Play with your food

This is our third day of over 100 degree weather.  The heat isn’t so bad as the ground ozone levels.  When I go outside, I feel like I’m breathing in more ozone than oxygen by a long shot.

Fortunately, unlike a chunk of my extended family up north, we’re not without power and the dogs get to keep cool in the air conditioning.  They’ve been getting to play with their food for the last few days for some mental stimulation and a little extra movement.

Previously, only Gambit has used feeding toys on a regular basis.  He was a very bright and energetic puppy who gulped down his food too quickly, and we attempted to reduce his destruction and nausea through a Kibble Nibble.

He enjoyed that purple egg with rubber bumpers so much at first that if I put his food in his bowl, he’d stare at me waiting for it to be put in the egg.  He knew exactly how to rock it to maximize kibble output and would carry it over to me to open if he couldn’t get the last few kibbles out, but eventually outsmarted the toy.

At that point, it was done as a good feeding toy.  As soon as he was given the egg, he would use the raised rubber pieces as grips so he could unscrew it and get to the food jackpot.  The entire meal had to be supervised with praise and scolding every second of the way.  If it wasn’t, he’d open the egg and chew on the threads a bit.  It now takes about 30 tries to close the egg.

Rusty’s food used to be too big for the egg’s holes, and Edwin had no interest in stuffed Kongs beyond peanut butter at the very opening, so they hadn’t used it in the past.  Gambit also got a Kong Wobbler a few months ago that he just learned how to open but it takes a bit longer.

Rusty is now a pro at the feeding toys.  He only nudges the Kibble Nibble with his nose since it’s almost as tall as his short legs, but he’s really good with the Wobbler.

Edwin is surprisingly willing to eat meals out of the regular Kong.  Despite his hesitance to learn, he also picked up on the egg right away.

Okay, so I had to remind him to roll it and not just reach in with his tongue, but he mostly understood the concept.

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