Our canine companions require a lot of enrichment and a good variety of it. Including exercise and playtime in their daily lives is easy, but how can you enrich their mealtimes? Meals can always be made more fun and exciting for our pups with dog food games, and using these means we encourage them to slow down as they eat, as well as to think.
Not only can dog food games help encourage picky eaters to eat more and fast eaters to slow down, but they also let dogs use their critical thinking skills and encourage wild instincts. Plus, it is fun for you to see your dog having a blast!
We have nine dog food games to make mealtime fun for your pup, so keep reading!
The 9 Dog Food Games to Play to Make Mealtime Fun for Your Pup
1. Scatter Feeding
If you want to enrich your dog’s mealtime but don’t have a lot of time, you can try scatter feeding. All you have to do with this dog food game is scatter some of your pup’s food on the ground for them to seek out. Ideally, you’d want to scatter it in a safe spot in your yard where the food will be somewhat hidden by grass, as this will allow your pup to work their nose and sniff out their food. You can scatter food in longer grass or in various places, such as among rocks or walkways. Scatter a handful or the whole meal; either way, your dog will have a great time using their nose!
2. Snuffle Mat
You can utilize a snuffle mat if you don’t have a yard to scatter food in but still want to let your dog use their nose to hunt their food. Snuffle mats consist of multiple fabric layers; these layers hide pieces of food and allow dogs to hunt for it. This improves their sniffing skills and encourages a canine’s natural scavenging instincts. Plus, even if you have a lawn, snuffle mats are fantastic to use during the winter when it’s too cold to be outdoors. There are different types of snuffle mats, so you’ll have to find the best one for your pup!
3. Swiss Roll Puzzle
Here’s a dog food game that takes its name from Little Debbie’s Swiss Rolls! Much like the cream in a Swiss Roll is wrapped up in chocolate, you’ll be wrapping up your dog’s food with this game.
Using a towel or other piece of fabric is easiest for this one. Simply lay out the towel or fabric, sprinkle food over it (dry food only!), and then roll the towel or fabric up. You can also create various puzzles with this method, as you can roll the towel, make knots in it, or fold it up to let your pup really use those problem-solving skills of theirs. Start easy with rolling, though, so your dog doesn’t get frustrated and give up.
Also, keep an eye on your dog for this game, especially if they like to chew on things. You don’t want your pet to eat the towel or fabric instead of the food.
4. Hide & Seek
Another quick and easy way to make mealtime exciting for your pup is to engage in a game of hide & seek! It is exactly what it sounds like, too; you hide your pup’s food around the home and let them find it. You can stick to hiding your dog’s food in a single room or use the entire house to let them really test those sniffing skills. We suggest starting out easy by hiding a lot of food in a small space, then either increasing the space or using less food.
5. Lucky Dip Box
Do you have a lot of cardboard boxes lying around? Then, you can utilize those for a lucky dip box! Cardboard boxes are a simple and inexpensive way to help your dog have more fun during mealtime. All you need to do is fill a box with towels, paper, or something similar, then scatter your pet’s food in the box. Then, they get to search for food. If you have a dog with a flat face, though, use towels or something else that is super soft rather than paper. These breeds will be more likely to accidentally scratch an eye if there’s rougher material in the box.
Of course, always supervise your dog around cardboard boxes! You don’t want your pup to ingest cardboard.
6. Bob for Treats
Summer may be nice, but the sweltering temperatures it comes with definitely aren’t. When it gets so hot that everyone seems to melt, why not let your pup bob for treats? Just fill a tub or baby pool with a couple of inches of water and toss in some treats. You probably don’t want to use dog food for this game, but you can absolutely use treats that hold up well in water, whether they’re dog treats or something like bits of carrot or apple. Doing this ensures your dog eats (which some dogs don’t like to do when it is especially hot) and lets them cool off, all while having fun.
7. Lick Mat
Lick mats not only enrich your pup during mealtimes but also slow down fast eaters, which is vital because dogs who eat too quickly are at greater risk of bloat. These mats are easy to find and provide your pet with different textures to experience while they eat, making eating more fun. Of course, these mats work with wet food rather than dry food, so if your pup eats strictly dry food, you probably want to go with a snuffle mat instead.
8. Puzzle Bowls or Toys
Puzzle bowls and toys are fantastic ways to keep your pup from scarfing down their meals. Puzzle bowls, or slow feeders, are bowls that contain grooves in different patterns; because of this your dog can’t simply stick their face in the bowl and eat. Instead, they must figure out how to get the food out with their nose and paws.
Puzzle toys are the same idea, except in this case, there could be layers a dog must move to get to food or compartments they have to open. These sorts of feeding apparatuses are extremely enriching and quite fun for dogs. Just don’t start out with a toy or bowl that is too difficult for your pet! Work your way up from easy to challenging.
9. Treat Dispensers
Last but not least are treat dispensers! You probably already have a few of these in your home, but you might not have considered using them for mealtimes. Using a treat dispenser to feed your pup is a basic way to make meals more fun for them and allow them to problem-solve. Just grab a treat dispenser, stuff it with your pet’s food, and toss it to your dog! That’s all you have to do.
Conclusion
Canines need enrichment to keep their minds active and avoid boredom. While our pups get lots of enrichment throughout the day, mealtime enrichment lets them use problem-solving skills and nose work to find their food, which makes eating more fun. It also has the bonus of slowing down fast eaters and encouraging picky eaters to eat more.
Featured Image Credit: Aleksey Boyko, Shutterstock
