Weekly Prep: Dog Edition

Something that has changed recently for Ella and I is my new office space.

Instead of me being home all day now, she is often alone for several hours (although not as many as it used to be when I worked my 12 hour days and she had a dog walker).

Something special I've started doing for her when I get home to ease the transition, is a daily kong.

If you don't already know- Kongs are rubber toys with a hollow center that can be filled with yummy treats for dogs. They come in several sizes and "strengths" as I call it, which you can see below. 

They also have puppy Kongs as well. They are most commonly used for crate training, but now we use them as rewards or boredom toys (it uses the mind to retrieve the things inside).

Kongs can be bought via Amazon, or your local pet store like our favorite PetValu.

We use Kong Extreme.

For reference:
Pink & Blue - Kong Puppy

Red- Classic

Black- Extreme

Preparation/Ingredients

Ella happens to love her food and eats it all. Because of this, I don't want to over feed her each day. 

So what I do is I put her food inside, but first I soak it in water. 

I layer the Kong with peanut butter too. 

To make this easiest, I'm going to put it in receipe format. 

Packed Kongs ready for freezer

Ingredients:

1 Large Kong (this is dog dependent)

Peanut butter (make sure it's dog safe we use Skippy Naturals)

Dog Food

Small Bowl of Cold Water

Directions:

Add dog food to small bowl of cold water, allow to soak about 5-10 minutes.

With a clean Kong, add spoon full of peanut butter to inside bottom of Kong.

Next, add spoon full of food (after soaking).

Continue to layer with peanut butter and food.

Put in freezer until use.

The water that the food soaks in will help it to freeze making it more like a freezy pop. 

You don't have to freeze a Kong, but this helps it last longer. Especially with my pup Ella who finishes everything super quickly. 

*They are also non-toxic and dishwasher safe

I also like to do 5 for the entire week so I don't have to make them when I'm tired and get home from work. Ella also doesn't have to wait for me to make them either, which she does, staring and drooling the entire time. 

Let me know what you think of this doggie prep idea!

Have a great week.

-SBR