Foraging boxes allow your dog to use their natural sniffing and digging skills for mental stimulation & boredom relief, providing a fun “treasure hunt” for food.
- Start with a sturdy cardboard box.
- Add items your dog can crinkle and shred: crumpled paper, empty towel/toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, etc.
- Sprinkle your dog’s meal throughout the filler. Stuff treats into the paper tubes and fold the ends closed. Hide a few favorite treats or chews to find!
- Layer items- put smaller boxes into bigger boxes with treats sprinkled in the layers.
- Add a few toys for them to dig around in. Bonus points if they are treat dispensing toys or toys you can stuff with wet food and freeze!
- Give the box to your dog!
- ALWAYS supervise your dog with any toy or chew.
- If your dog eats paper products, try using a shallow plastic bin with pieces of fleece. Experiment folding and rolling the fabric with kibble in the layers. ‘Holee Rollers’ are rubber balls with holes that you can stuff rolled fabric into– dogs that enjoy destuffing their toys love this!
- Start easy and progress to more challenging hides.
- Switch it up! Use different toys and hidden treats to keep things interesting!
