Safe treat and food dispensers for dogs

Darcie: I read this article about how to create a less boring day for your dog by providing food type toys but wanted to know how you feel about each of the foods being suggested for the dogs and the way in which the toy is being married to the food… is this a good idea? (SNIP web address) Blayne Douglas

Dear Blayne,

It’s a great time to talk about treat and food dispensing toys. SitStay is having a big sale right now! Take advantage of us, save some money, and buy a lot of things for the dogs you love. The holidays are right around the corner. Do your shopping early!

I snipped the article web address you sent so I don’t embarrass the writer with my answer to your question. The writer is a young person who probably didn’t stop to think about what harm could come of the suggestions they made. The things that the writer suggests are things that have caused many people a great deal of heart break and thinner pocketbooks, too. It might seem at first glance that it was a good article with good and cheap ideas but when you think about it for a minute, maybe not. The things suggested as toys and treat dispensers might be okay if you’re there to take them away before the dog eats them and if you don’t mind teaching your dog some bad habits at the same time. They are not good as time passers if you’re not going to be home with your dog.

I’d suggest that before we take someone’s advice for our most beloved dog, we give that advice the three point test. Will anything about the advice hurt our dog during or after we use it? Are the products recommended safe for dogs? Who is the author and why do they think they know so much? These three questions will usually be enough to help you decide what is good advice or best skipped.

The food items mentioned aren’t a problem for me, just about anything that you eat is okay for your dog. (Check this list of foods that are not good for dogs, it’s an older article but still relevant today.)

The “toys”  recommended in the article aren’t all that safe for most dogs. I was pretty surprised that they are being recommended as toys and treat and food dispensers. My Dancer would have never eaten or swallowed anything that wasn’t food but Oliver and Frankie will. They and thousands and thousands of other dogs are the perfect reason not to leave dogs unsupervised with the “toys” and “treat dispensers” suggested in the article. A friend of mine had a Dalmatian who would eat socks and panty hose even when they weren’t filled with treats, it was a terrible habit. That friend spent a lot of money paying for surgery to remove those from the dog’s gut until she asked me what to do. I said, “Put your socks away.” Once you teach a dog how fun it is to play with your socks, it’s not so easy to unteach it.

You’d think that paper wouldn’t be a problem, it gets all soft and gushy when the dog chews it up. But what about colors and scents and chemically treated paper and the glue that holds the paper to the roll, what’s that made of? Toilet paper and towel tubes, cereal boxes and cardboard boxes might be fun to tear up but they are not good as food if somebody should swallow and what happens to the boxes you didn’t say the dog could have? Like the Christmas presents under the tree, the UPS delivery, and the shoe box that your brand new, really expensive shoes are still in? Aren’t they all boxes? Your dog will probably think so. Smearing any of these with peanut butter or cream cheese will almost insure that your dog will eat at least some of the paper, that stuff is hard to lick off without getting the paper wet and wet paper goes down the throat along with the goodie. AND you will be teaching your dog that playing with paper is a lot of fun. Think your favorite books, the family bible, magazines, newspapers, your incoming mail, your paycheck….

Plastic containers like cottage cheese, empty yogurt cups, plastic water bottles, and milk continers are a no no in my house unless they are supervised play. If you have a dog who can tear them up, like my Dancer and our Oliver, the dog may also swallow and a vet visit might be next. Dancer could and would tear these things up and spit them out, it was something that she only did when I said she could. Oliver? He can tear up just about anything no matter who’s looking and he tries to eat some of it. Plastic can have sharp edges so surgery is not only about removing undigestible things but also about repairing a torn digestive system.

Socks are okay as toys if you don’t care that most dogs don’t usually know a play sock from a sock that you like to wear. If you give a sock to play with tie a knot in it and keep your real socks in your drawer. I wouldn’t put food into a sock, it’s too easy to eat through the sock and swallow some or all of the fabric. For all the dog knows, “Wow these treats taste just like a sock. I’ll eat the whole thing!” and proceeds to put holes in your sock and swallow some of it. Filling socks or other fabrics with food or treats isn’t a very good idea and most definitely not if you’re not going to be there to rescue the sock from going down somebody’s throat. Rope and rope toys are another big reason for surgery. Dogs chew the rope and eat the strings which can twist around inside the gut and make blockages. Indigestible things that are eaten often become caught in the throat or gut, another trip to the vet and often surgery for that.

I read recently that some of the kiddie pools are made with a chemical that you don’t want your dog or your children to absorb either through their skin or eating or drinking water out of. If you want a pool for your dogs and kids, check out the food grade livestock pools. You can find them online or at your local country store. Check with the maker, before you buy, that they are food grade.

To make a digging spot for your dog, dig a hole in the yard about two feet deep by at least four feet around, fill it with sand. Play with your dog for a while so he knows “this is where we dig”. Burying toys is a fun idea. Not food though, unless you want rodents moving in. If you don’t have a yard, get the food grade pool and fill it with balls from SitStay. Your dog will have so much fun!

The SitStay Dogs do get to play with treat and food dispenser toys. They love them! We like the safe toys. Go to www.sitstay.com and click on Toys in the left menu to see them all. Treat and food toys are a really good way to give your dog mental and physical exercise. We have several choices to match any dog. They are strong and are made for this purpose. I’ve never yet heard of any dog being hurt by any of these toys. Know your dog, supervise until you know that your dog can be left alone with the toy.

Twist ‘n Treat was Dancer’s favorite, she had hours of fun with it; Oliver the Black Lab Mastiff with power jaws can destroy it, it takes a while but he can do it.

The Yuppy Puppy Treat Machine has always been Tilli’s favorite. Try it with Liver Biscotti or any dry treat about 1/4″ size. Most dogs are working to get the treats and haven’t tried chewing this one up. It makes a great Christmas present, too.

Original Kong toys and Kong Stuff-a-Balls toys are always great. Freezing food inside, stuffing with treats, or as plain old empty toys that jump all over the place, your dog will like these. Even Oliver hasn’t been able to chew up a Kong yet.

Frankie loves all toys. I watched her have a ball with the HI.Q. Puzzle Orbs and Toys stuffed with treats right up until Oliver came over and bullied her out of them. If she won’t let go, he lays on her. Immediately after we watched what was going to happen, Oliver was relieved of the toys and they were returned to Frankie. She didn’t blink an eye. She never blames him for taking her stuff, she’s grateful when someone will go and get it back for her, though. Kent is working hard to get Oliver not to be so much of a bully. Poor Ollie, remember he was almost drowned as a puppy, shouldn’t he have special privileges because of that? No. No. No. LOL!

The Buster Cube is an all time favorite of all of our dogs. This is a tough, tough toy. Our shipper returned one to us one day years ago, it was in pretty bad shape but it still worked! The driver had dropped a package and accidentally backed over it. He said he brought it back to us because he was amazed that it was still working, his truck squooshed it down but couldn’t break or flatten it. That’s a pretty good trial for a toy. We let our customer know why her shipment was going to be late and shipped her a new one. She was so pleased that she bought three more for her daughter’s big dogs.

When you read someone’s advice or recommendations, step back a step and take a breath. What will happen after you give those things to your dogs? Will you be creating habits you want your dog to keep? Does your stuff mean the world to you or is it okay if the dog chews it up? How deep is your pocketbook? And would you or your children be safe eating this stuff?

If your dog is eating the house because he’s bored while you’re out, crate or find a really good doggie day care or a dog walker. It’s cheaper than buying a new couch, less time consuming than contacting the bank to send the account statement again, easier than being mad because your People Magazine is unreadable, and replacing a pair of socks daily.

Or if you’ve supervised the play with the toys, treat and food dispensers, and you’re sure that your dog will not ingest them, go, leave your bored dog to amuse himself with all of them. We leave our dogs with Bully Sticks, too, we have the best you’ll ever find. Well, we leave everybody except Oliver. He’s a powerhouse chewer. We’d rather supervise that guy. Maybe when he’s older. He’s only eleven months now and still deciding what he wants to be when he grows up, a monster dog who chews up everything or a sweet cute cuddly armful of warm sweetheart. While he’s in his power chewing phase, we’ll continue to use him to test your toys.

Use common sense and be practical with your dog. It will keep your most cherished friend safe and healthy. Thanks for asking and for listening. – Darcie