Are those Kong toys worth to get?

Question

You know those chew toys you stuff with treats?? Are they mentally stimulating? What other toys are mentally stimulating for dogs? Or specifically for a 4 mont old great pyr?

Answer 1

My dogs love their kongs! I fill them up w/ peanut butter and they are happy for a long time!! Definitely worth the money.

Answer 2

A Kong is about as indestructible as dog toys get. I have a dog, a Lab/Chow mix, who will destroy any toy he can, whose chief joy in life is to see how fast he can tear apart a toy, which takes him less than 5 minutes on average. Even the toy made from fire hose fabric only lasted about 15 minutes before it was nothing but loose stuffing and shredded fabric. I give him a Kong with a little peanut butter in it when I leave him at home, and after 6 months the Kong is still in good shape. I have heard of dogs who can destroy Kongs, but they're rare. I believe the black Kongs are the strongest ones.

Answer 3

I've found a knock off one at Walmart for 4.00. It has lasted just as long. And you can fill it with whatever you want just the same as a kong. It looks like a fire hydrant. I have an American Pitbull Terrier and she can chew! Tennis balls last less than a minute. No joke timed it. We bought the toy about a year ago and so far so good.

If you can't find it I'd say the Kong is worth it. That's what everyone told me to get.

Answer 4

I don't know that they're "mentally stimulating," but our chihuahua loved his blue and white puppy Kong, especially while he was teething. We'd freeze a plug of peanut butter in the end, then fill it with water and freeze that. He'd chew on the frozen Kong and relieve some of the irritation in his gums. (We did make him keep it on an old rug, because this is rather messy.)

He also likes to have his adult (red) Kong stuffed with peanut butter, either room temp or frozen. He also loves carrots, so we stuff a baby carrot in the Kong and he manages to get the carrot out and eat it every time, though it sometimes takes him a while. He does chew on his Kong without it being stuffed, too, but not as often.

Answer 5

I agree, I have two dogs and they love the Kongs. They work at them for a good period of time trying to get all of the peanut butter out of them. And the Kongs so far have shown no sign of wear and tear. There are other "puzzle" toys that hold treats and the dog must roll them around to get the treats to fall out of them. Those might be a bit more of mental stimulus for a dog. That is just my thoughts though, not expert opinion.

Answer 6

I like Kong toys, even though I have never found a completely indestructible dog toy. As a precaution, always supervise your big chewers so they don’t immediately destroy everything you present to them. There are some that have worked better than others for our dogs over the years and I’ve included them here for you.

I have found the West Paw http://www.westpawdesign.com/ toys to be pretty good for the voracious chewers. I have several of the West Paw Zogoflex http://www.westpawdesign.com/catalog/dog... products around for my own dogs and also dogs that are here for training, conditioning and showing.

We use the KONG http://www.kongcompany.com/worlds_best.h... for most dogs and the harder black Kong for more active chewing dogs. Lots of recipes for what to put into the Kong and keep your dog entertained.

Nylabone http://www.nylabone.com/ has done well for us too. The Dino Bone (formerly called Galileo) and the large “S” shaped dental chew might be a good place to start looking in this line. They have a section on choosing the correct chew toy http://www.nylabone.com/choose-nylabone/... that might be helpful too.

Good Luck!

Answer 7

I don't suggest the Kong toys...my dog and everyone I know who also has the Kong toys for their dog all say the same thing...they either play with it for one or two minutes or not at all. I suggest playing keep away...what you do is you get the dogs favorite toy and place it under a cloths hamper or something see through and tell the dog to get the toy...your dog might whine and bark for a few minutes and try to get you to get it but then they start to improvise by pushing whatever is covering the ball and they start finding new easier, and faster ways to get to their favorite toy...its a really fun game to watch and its a simple way to stimulate your dogs mind.

Answer 8

I absolutely *love* kong toys... they are safe and fun for dogs! You can stuff them with treats or dog food, or you can put something like peanut butter in them... You can also freeze the peanut butter or just freeze water inside of it. My dog loves it. They're a little pricey compared to other dog toys, but they last a long time.

Also, it's one of the only two toys I'll leave alone with my dog so I don't worry about her choking or ingesting it. (The other toy is a Nylabone.)

Answer 9

Our dog (9 months) plays with hers nearly every day. I freeze 'logs' of pet mince and chicken necks to stuff it with if she is going to be home alone for more than a few hours.

She also loves to use it like a bugle. She holds the smaller end in her mouth and talks through it - usually when I am on the phone. If you have had anything to do with staffords you know that they can come out with some very strange noises at times.

Do shop around though - often department or discount stores will have them cheaper than the pet shops. And make sure you get the right size and colour for your dog.

It is not designed for cleaning teeth, you will need raw meaty bones for that.

Answer 10

My dog-in-law (my boyfriend's mom has a dog) loves her kong. It especially worked when crate training. Some dogs, especially puppies, get upset when their human has to leave the home. Giving the dog a kong distracts him/her and lets them know it's okay to be alone. I don't know if it's mentally stimulating, but it's got to be fun for the dog to find all the treats hidden inside.