Product Review: Kong

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I plan to write about our experiences with a number of the products we've tried with Lily, so I thought it made sense to start with perhaps one of the best-known dog products: the Kong. The Kong company makes lots of different dog toys and accessories, but the one we like best is the good old classic red Kong food puzzle toy pictured above. We use the medium size for Lily.

I had read about Kongs before we moved into our house and were finally ready to adopt a dog. Lily's Kong was one of the products we purchased on the "new dog shopping spree" we went on once we knew we were going to adopt her but before we picked her up from her foster home to bring her home with us. Lily loved her Kong right from the start, but at first I didn't like it quite as much as she did, mostly because I didn't initially really understand how to use it properly.

The key to the Kong, I eventually learned, is freezing it. An unfrozen Kong takes Lily less than ten minutes to finish. A frozen Kong can take her up to 40 minutes, thereby significantly increasing both the amount of time she remains entertained by it and the mental stimulation it provides for her. I put a small dab of peanut butter in the bottom of the Kong to seal off the bottom opening and then fill the rest of the Kong with something else (usually pumpkin or baby food veggies like sweet potatoes or peas), with a few pieces of kibble mixed in as well. I then seal off the top opening of the Kong with another, slightly larger dab of peanut butter. Finally, I put the stuffed Kong in a plastic baggie and stick it, upright, in the freezer and freeze it overnight.

Lily doesn't get a Kong every day, but it's a great way to give her some mental exercise on a day when she doesn't get as much outdoor exercise as we would like (if the weather is lousy, etc.). We recently purchased a second Kong so that we can always have one in the freezer ready to go.

"Bummer, is it empty already?"