Chewing and licking to settle
Chewing and licking settle a dog in a way that very little else does, and this is the page I would hand someone whose dog cannot switch off in the evening. Read chew safety before you buy anything here. Most enrichmentActivity that meets a dog's behavioral needs, usually through sniffing, chewing, licking, foraging or problem-solving.Read more → lists get chews badly wrong, and a slab fracture on a back tooth is painful, expensive, and usually ends with the tooth coming out.
A batch-prep habit so there is always a frozen KONG ready. Filling one at a time is what makes people give up on them; filling six on a Sunday is what turns it into something your dog gets every day.
Shopping list
Toys
- Four to six KONGs or Toppls, so one is always frozen while another is in the dishwasher.
Food
- Fillings: wet food, plain yogurt, canned pumpkin, or xylitol-free peanut butter.
Around the house
- A muffin tray to stand them in while you fill them, so they cannot tip over.
- Freezer space, and a night to let them set.
How to do it
- Once a week, line up all your KONGs standing in a muffin tray, narrow end down.
- Plug each small hole with peanut butter.
- Fill each one with a different recipe so your dog doesn't get bored. Try these: wet food and kibble. Plain yogurt and blueberries. Canned pumpkin and a spoon of peanut butter. Soaked kibble blended into a paste. Mashed sweet potato and shredded chicken. Low-sodium broth poured over kibble.
- Freeze the whole tray.
- Pull one out each morning. Wash and refill as they come back.
Change it up
- Lvl 1
- Softer, wetter fillings.
- Lvl 2
- Packed denser.
- Lvl 3
- Blended to a paste and frozen solid.
Safety
Everything you stuff comes out of the daily calorie budget. See ditch the bowl and calorie math. No xylitol, no onion, no garlic, no grapes or raisins, no macadamia. Introduce dairy slowly: plenty of dogs don't tolerate it.
A hard block of dried yak and cow milk cheese, for a dog who needs a long chew that will not stink out the room. Long-lasting and popular, and harder than most owners realize.
Shopping list
Food
- A yak chew sized for your dog. Longer than their muzzle, so they cannot get it to the back teeth.
Around the house
- A microwave, for the last step.
How to do it
- Give the chew and let your dog work it down over several sessions. Take it away between sessions.
- When it gets down to a stub roughly two inches long, stop: do not let your dog swallow it.
- Soak the stub in water for a minute, then microwave it for 45 to 60 seconds. It puffs up like a cheese puff.
- Let it cool completely, then give it back as a soft, crunchy treat. Nothing is wasted and the choking hazard is gone.
Change it up
- Lvl 1
- The puffed version, or a smaller softer chew.
- Lvl 2
- A full block, with the stub softened at the end.
- Lvl 3
- The full unsoftened block.
Safety
These are genuinely hard. Read the hardness guidance in chew safety and press your thumbnail into one before you buy: if you can't leave a dent, it can fracture a tooth. Not for dogs with any dental history, and not for dogs who bite down hard rather than gnaw. Always retire the stub. Let the puffed version cool fully, it comes out of the microwave hot enough to burn.
A single-ingredient dried beef chew. Fully digestible, softens as it's chewed, and much kinder to teeth than antlers or bones.
Shopping list
Tools
- A holder such as the West Paw Qwizl, or a similar safety device that stops the last inch being swallowed.
Food
- Bully sticks sized for your dog. Six inches is the usual starting point.
How to do it
- Choose a stick long enough that your dog can't fit the whole thing in their mouth. Six inches minimum for most dogs, twelve for large ones.
- Thread it into the holder so the ends stick out.
- Give it on a washable surface. Set a timer for fifteen to twenty minutes.
- When the timer goes, trade the chew for something good and put it away. Long chew sessions add up fast in calories.
- Throw away any stub small enough to swallow.
Change it up
- Lvl 1
- A thinner stick, with more of it exposed.
- Lvl 2
- Standard six inch, seated normally.
- Lvl 3
- A thick braided stick, fully seated in the holder.
Safety
Roughly 88 calories in a six-inch stick, which is a meaningful chunk of a small dog's day. Supervise. The main risk is the swallowed end piece, which is exactly what the holder prevents. Bully sticks are high protein: go slowly if your dog has a sensitive stomach.
The lower-risk end of the natural chew shelf: beef trachea, gullet sticks, dehydrated fish skins, collagen sticks. Less durable than a yak chew, and much less likely to break a tooth.
Shopping list
Food
Around the house
- Somewhere washable to put it down. Most of these leave a mark on a rug.
How to do it
- Offer one type at a time and watch what your dog does with it. You want gnawing, not crunching-and-swallowing.
- Give on a towel or hard floor. Time the session: ten to twenty minutes is plenty.
- Trade for something good when time is up.
- Rotate types week to week so it stays interesting.
Change it up
- Lvl 1
- Thin fish skins or collagen sticks, which soften fast.
- Lvl 2
- Thick trachea rings or braided gullet.
Safety
These are the chews to reach for if your dog has any dental history. They still need supervision: any chew can be swallowed whole by a determined dog. Fish skins are rich and can cause loose stools. Watch calories, as with any chew.
The cheapest chew there is, and the one to reach for when you want to hand your dog something without adding much to the day's calories. A whole raw carrot, frozen.
Shopping list
Food
- Whole raw carrots. Cucumber spears and frozen green beans do the same job.
Around the house
- Freezer space overnight.
How to do it
- Wash and trim a large whole carrot. Don't peel it.
- Freeze for at least four hours.
- Give it outside or on a towel.
- For a teething puppy, freeze a wet washcloth alongside it and offer both.
Change it up
- Lvl 1
- A fresh unfrozen carrot, cut into sticks.
- Lvl 2
- A fresh whole carrot.
- Lvl 3
- A large frozen whole carrot.
Safety
Frozen carrots are hard. Skip them for dogs with dental disease. Cut carrots into pieces too big to swallow whole, or give one long enough that they must gnaw rather than gulp. Carrots contain natural sugar, so count them into the daily calories. Never give corn cobs, avocado, onion, garlic, grapes or raisins.
Using a lick mat deliberately as a managementArranging the environment so an unwanted behavior cannot happen, rather than training the dog not to do it.Read more → tool at a predictable stressful moment, rather than as a random activity.
Shopping list
Toys
- A lick mat, loaded and frozen before you need it. Preparing one while the triggerAnything that reliably produces a strong emotional response in a particular dog.Read more → is arriving is already too late.
Tools
- Something to mask the sound, if what sets your dog off is something they hear.
Around the house
- A spot away from the windows and the front door.
How to do it
- Identify your dog's predictable triggers. The mail carrier at 2pm. Trash day. The neighbor's dog going out at 6pm. A delivery you're expecting.
- Prepare and freeze a lick mat in advance so it's ready.
- Set your dog up in the quietest room in the house, ideally with a closed door and white noise running, five to ten minutes before the trigger.
- Give the mat before anything happens. Never after your dog has already started reacting, because at that point you're rewarding the reaction and the food won't work anyway.
- Let the trigger pass. Then release your dog normally, without fuss.
Change it up
- Lvl 1
- Further from the trigger, the best food you have, sound masked.
- Lvl 2
- Closer, or with less masking.
- Lvl 3
- Closer still, and only once they are succeeding easily.
Safety
If your dog won't take food in that spot, the setup is too intense: move further away, don't push through it. Refusing food is information, not stubbornness. This is management, not training. Pair it with real behavior work; see games that double as behavior modification.
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