Train your fearful dog to love food toys

If you have a fearful dog who is stressed when you have visitors, being able to give them a food toy to work on during holiday (or any!) gatherings can make them- and you- feel a lot better. But many dogs don't immediately take to using food puzzle toys. 

You can think of working on a stuffed toy like a Kong, or a lickimat, or a snufflemat, as a skill your dog can learn. With our very fearful dogs, like all of their training, you'll want to approach the process carefully and slowly.  

In the video below, I show you which toys, filled with which foods, I use when introducing an anxious dog to food puzzles. Here are the highlights: 

• Which toys: I like to start with very simple toys that my dog can easily get treats out of.  My favorite starter puzzlers are hard plastic or silicone lick mats, snufflemats, and Westpaw Toppls.
• Which treats: I often used canned dog food in lick mats and rubber toys like the Toppl. Other, less healthy options that are popular with my dogs include peanut butter and Easy Cheese. Dog treats I'm using right now in snufflemats, and sometimes in Toppls, include Fruitables Skinny Minis, and Tricky Trainers. I chose these because they're relatively low-calorie, and my dogs love them. 
• Give the toys where: If your dog is just starting out with food toys, provide them in a location where your dog is very comfortable, and when there's nothing going on (like visitors!) that might worry them.  If you try to give your dog food toys for the first time when you have guests, your dog is much less likely to use them. Train the behavior of working on the food toy first, in an easy context. 
  
  

 Have fun with this! Food toys become a favorite activity for many fearful dogs, if you introduce them the right way.