The World's Simplest Free Dog Toy

Aidan's picture

I've long since thrown out our dog food bowls, I feed mostly raw anyway. But after reading BrainWork for Smart Dogs I've decided never to just give my dogs a free meal ever again.

Yesterday I poured two cups of premium dry food (not one of the recall list foods) into an empty 2 litre plastic milk bottle with the lid off (see safety tip in comments). Sabella had a great time flipping it, punching it, kicking it, shaking it - whatever she could to make the food spill out.

We went out with Django for 3 hours. When we got home there was still about half a cup of food left, which she had fun getting out when we returned from our evening walk.

Such a simple idea, and so beneficial. Total investment of my time = 30 seconds. Total additional cost $0.00 Total 'active' time for Sabella, maybe an hour all up. That means I got a 120:1 dividend on my time.

The "Dog Whisperer", Cesar Millan, recommends up to 4 hours of exercise a day for your dog. I don't have 4 hours, I can afford 1.5 at the most, and that's if I make up for lost time on the weekends. If I use my brain, I can reduce my total input to about 2 minutes to give Sabella 4 hours of meaningful activity.

Not that I would want to reduce my time spent doing meaningful activities with my dogs to 2 minutes, but if I'm pushed for time it's nice to know that my dogs don't have to suffer.


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Comments

Multiple dogs and potential conflicts over toys and food

I'm a fan of the "puzzle food toys" that are available from various manufacturers (the "Buster Cube," "Kongs," "Squirrel Dudes," and the like) and think the milk jug idea is even better (since it's free)!

But I can anticipate two problems with my own dogs:

Brandy loves to crunch soda bottles to the point that she tears them and I'd be concerned that she'd do the same to a milk jug and cut herself on the edges of the torn plastic.

and

Now that Nico's as food-obsessed as Brandy is (brought on by a long course of prednisone, but, hey, it's making training him even easier!) they're starting to have little spats over food. (Before, Nico would just give Brandy whatever she wanted if he wasn't able to finish his first.) So I'd probably have to supervise them while they were playing with/hunting out of the milk bottles.

Any other suggestions for ways to keep them busy when we're gone?

Ann Dupuis
Your Dream Dog
http://yourdreamdog.com

Aidan's picture

A couple of ideas...

I chose the milk bottle because it's a really soft plastic. They may not be where you live, but the bottles we get in Australia are perfect.

Of course, a cardboard milk or juice carton is almost as good. I also like to tape up old boxes with food in them.

I worry a little bit about leaving my dogs alone with food, not because of any history here, but it could happen. This was a toy to keep Sabella occupied while we were out with Django, so it was an ideal time to give it to her.

If you have multiple dogs with any resource guarding issues I wouldn't take the chance on leaving them unsupervised with food.

The key is to find activities which give our dogs something meaningful to do (solving a puzzle to get food is VERY meaningful to a dog). It doesn't matter if you can only do this when you're home, it can be while you prepare dinner or get the kids off to school or whatever. Half an hour of this sort of activity has got to be worth at least an hour and a half of on-leash walking.

If you do something like this every day on top of your normal exercise and training, then your dogs will look forward to you going off for the day so they can catch up on their sleep!

That's the sort of 'ideal' I'm trying to achieve ;-)

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

More ideas

In zoos, the keepers put food in an iceblock, and the animals then take a long time to eat it. It would be great on a hot day too.

Also hiding food in the yard, and letting them find it. They are never sure when they have found the last bit of food, so are encouraged to keep looking.

A walk first thing in the morning, or a game (fetch, swimming, or frisbee, means you dont have to do as much work). Then the dogs are more likely to sleep for at least part of the day.

Something to look at, instead of bare walls or fences. Can your dogs see outside? something going on out there, even traffic, helps keep them occupied.

Aidan's picture

Great ideas!

I love those ideas, Bluefilly. One thing I used to do (note to self: start doing this again) was soak food or mix it with veggie mush and stuff it into a kong, then freeze it. You can do this with home-made or commercial food.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

Aidan's picture

Safety tip

Anne Boxhall, who writes a great pet column in the Tasmanian newspaper "The Mercury" pointed out that it's a good idea to remove that little plastic ring that stays behind when you remove the bottle top. It presents a choking hazard or bowel obstruction hazard for dogs if they swallow it.

I'd hate to see any dogs get hurt, so make sure you remember to remove the plastic ring!

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

Mouthy/nippy situation comment moved...

... to http://positivepetzine.com/?q=node/66 and answered there.