[Updated 2015] Destructiveness due to boredom is one of the top problems or worries I keep coming across in my research when I first adopted Donna. I became determined that Donna should be house-broken in various ways, including leaving human things alone, when both of us are out at our jobs. In late 2014, Nekojam.com gave Donna a Foobler to review. Check out Donna’s reaction to it!
Tag: food toy
A few months back, Donna wouldn’t eat kibble. If it was presented mixed with canned food, she would pick out the kibble and just eat the canned food in the bowl. We fed her kibble with her canned food still persistently. After a while, when she got that being picky wouldn’t change her food and probably she was hungry enough by then, she started to eat kibble. But lo and behold if you fill her bowl with only kibble, she won’t eat.
Of course that got her nowhere and she grew frustrated easily, her frustration usually accompanied by louder and more disgusted snorts and grunts. And then she just left the Genius Leo alone, probably too disgusted to continue.
I continued to give her the Genius Leo now and then. There was a chance she would pay some small attention to it when she smelled treats in it, and needless to say, she totally ignored it when it was empty. Since her level of interest in it was really not that high, I felt it didn’t justify the cost of the toy.
Then one day, perhaps she was feeling particularly fidgety or maybe she was just bored. I suddenly hear a whole series of snorts and pillow bashing sounds. I came out of the study to find the dog worrying the vase-shaped blue rubber toy around the living room. And when a plain kibble dropped out, she ate it!
I read somewhere about the nothing in life is free training for dogs. That was the point I really started to believe in it. The dog worked to get the treat out of the Genius Leo and even if it was only a lowly kibble, she ate it with nary a thought. She wouldn’t have eaten it if I just gave it to her. Believe me I tried.
It took quite a number of attempts on her part before she realised that the trick to work it was not to lick it but to roll it, pick it up, fling it and try again. Then she started to show more interest in it. We’re lucky the space around her bed is empty and fairly spacious because there are times she flung the Genius Leo quite a distance.
And after she munched any kibble that flew out of the toy, she would retrieve the Genius Leo and bring it back to her bed where she would proceed to worry it some more. The bed helped her to hold the toy and keep it in place. It was more likely to slide and roll on the smooth floor.
And then the fun starts all over again. You can even take turns kicking with her, except that the thing doesn’t roll reliably as a soccer ball :/ wahahahaha!
Today, I have started to feed half of her kibble in this way. So instead of breakfast in a bowl, she gets the Genius Leo filled with kibble. Ten to fifteen minutes of Genius Leo workout to help burn off some of that stored fat, physical energy and mental energy at the same time.
It was fun for her too. The wagging tail tells it all!
Note: When it comes to cleaning, the regular Kong is easier to clean. The Genius Leo has narrow holes which makes it harder to clean the interior. Since I only fill it with dry food and dry treats, I just slosh detergent with water inside and rinse and rinse and rinse.
You can buy the Kong Genius Leo in pet stores or on Amazon. :)
Kong Genius Leo
Click to buy on Amazon
