Has your dog finally worked out the trick to emptying the kong in record speed?  Lexie has…  Or do you find they get the main part out and quickly get bored with the rest?  Lexie does…

So I have done a spot of investigating and research to see how to stuff a kong like a pro!  Apparently there are several stages to stuffing a kong, six to be precise – who knew?!  So I am going to impart my new found kong knowledge.

Step one –

Start with a clean fresh kong (kind of obvious I know – but I thought I would take the ‘idiots guide’ approach, so forgive me if I offend you).  So once you have throughly cleaned and removed all leftover food from the kong you need to plug the small end.  Peanut butter makes an excellent plug, simply push some up into the small hole (another helpful little tip – pop the kong in the freezer for a couple of hours inbetween each step – it stops it all mixing together in a mess as you go).

Step two –

Now it’s time to add the gooey stuff to your kong.  A few suggestions I found were; peanut butter (the old faithful), Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese or the Kong Liver paste.  Spread a decent layer inside the kong, trying to cover all three ribbed parts of the kong.  If you have time again pop it in the freezer for a few hours to solidify.

Step three –

Many dogs love a nice piece of fruit, so this is a great time to add some cut up apple, banana or blueberries.  Great if you are trying to keep the calories low for your pup’s daily treat.

Step four –

So step three was counting the calories, step four is the time to add a few (it is a treat after all).  So why not add some of your dogs favourite treats, maybe some small cubes of cheese, some dog friendly sausage or some kibble.  If your dog is fed kibble as part of its daily meal, then you could use some of their meal allowance in the kong, particularly if you are trying to watch their weight.

Step five –

Now to get healthy again…before we finish up with the kong let’s add a few tasty vegetables too.  Lexie loves a carrot, so why not chop up some chunks or sticks of carrot, broccoli or cucumber.

Step six –

As I mentioned in my intro some dogs are masters when it comes to clearing out a kong in record time, so a nifty little trick to make it last longer is to solidify all your ingredients together by adding some water or stock.  To make this easier, especially if you are filling more than one kong at a time, it helps to stand all your kongs in a muffin tray, pour over the water or stock and then put them in the freezer overnight.

And… Voila!

There you have it, a super tasty treat (which is also fantastic for the warm, hot days of summer) which will keep your pup entertained for more than five minutes in the day!