Are kongs overrated?

[Fran27]

It just crossed my mind that we all seem to give the 'peanut butter filled kong' advice when a dog is bored, but when I think of it, are kongs not overrated? Does any of you actually have a dog that will play with the kong when it's empty? Mine sure don't.

When you think about it, any other toy with a hole in it could do what kongs do just as well, plus they could occupy the dog the rest of the time as well.

Just something that occured to me, lol.

 

[Ruckus]

my dog doesnt play with the kong when its empty. he doesnt even chew/knaw it when its full. he just sticks his tongue in the hole to get the stuff out. smart dog..

his favorite toys are also the cheapest. a towel tied in a knot and those $.50 tennis balls....

 

[Martine]

I have to say that Misha's kong has proved priceless - especially when we go out - she will play with it for ages and forget we have gone, I just make sure that there are always some biscuits that are not easy to get out. If it is empty she will still sit and chew it, or throw it at us! If I just put peanut butter in it is cleared out within a few minutes. So far I haven't found any other toy that holds her concentration for that long, but then she is completely food motivated - I can imagine some dogs getting bored with it.

 

[Maxine]

I personal don't think kongs are overrated. My dogs love their kongs. If by chance it's empty which it never is, they will roll it around on the floor. They do this if they get tried of licking the peanut butter, play for awhile and go back to licking. There's a lot of recipes you can try with kongs. Peanut butter is just one of the best ones I guess

 

[Puckstop31]

We now have 2 different Kong toys for Teddy. He loves em, but of course only when there are good things in it.

Try putting cheesewiz in it, mixed with treats.. the FREEZE it. THAT will add to the time it takes to clean it out. Works well for us.

 

[casablanca1]

They're so heavy and clumsy, my dog won't touch them even to get the food out now. I've noticed a lot of new massive dog toys on the market now, like the Harley-Davidson tires, which I assume are coming from increased popularity of the over-sized breeds (giant Rotties, Filas, Neos, etc.) I wonder if these breeds like kongs better too? They're certainly got the jowls for them.

 

[AmberwayGSD]

My dog plays with them empty.She loves hers.

 

[Gempress]

I think they're vastly overrated. I've tried them with three different dogs, and none of them were interested, not even when the kongs were stuffed with treats.

 

[MysticRealm]

my dogs play with there's when there is nothing in them (well they actually ripped one to shreds so now they only have one) but I hardly ever fill there's with anything.

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

My dogs don't usually play with them if they're empty. If I fill it with say, peanut butter, they lick all out but there's still a teensy bit at the back, they'll chew on it forever.

 

[bonster]

Bonnie's is left unfilled often in her 'toybox' - sometimes she will pick it up if she's being cheeky and run it to the kitchen for a fill-up

 

[Zoom]

Mine love them full or empty, but only if both of them are around to play with it. If Sawyer is by himself, then I'll stuff it and he'll get so busy playing with it that he doesn't notice when it's empty. Or, all I have to do is throw it a few times and he'll set to chewing. Aubrey's the same way.

 

[RD]

I don't use peanut butter in kongs anymore. It's gone within seconds. Instead I pack in (so that the kong is absolutely bulging!) slightly warm Natural Balance food rolls into the kongs and freeze them for about 20 minutes. My dog will spend a good 2 hours getting that stuff out.

Ripley will actually play with an empty kong if there is no plushie toy or orbee ball to play with, but this dog also plays with rocks so I wouldn't put much value to his "opinion".

 

[Fran27]

Wow 2 hours. You're lucky, lol. I froze mine a couple of times, with the thing full it took them a whole of 20 minutes to get everything out

 

[mojozen]

my Mojo is lazy. he won't play with his kong unless it has been freshly filled. then he will work on it for maybe 20 minutes, then whether he got out all the food or not he leaves it behind.

When I had wood floors he enjoyed food cubes because we could play soccer with them. But he just doesn't like kongs.... and i've tried several different kinds with him. *shrugs*

BUT!! if you give Mojo an empty plastic pop bottle with kibble inside and flatten the mouth of the bottle a little he will play with that until he rips it to shreds or we take it from him. I think it has something to do with all the noise it makes... his other favorite toys are any kind of tug toy, and stuffed animals (whether they have noise makers or not).

 

[pitbulliest]

lol my dogs could care less about kongs...I bought them one and its collecting dust in their toy box.

 

[tessa_s212]

My dad got the dogs a Kong for Christmas. They love it and will spend their time happily licking out the peanut butter and trying to get the treats out, but only our most playful dogs will even bother to touch it when it isn't full. My dogs actually prefer their "Cosmic Cone". It is made of softer rubber, isn't as large, and they seem to like the texture better for chewing.

 

[Sirius]

There's a taste of the food still in the kong, so yeah, they play with it even if it's not full.

For bored dogs if you give 'em a spoon of PB, it gets stuck on the top of their mouths and they go nuts trying to get it off! haha... you suck Harley. (kidding! )

 

[Ratboy]

My old Pit Mix would chew on his when he got bored or frustrated, but ignored it, even with peanut butter in it. He just would go over and eat food out of his bowl instead, or saw through a few hunks of rawhide. The Kong was pretty well shot by the time he was put down at 14.5 years old, so I got a new one when I got my present dogs and almost 7 years later, it looks like it just came out of the box. Neither one touches it. Molly's favorite toy is two tennis balls with a bungee cord connecting them, and King really doesn't care about any toys at all, except to take them away from Molly, so she will try to get them back, and then he gets the chance to play head games with her.

 

[nedim]

I make my own kongs. When Peanut destroys a plastic toy, I clean it out, cut a circle in it, fill it with peanut butter and then freeze it. It will keep her occupied for hours, trying to get it all out.