
Try Scatter Feeding
Interactive feeding doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply scattering your dogs food on the floor or in the garden is a fabulous way to make dinner more exciting.
The trick is to start slow and increase the difficulty as your pooch gets more confident. Start with scattering food over a hard surface indoors or outdoors. Once your dog gets better at using their nose, pop out a few piles of food for them to find. Eventually you can really increase the difficulty (and excitement) and hide pieces of food under items such as plant pots.
Remember games arent fun, if they are frustrating. If your dog is struggling bring them closer to the location of the food or throw a couple of treats near by.
Create a DIY Game
Creating some games at home is easy, can be very cost-effective and is a great way to support the environment.
Got a spare cardboard box? Cut some holes in it and hide some treats inside, this encourages your pet to sniff out their dinner.
Got an old Yorkshire pudding or Muffin Tray? Tip it upside down, sprinkle on some of their kibble and smear some of their wet food over it. This will slow down your dog eating and excite their senses.
Why not play a game of Hide and Seek? Make sure to have a few tasty treats on you for when your dog wins!
Mental enrichment really is key to keeping your pet happy and healthy, so get inventive and have fun with their food.
For more advice or to search for toys and treats to get started, head over to your local Pets Corner store.
