How To Use the BEST Kept Secret in Dog Training
Dogs, being naturally curious and tactile creatures, have a penchant for exploration; often utilizing one tool above all others, their mouths. This behavior, known as chewing, is inherent and particularly significant in puppies. While it’s crucial to allow them to indulge in this natural instinct, this doesn’t mean it has to happen on all your nice things!.
That’s where chew toys come in! These toys serve as a constructive outlet for your dog’s chewing tendencies, providing a suitable object for engagement. Beyond being an excellent source of stimulation, chew toys contribute significantly to your dog’s overall health and wellbeing. This makes it essential to give your dog access to them. So what is the best chew toy for your dog? And how should you best use it to improve your dog’s life?
The BEST Chew Toy
The best chew toy for your dog is a hollow, rubber toy designed to be filled with food. Among the many options available, the classic Kong chew toy stands out as the most popular of these. These toys resemble a red snowman with a hollow core, and provide a safe and lasting solution because they are both durable and inedible. This feature allows you the peace of mind to leave your puppy or dog alone with the chew toy, while minimizing safety concerns.
Chew Toys to Resolve Behavior Issues
Chewing isn’t only beneficial for your dog’s overall health and wellbeing; it also holds the key to resolving a multitude of behavior problems. One of the most prevalent of these is puppy manners. At times, puppies can be like little Tasmanian devils in the home, particularly in their chewing habits. This behavior is rooted in its self-reinforcing nature, as chewing provides a satisfying tactile experience for puppies, especially when they are teething. Chewing just feels good to puppies, and understanding and channeling this instinct can play a crucial role in fostering better behavior in your companion.
So, how can we effectively utilize Kong chew toys to resolve behavioral issues in our puppies and dogs? It’s remarkably simple: feed your puppy their meals by stuffing them inside the Kong. That’s it. The objective here is to foster a deep obsession of the toy for your dog. When you get home, encourage them to pick it up by only paying them attention once they hold it. Incorporate it in as many games as you can. Fetch, tug-of-war, and hide-and-seek can all be played with a Kong!
Redirect any chewing on inappropriate objects back towards the Kong. If you are able to supervise your puppy, consider leaving the inappropriate item accessible, allowing your puppy the opportunity to chew it but choosing the toy instead. Make sure you heavily reward your puppy any time they use the Kong. Immediately remove unsuitable items if your puppy is left unattended. The key lies in consistently setting up and reinforcing the positive association with the chew toy, gradually steering your puppy towards preferring it over household items.
The Kong method isn’t limited to addressing chewing issues; it can also be applied to resolve other problem behaviors in your puppy. This same tactic can be extended to crate training, effectively tackling problems like unwanted barking and crying. Feed your puppy through the Kong by tying it, full of food, to the back corner of the crate with a small string. This will encourage your puppy to wonder deeper into the crate to access the toy without allowing them to leave with it. Overtime, this feeding in the crate will teach your puppy to enjoy their alone time in the crate by using classical conditioning. (For more, check out “Autoshaping” and “Classical Conditioning” in the Top 6 Animal Training Techniques article)
Remarkably, Kong chew toys can even be employed to resolve more complex behavioral problems like separation anxiety. Although tackling this requires a more nuanced approach, the fundamental premise stays the same. In mild cases of separation anxiety, providing a dog with a constructive activity becomes essential. Sometimes the dog just needs something to do. Much like humans, dogs need a way to pass the time, and they can only sleep for so long. After all, what do you do while you are home alone? Your dog cannot watch TV or read a book, so chew toys serve as a canine hobby, offering mental stimulation and alleviating boredom.
Note: Severe separation anxiety issues are complicated and best addressed under the guidance of an animal behavior expert. While chew toys can be a valuable component, comprehensive strategies may be necessary to address deeper emotional concerns in dogs experiencing severe separation anxiety. (see a full guide on separation anxiety here)
Finally, it’s crucial to emphasize that you don’t have to reserve Kong chew toys solely for addressing behavioral problems. These toys serve as excellent tools for instructing your dog on desired behaviors as well. The approach for both preventing and resolving behavioral issues remains the same when incorporating chew toys into your training regimen.
How to Use a Kong Chew Toy
Now that we know Kong chew toys can be used to resolve and prevent a variety of behavior problems, how do we use them? As stated earlier, Kongs are best used by feeding your dog’s meals exclusively through them. This is the magic in these toys. It takes something extremely valuable that your dog normally gets for free in a bowl and turns it into one of the best tools for training out there.
While all this is great, dogs aren’t born knowing how to use these toys. They must be taught. The way to teach them is by slowly making it more and more difficult for your dog to finish and clean the Kong. Start by measuring out your dog’s full daily allotment of kibble (or whatever diet you feed) and stuffing it inside of as many chew toys as it takes. Then give your dog the toy either immediately before you leave, they go in the crate, or at meal time. At first, they’ll sniff, paw, and nudge at it until it eventually roles around and they notice food falls out. For each piece of food they get your dog will be continuously reinforced for all the behaviors you want. After all, it’s physically impossible for your dog to bark and chew at the same time or chew two items at once! This is the first difficulty level, and your puppy’s session with a chew toy should last about 5-10 minutes at this stage.
Once your puppy is completely finishing their meals at the first difficulty level and learns that this toy is pretty fun, it’s time to move to the next difficulty level. To do this, make finishing their meal more difficult by smearing some adhesive food like peanut butter or honey on the inner walls of the toy. This will make it a bit more difficult for your dog to finish their meals, and should last about 15-30 minutes.
As a final difficulty, you can soak your dog’s kibble in water or broth until it becomes a paste consistency. Then pour it into the Kong (it helps to plug one end), and place it in the freezer overnight. This will last the longest for your dog and could take as many as 1-3 hours or more for your dog to finish! Just like with people, working on a project all morning can be exhausting for your dog, and when they’re finished all they will want is a nap!
Remember this is a general guide. There is more than one way to execute this training. With Kong chew toys, your imagination is the limit. As a special treat, you might put some extra delicious food like meat or cheese at the bottom of the chew toy so they have to work to get it. Freeze it with the peanut butter or honey. Mix and match these difficulties to create three different layers within the toy. Make things easier on yourself by purchasing multiple toys and prepping all your dog’s meals ahead of time. Think outside the box. Soon your dog will learn to love their Kong and look forward to their alone time with it.
A couple words of caution:
- When freezing the Kong, it can be good to push a straw through and then remove it before giving it to your dog. This will prevent a vacuum effect as they’re licking the food out so their jaw does not get stuck in the toy. Although this is a rare occurrence, it is still possible.
- Watch for any sign of guarding behavior. This approach with chew toys is not intended for dogs that guard high value objects like food and toys. If you have a guarding issue, check out our post on resource guarding.
In Summary…
Kong chew toys are one of the most useful tools in all of dog training. They allow your dog to engage in a natural behavior that they love, while keeping owner’s sanity intact! Chew toys can be used to resolve behavioral issues, prevent any from arising, and more. The number one adjustment you can make to help your new dog or puppy is to feed them through their Kong. Chewing should be encouraged! So long it is on objects that are ok to chew. Set your dog up right and get them a Kong!
