# My puppy doesn't get the kong



## milo811 (Aug 15, 2009)

I just want to share my experience of using the kong w/my dog. 

Bought a small puppy kong for my 9wk old puppy. He doesn't know how to get the treats out of the kong!! (LOL). I put his kibbles in there and smeared the end w/peanut butter. The kong keeps on rolling away from him and he doesn't know to use his paws to hold it still. Evenutally he gave up and I had to dig out the treats for him. Hopefully in a few weeks he will get it. 

Anyone else w/the same experience? I am also wondering whether the kong is too small for him. He's about 7 lbs so that is why I bought the small one. I was reading that I should have bought a medium size one.


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## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

He'll get the hang of it.. It took Zoey a little while to learn how to get stuff out of her kong too.


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## Equinox (Nov 11, 2008)

Trent showed zero interest in his Kong at first. It took him a while, and now he can get all sorts of things out of his Kong - frozen, sticky, oversized treats, etc. 

I suggest starting easy. Dunk the bottom of the Kong in the jar of peanut butter so it's smeared on the outside of the Kong and also on the inside. Or, put just treats or kibble inside the Kong, without peanut butter or another sort of "glue" so it's very easy to get out and the treats would fall out when the Kong rolls. Gradually make it harder and harder for the dog the get the treats inside the Kong.

You could also try putting the Kong in your puppy's crate with him, so he'll work on the Kong because 1) there's treats inside and 2) there's simply nothing else better to do, and the Kong's the only source of entertainment.


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## bimmergirl84 (Jun 23, 2009)

As others have said, you need to make it easy for them at first so he's immediately rewarded for interacting with the Kong. We put kibble in there that would just roll out easily. 

Our girls still doesn't "get it" when it comes to getting a hard to remove biscuit out. She needs to throw it against the wall but she's too lazy for that right now.  

She's 17 weeks and has been only feed through her kongs or our hands since we got her at 8 weeks.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

milo811 said:


> I just want to share my experience of using the kong w/my dog.
> 
> Bought a small puppy kong for my 9wk old puppy. He doesn't know how to get the treats out of the kong!! (LOL). I put his kibbles in there and smeared the end w/peanut butter. The kong keeps on rolling away from him and he doesn't know to use his paws to hold it still. Evenutally he gave up and I had to dig out the treats for him. Hopefully in a few weeks he will get it.
> 
> Anyone else w/the same experience? I am also wondering whether the kong is too small for him. He's about 7 lbs so that is why I bought the small one. I was reading that I should have bought a medium size one.


Mine doesn't really use the kong much either. She knows there's food in it, she rolls it around a bit, if one piece or so falls out then she will eat it. After 2-3 min of rolling and nothing comes out (she tries to lick it too) she just doesn't care anymore and leaves it. Mine isn't that food motivated and won't chew the kong (actually she doesn't chew anything).

I'm pretty sure if your dog loves food then he will try to get it eventually.


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## Mads (Aug 26, 2009)

Mine is 4 months old and only chews the top part of the treat that is stuck in there and then gives up.. 

I gave up on that toy i might try to put filling in it for her and see if she tries that..


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## Poly (Sep 19, 2007)

No problem here as far as I see it. 

In fact, you want these interactive toys to be a serious challenge. What you do initially is to attach immediate rewards to solving the problem - which here means getting at the treats. Once they learn to solve the problem - in the case of a Kong, getting the treat to come out the big hole in the bottom - then you introduce deferred rewards by putting the food in so it doesn't come out every time. This way you up the challenge. 

If your dog isn't motivated very much by treats, there are interactive toys where the reward isn't a treat but another toy to play with. Some of our dogs never saw the point in doing much work for a treat, but they really worked hard solving the problem of getting those little toys out of the big one. Of course, some dogs did both. 

It's a proven fact that mental challenges to puppies actually increase their ability as adults to solve problems and to follow instructions.


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