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Make your dog work for their meals!

Making your dog work for their meals is one of the easiest ways to add some mental stimulation to your high energy dog’s diet.

Most dogs LOVE food and mealtimes are the best times of the day. Don’t throw away the potential for a great training session by just giving your dog his meal for free! Use your pup’s excitement and food drive to your advantage to work his brain and reinforce good behavior.

By using your dog’s normal meals for training and games, you are making sure they get well-balanced food and you aren’t giving them too many extra calories. This is especially important for dogs who are overweight or have health problems.

Even more benefits of having your dog work for their meals include:

• Slows down their eating which prevents bloat and vomiting
• Adds mental stimulation and gives your dog a job
• Prevents food aggression and food bowl guarding
• Strengthens your bond with your dog
• Allows you to reinforce good behavior
• Minimizes the overstimulation of mealtime
• Builds food drive which helps with training

Work the brain and feed the belly

There are many ways to make your dog work for their meals including training, games, and puzzle toys.

In this article, I will share 7 easy ways I have Leeloo work for her food.

I use some selection of these every day and all the activities and toys have been pup tested and dog mom approved!

Start by portioning out your dog’s breakfast. Give yourself some time and have some patience! Your dog may not understand what’s going on or be overly excited.

Start slow, go slow, and only use positive reinforcement. If you or your dog get frustrated or bored, switch it up or try again later.

1. Kibble Sprinkle

Doing something as simple as spreading your dog’s food out on the floor can make meals so much more exciting. By making your dog work for their meals in this way, you stimulate your dog’s natural foraging behavior by making them use their nose to sniff out and find each kibble piece!

To try this out with your dog, start with a little bit of impulse control. Have your dog sit and stay while you spread out a small portion of their kibble on a hard floor.

You want to start with the hard floor because it will be easy for your dog to see on the kibble and will set him up for success.

Release your dog to go forage for his kibble. Make sure you encourage him and have fun with it!

You can repeat this with the rest of his meal or, if he is a natural, make it a bit harder.

To make it more challenging you can spread the food out more widely, in multiple rooms, or in the carpet. You can even take your pup outside and sprinkle his kibble in the grass! This can be really tough though due to all the fun outside smells so make sure you work your way up.

Pro-Tip: Don’t spread out your pup’s whole meal at once just in case he isn’t hungry or the environment is too stimulating for him. You don’t want to have to pull out the vacuum or waste any precious kibble!

2. Tricks for Treats (kibble)

Tricks for treats is a fun game that has your dog work for their meals. It also helps him associate you with the best stuff in the world, food! Tricks for treats is very simple. I ask my pup to do something, she does it, I say Yes! (or use a clicker if you already include that in your training) and give her a treat/food.

In this scenario, you would be giving your pup her breakfast instead of treats. Because of this, you want to stick with tricks your pup knows very well.

Some tricks that I use with Leeloo include:

• Sit
• Down
• Shake
• Roll over

Make sure you save tricks that are especially hard for your pup or brand-new commands for a time when you can give them really high-value treats.

Pro-Tip: Give your dog a handful of kibble for getting a trick correct. If you just give one kibble piece at a time your high energy pup will quickly get bored and stop listening. You always want to end your training on a positive note!

3. Breakfast to go

Today your pup will eat his breakfast on the go! Take his kibble and put it in your pocket or a wearable treat bag and head outside. For a high energy pup, EVERYTHING is harder outside. Make sure you start small and if your dog is really distracted just stand in place and give handfuls of food when he looks at you.

Here are a few things you can work on with your dog:

• Good leash behavior (walking nicely beside you, not pulling etc.)
• Eye contact
• Calm behavior
• Easy tricks
• Leave it (place kibble on the ground)

Pro-Tip: You can also do this after you already have exercised your dog for the day. That way he is a little sleepier and ready to pay attention to you!

4. Kongs

If you have ever gone to a pet store you have probably seen a Kong. Kongs are hollow rubber toys that have a big opening on top and a smaller one on the bottom. They have a fun shape and wobble around when your dog plays with them.

Kongs are one of the most popular toys at our house, and not just for chewing (although they are super tough and safe for strong chewers).

They really make your dog work for their meals!

Leeloo goes insane when I take out the Kongs because she knows something really delicious is about to happen.

To begin using a Kong for the first time, you should start by just putting a small handful of kibble into the Kong. Put it in front of your dog, knock it around a little, and encourage him to investigate it.

He will have to work to get the kibble out by sticking his tongue inside the Kong or hitting the toy to make the kibble fall out.

Because this may take your dog a little while to figure this out if he has never played with a Kong before, be patient!

Once your dog knows how to make his food come out of the Kong you can make it more challenging. Smear a tiny bit of peanut butter inside the toy and then add some kibble. Try to get the kibble to stick onto the peanut butter. This will encourage your dog to use his tongue to lick out the kibble.

For an expert Kong player, soak your dog’s kibble in water, stuff it into a Kong, and then put it in the freezer. Once frozen your dog will have to work hard to lick the food out. Kongs are also dishwasher safe!

Pro-Tip: Make sure you get the right size Kong for your dog. You don’t want them accidentally getting their snout stuck in the Kong!

5. Puzzle Feeders

Another great type of interactive toy that requires your dog to use his brain and coordination to get their food out is puzzle feeders. Depending on what type of food toy or puzzle you use it can also take your dog quite a bit of time to figure the toy out. I find that using puzzle feeders really wipes your dog out, even if it is a toy they have played with before.

Another thing I really like about puzzle feeders it that once you set up the toy it is a very dog directed activity. You can just sit back and watch your dog work for their meals.

There are lots of puzzle feeders on the market, but I’ll share three of Leeloo’s favorite puzzle feeders below.

Outward Hound Fun Feeder Slow Feed Dog Bowl

If you still want to occasionally use a bowl to deliver your dog his meals, this slow feed bowl will make your dog work a bit harder for his kibble. This slow feed bowl is very simple to use. Just spread your dog’s meal out in the toy and then let him go at it.

Leeloo loves using her mouth to maneuver around the twists and turns of the bowl to get all the kibble.

Kong Wobbler

Kong Wobbler is made by the same company as our favorite rubber Kong toys and it even looks like a giant Kong! The Wobbler has two parts, a heavy base and a top portion which has a large hole on the side.

You unscrew the top and fill it with your dog’s breakfast and then let them figure it out! Your dog will work for their meals by knocking this toy around pretty hard to get the kibble out. It can be quite loud, so might not be the best early morning toy!

Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball

Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball works in the same general way as the Kong Wobbler but it is mobile! You put your dog’s kibble into the ball through the main hole and then your pup needs to play with it. As they roll the ball around, kibble will fall out of the hole. The more they play, the more food they will get.

Pro-Tip: It is very likely your dog is not going to like every puzzle he tries. If he gets frustrated by the toy, take it away and try again later. If your dog is not interacting with the toys at all, try higher value treats inside until he gets the hang of it!

6. Hand feeding

Another way to have your dog work for their meals is through hand feeding. Hand feeding is as simple as its name suggests. Instead of putting your dog’s kibble in a bowl place a small amount in your hand. Let your dog approach you and gently eat the food from your open palm.

If your dog is going crazy or nipping at you, close your hand and move it away. When he has relaxed you can open your hand again and let them chow down (gently!). Do this a few times to finish off his meal.

Hand feeding has so many benefits for both you and your dog. It teaches him to have a soft mouth, especially with sensitive human skin! It also helps your dog learn to trust you and also prevents, and treats, resource guarding.

Pro-Tip: If your dog is nervous about eating out of your hand, be encouraging and start with big handfuls of food at first. For a skittish high-energy dog, it often helps to not make eye contact. The more you do this the more relaxed your dog will be!

7. Impulse Control Practice

Mealtime is also the perfect opportunity to practice impulse control! Waiting for all that yummy food is hard mental work. In addition, having good impulse control is critical for a high energy dog.

Practicing this with lower stakes (kibble vs. delicious Thanksgiving turkey) is key to your pup learning the basics.

In this type of training your dog will only get his kibble if he waits patiently. You could do this with his whole food bowl or with little piles of food at a time.

Have your dog sit and stay as you put his food bowl down. If he gets up, pick up the food bowl or cover the pile of food with your hands. Once he is listening, you can release him to go get his food.

You can make it harder by:

• Making your pup wait longer
• Having him stay and put his food bowl in another room
• Turning your back on your dog and see if he still waits

Pro-Tip: Make sure your dog has a solid stay and release cue before working impulse control. This will prevent your dog from being confused and let you focus on one piece of training at a time

Get to Work!

Now that you have some tools to make your dog work for their meals, you can add this to your daily routine.  As a result will notice your high energy dog will be calmer and more relaxed after working his brain! Remember, you don’t need to do all the activities each day. Choose ones you and your dog enjoy and have time for.

Try out these activities and let me know what you and your pup think! Do you have any other ways you have your dog work for their meals?