One of the best tools to keep your dog busy is a Kong! These are great on days with bad weather when you can’t get your dog out for regular exercise. If you work from home, a stuffed Kong can keep your dog busy while you’re on an important phone call. Kongs are also great for dogs who are recovering from surgery and aren’t allowed to move around much. Instead of just using peanut butter, check out the healthy Kong stuffing recipes in this post.
Last year on a trip to California, I visited the Palm Springs Animal Shelter and got a tour of their beautiful facility. Part of the tour included a demonstration of how the shelter uses Kong fillings to provide enrichment, fun and tasty treats to their dogs.
These healthy Kong stuffing recipes will last longer when you use a layered technique with the ingredients. Stuffing a Kong toy this way makes them last longer and provides a fun experience that will keep your dog engaged with the toy.
The shelter shares an amazing guide to help volunteers understand why Kongs are used for shelter dogs and recipes on how to stuff them for optimal fun and enrichment. That guide is such a great resource that I’ve saved the piece of paper for almost a year! Now, I want to share this info with you.
This post contains links to my top recommend Kong products. These are affiliate links and if you buy through them I might receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
What is a Kong?
First of all, a Kong is a must-have for all dog owners. It’s a rubber snowman-shaped toy that’s hollow on the inside and can be filled with treats and given to your dog. Depending on what you use to stuff your Kong, they can provide a great puzzle to your dog and help bust boredom, alleviate separation anxiety or distract high energy or nervous dogs.
Kongs come in a variety of styles suited for everyone from puppies to super-tough chewers. I’ve always bought the regular sized red Kong and they’ve worked well for my labradors for the last 15 years. That’s right… I’ve been stuffing Kongs for over 15 years! If your dog is a tough chewer, you should pick up the extreme version.
There’s also a lot of other tough rubber chew toys available that you can stuff similar to a Kong. Some of my favorites include the West Paw Toppl, ZEE.DOG Super Fruitz, PetSafe Busy Buddy.
What’s a Good Kong Stuffing?
You can stuff your Kong with something simple like all-natural peanut butter. They’ll be delighted to lick that up! If you want to keep it simple but make the treat last a little longer, stuff your Kong with the peanut butter then put it in the freezer overnight. A frozen peanut butter stuffed Kong should keep your pup distracted long enough for you to get out the door in the morning, do some cleaning or just have some quiet time to yourself.
One of the best things is that you can stuff a Kong with whatever you have available. Be creative! For my two labradors, I’ll often use peanut butter, plain greek yogurt, pumpkin puree, treats, kibble, carrots, apples, chews, jerky, etc. Based on my experience with my dogs, I’ve up with lots of healthy Kong stuffing recipes!
Boredom Buster Kong Recipe
The Palm Springs Animal Shelter has an awesome healthy formula for a Kong filler that will keep your dog interested until the very last morsel. According to their guide, this is a great way to build up your dog’s attention span, teach them how to focus on a task and be calm when they need to be. I like to use this formula when I stuff Kongs for Burt and Lucy because I think it makes them much more fun than just using one ingredient.
Step 1: Tantalizer
At the small end of your kong, insert something super tasty like a little morsel of freeze dried liver, peanut butter, almond butter or cheese.
Step 2: Dessert
Next up, fill the smallest third of the Kong with treats such as biscuits, treats, cubed apple, carrots, green beans or bananas.
Step 3: Main Course
Stuff the last two thirds of the Kong with your regular dog food such as kibble or canned food. If you’re using kibble, try mixing it with unsweetened applesauce to make it harder for your dog to get it out.
Step 4: Appetizer
The last step is to put something in the opening at the widest side of your Kong. Use a treat, chew or jerky sticking out of the top to entice your dog to “get serious” about the deconstruction job ahead of them!
Healthy Kong Filler Options
In addition to treats, kibble, chews and peanut butter, there’s a variety of healthy and dog safe ingredients you can use for Kong fillings. Have fun and experiment! For starters, my labradors love all of these:
Fruits: Apples, Bananas, Blueberries, Strawberries, Watermelon
Veggies: Carrots, Green Beans, Peas, Brocolli
Spread: Almond Butter, Peanut Butter (make sure it’s Xylitol free!), Coconut Oil
Cheese: SPray cheese, Cottage Cheese, Cheddar Cheese Cubes
Yogurt: Low Fat Plain, Plain Greek Yogurt
Food: Kibble, Canned Food, Healthy Treats (like freeze-dried liver) Cooked Chicken or Beef, Kibble Soaked in Water
Sauce: Pumpkin Puree, Unsweetened Applesauce
>> Looking for some tricks to making stuffing your Kong even easier? Check out the kong stuffing hacks in this post!
Kong Stuffing Combo Recipes
You can pair any of the above ingredients together for your Kong filling. But to make it really easy for you, I came up with a few simple recipes from a regular stand by to a low fat recipe and a recipe that’s good for dogs with dry skin.
Low Fat Combo
Almond Butter, Green Beans, Kibble with Applesauce, Carrot
Regular Combo
Peanut Butter, Cheddar Cheese, Yogurt mixed with Kibble, top with treats
Dry Skin Combo
Coconut Oil, Freeze Dried Liver Treats, Mashed Sardines in Water *Read my post about the benefits of sardines for dogs!
Make Your Dog’s Kong Last Longer
If your dog is anything like my labs, they can finish a carefully stuffed Kong before you have time to turn back around! Keep your dog busy with their Kong for longer by freezing it overnight. This works best if you have at least one liquidy filling like kibble mixed with water, pumpkin puree, applesauce or yogurt. I’d also recommend freezing the Dry Skin Combo recipe above so you don’t end up with canned sardine juice all over the place! Yuck!
>> Get my best hacks for making frozen Kongs in this post. You’ll love tip number 1 if you want to use any liquids in your dog’s Kong!
I also love to combine two long lasting treats in one by stuffing a dried chew such as a chicken foot (as you can see above) in the end of the Kong. If you freeze this combination it should really keep your dog busy! My favorite long lasting dried chews are from Real Dog Box. Subscribe and get a free bag of treats in your first box!
Ready to Entertain Your Dog with a Stuffed Kong?
I hope this post helped you think of lots of creative healthy Kong stuffing recipes for your dog! There’s something for every dog’s taste and dietary needs. I’d love to hear about your favorite Kong fillers! Comment on this post and tell me what your dog goes crazy for!
Find the right Kong or Stuffable Toy for Your Dog:
Puppy Kong
Classic Kong
Extreme Kong
West Paw Toppl
ZEE.DOG Super Fruitz
PetSafe Busy Buddy
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
Tori Mistick is an influencer, educator, podcaster and founder of the award-winning dog mom lifestyle brand Wear Wag Repeat. Her mission is to help women live their best life with dogs – as pet parents and petpreneurs! Her dog mom advice has been featured in BuzzFeed, Good Morning America and The Wall Street Journal. Tori is currently mom to two chocolate labs, Lucy and Burt (who she adopted as a special needs senior dog). They love to discover dog friendly things to do in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
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*This post contains affiliate links.
From one lab mom to another, thank you! These are great! Always looking for ideas to keep my pack busy!!
Frozen idea was brilliant we had 2 hrs of peace whilst our lab exercised his brain. Then another hr whilst he slept off all his hard work. Thank you.
Awesome!! I’m so happy you were able to freeze your Kong. I think that makes such a big difference!
I absolutely use both the red Classic Kong and black extreme Kong with my redfox dude Carson. He also loves peanut butter and treats or even vitamins hidden inside. I’m glad to accidentally run across your site and to find others are doing the same thing! Thanks for more ideas.
Thanks for coming by and saying hi! I’m actually doing a blog post today about a new supplement I found that’s made into a kibble so it’s really good for stuffing in enrichment toys and puzzles! 🙂
I have two Border Terriers, a normal red Kong would be more than they would have in a meal. They are both adult dogs with very strong jaws, any ideas please.
So you’re looking for something smaller but still sturdy? Check out the small sized West Paw Toppl or toys from Soda Pup.
Where do you give these to your dogs? They seem very messy.
Great question! If it’s a messy kong I put down a towel and the dogs will lay there to eat their Kongs. BUT… if you freeze them they really aren’t messy at all since it takes a while for your dog to lick everything out, they will usually eat it before it can melt everywhere. When i have really messy things like chews that leave crumbs, I send the dogs outside.
Does the food such as peanut butter get all over the floor?
It can depend on your dog, but my dogs lick it all up before it ever touches the floor! If you’re worried, you can put down a towel.
Thank you for your suggestions on kong fillers. LABS are the best im on number 3 choc. lab
That’s awesome! I’m on number 5 (counting our childhood labs), so I’m a fan for life!
My only experience with a Kong was a retriever that had to find a new home. She was very sweet. But, no one told me what it was, I had never seen anything about them, I thought it was just a toy. Poor baby never had a Kong treat experience again. So later I found out “ you put peanut butter in there. New dog. I did, dog tried, but her snout was short, and that king ended up disgusting. Cleaning it was beyond stomach turning. So now I got it. But, how do I find the correct size? Because this : short haired border collie, needs something to do! Before I lose my mind.
Freda- I”m so happy you found my blog because this is a great question! For short snout dogs like pugs, boxers, etc I would actually recommend a Toppl made by a company called West Paw. It has a bigger opening so it’s easier for them to get treats out, but equally as enriching. Plus, it’s WAY easier to clean because you can see inside and reach. I have a post about the Toppl: https://wearwagrepeat.com/west-paw-toppl/
My rescue terrier loves his frozen kongs. He mostly gets one when I have to leave for an appointment and sometimes in the evening. I use baby bottle and nipple brushes from the Dollar store to make sure they are clean.
A great tip for cleaning, I do the same! I don’t like to put them in the dishwasher, I think the heat wears them out faster.
I use a tooth brush for cleaning my girls Kong but to be fair hardly anything to clean. A good soak then rinse in hot water always seems to get rid of any foid remnants. She is a small cockapoo with a small Kong!
That’s great! Maybe the large Kong is harder to clean because the hollow part is deeper. Say hi to your dog!
We have a Labrador and a golden retriever that has one every morning for breakfast and they know it’s coming. They wait on it every morning.
I love that! Have you tried a Toppl? I actually love them more than a Kong because it’s much easier to clean and I think the rubber lasts longer.