Kongs and other puzzle toys are great enrichment tools. They provide oh-so-necessary mental exercise and are a simple way to improve your dog’s life. Here’s how I make Kong-prep easy for myself so that my dogs always have fresh frozen Kongs ready at a moment’s notice.
1. Gather all of the clean toys you’d like to stuff. You’ll need multiple puzzle toys for this. Ask your local pet business if you can receive a quantity discount for ordering a number of toys at once to support small business! If that’s not feasible in your area, there are also great deals available online. I prefer Kong toys, as they’ve historically been the most durable and easiest to clean/stuff (also pictured: Premier’s Linkables and Twist ‘n Treat toys).
2. Assemble your ingredients. I like to stuff both moist and dry food in my dogs’ Kongs. Place the moist ingredients in a ziploc baggie and cut the bottom corner off to make a homemade pastry bag in order to save on time. This time around I used a mixture of canned dog food, canned pumpkin, and baby food. Dry ingredients included kibble, a few dog treats that were left in the bottoms of packages, baby carrots which were old and a little bendy, and cheddar cheese that was one day past its expiration date and needed to be used up.
3. Place toys in a glass with the large hole facing up and begin filling them. The glass will hold the toy in place while you stuff it. Alternate wet and dry layers until the toy is full, finishing with a wet layer. Place the Kong toy in your freezer (small quantities can be placed in the freezer door, or larger quantities can be kept in a bin in the main compartment of the freezer).
4. Pull out a frozen Kong toy whenever you need one! Unexpected visitors, grooming time, and crate confinement are all times when my dogs may receive Kongs. Make sure to consider the amount of food your dog received from his Kong when you feed him so that he stays slim.
Do you have any tips to make Kong-stuffing go more quickly? Please share them here!
Paws Abilities 
I don’t know about stuffing the Kong toys but I sure am good at UNstuffing them VERY quickly!
:-)
HERO
I use bananas a lot. My dogs love them, one squishy banana, one kong.
Careful with baby food, as it can have onions, toxic for dogs (no problem with big dogs, but harmful for little ones).
I should be better about always having stuffed Kongs on hand. Do you find they get freezer burned, and if they do, do the dogs care?
I use a lot of canned green tripe in Kongs because the dogs go crazy for it and it’s so good for them.
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I have tried this method and simply using a spoon to fill the Kongs. I find both methods cumbersome. It could be that I’m just clumsy or perhaps I cut too much of the corner of the bag off. I will probably just stick to reusable pastry bags to fill my Kong’s for now. But I think using the glass to hold the Kong in place is genius! I wrap the bottom of the Kongs with plastic wrap to keep any liquids from draining out the bottom. It will easily peel off after it’s been frozen. Just an idea.
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