Most Durable Dog Toys: All-Stars

 I started buying dog toys in the mid-1990's when I got my first dog. The only toy that I bought then that I still buy for my dogs now is the blue spikey Nylabone Flexichew. I think I have consistently had at least one in my house for at least 25 years. Need to actually make a post about those sometime. Anyway, I was just scrolling through a decade of blog posts here and started thinking about the toys that were featured there that are still kicking around my house all these years later. This is several dogs, several houses, and a cross-country move later, so these are toys with major staying power. I'm not counting toys that I have replaced later because I or the dogs liked them so much. Just the ones where the original toy photographed and purchased is still here.

Tuffy Pteradactyl: Pictured in this review of Mighty Dinosaurs from the same company, I've had this specific toy since roughly 2007. It's a bit worse for the wear these days because it is quite popular, but it is easily the most durable stuffed dog toy I have personally experienced.

Blue Kong: I bought a few of these at once and then never again, so the ones laying around the house right now are the same ones I reviewed back in 2014. Apparently they last a while.

PetProjeckt Dogegg: Very stained and no longer squeaks after 9 years. 

Budy Buddy Booya: See above. Both relegated to the basket of ugly old toys we keep outside these days.

Tuggo: This hard plastic ball with a rope through it has been living in my yard since 2016. It gets dragged around quite a lot. The rope remains in decent shape and the toy is fully functional.

Starmark Treat Dispensing Looper: Has been tossed, carried, and attacked by litters of puppies with the ferocity of fluffy piranhas. Nobody has ever tried to give it a good gnaw though, maybe the shape makes it less chewable?

Original GoughNut: Another testament to the staying power of ring-shaped toys.

Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball: Unless it has fuzz, balls are for fetching rather than gnawing around here.

West Paw ZogoFlex Air Wox: I think I got the first one at SuperZoo 2016. This is probably the toy that has seen the most mileage and the most playtime. A huge variety of dogs have had consistent access to it for the last 8 years and it is still holding up beautifully. This one probably deserves its own post too.

StarMark Bob-A-Lot: It's tough to clean so I don't trot it out that often. This is a puzzle toy that isn't just out for free play all the time, but I first reviewed it here almost a decade ago so it gets an honorable mention.

Ruff Roots Dog Chew: Currently one of our outside toys. I have no idea why this toy is still here because nobody has ever seriously played with it. I should have tossed it years ago. I think I keep hoping some dog will fall in love with it.

Fill a Bunch of Kong Dog Toys Fast

 Do you use a lot of frozen stuffed Kong or other food toys? Are you still filling them individually? You are definitely missing out. I have an ever-changing horde of dogs these days, ranging from puppies to seniors. There is often someone on cage rest or needing some extra enrichment, so stuffed Kongs are still my first choice for frozen licky entertainment. (That reminds me, I need to make a post about why I don't use lick mats.) 

I know West Paw's Toppl toy is becoming the new food favorite for the high-end dog snob crowd, and I have a couple of those as well, but I am still Kong fan for a couple of reasons. The first is durability, the reason I own two Toppls is because West Paw is wonderful and sent me the second after one of my dogs ripped a chunk out of the first. The second reason I prefer Kongs is price, with availability coming a close third. A large classic red Kong is currently $14 retail through sites like Chewy, and can also be purchased at a lot of big stores that have a pet department including Target and Tractor Supply. A large Toppl toy cost $25 and can only be found at pet-specific stores, and I'm not even sure it can be found at very major pet retailed. Do both Petco and PetSmart currently carry them in-store? I don't actually know anymore, I now live in the middle of nowhere and Tractor Supply and Walmart are pretty much it.

Anyway, I own a ridiculous number of Kong toys of various colors and shapes, and I know that filling them can be time-consuming and obnoxious. I used to use a baby spoon to scoop filling into each one individually. I no longer have time for that. What is the fastest method to fill a bunch of food toys fast? The pastry bag method. Not only is it fast, it is also very easy, makes minimal mess, and ha zero cleanup. Ready?

1. Find a container to set all your food toy in. They need to sit upright. I use a plastic storage bin from a discount store like Pic-N-Save. But it's not Pic-N-Save anymore, is it? It's Big Lots. Metal dog bowls can also work, or tupperware, or a cardboard box. No need to get fancy. Ideally you should have freezer space to slide your entire container in, but I won't judge if you need to stick the toys into nooks and crannies among your frozen foods either. I've been there too,

2. Gather your toy fillings. I typically use some combination of canned pumpkin, Greek yogurt, canned dog food, and peanut butter. It's ok to use the canned dog food with the chunks. You want your filling to be pretty thick, so it doesn't leak out before it freezes. You can get extra fancy and add in chunkier things like green beans and other veggies if your dog will eat them. You could even puree everything together in a blender or food processor, but that makes more cleanup.

3. Get a gallon-size resealable bag, Ziploc or whatever brand, and dump all your fillings in. Seal that bad boy, and start mooshing. Squish your filling goodies together as much or as little as you like. If there is something your dog doesn't particularly like, smoosh it together a bit more to get a good mix. If they like everything, maybe mix it a bit less so it's like that swirly ice cream with the two flavors together.

4. Cut off the corner of the bag, and pipe that goodness into your dog toys like a pastry chef. When you're done, toss the bag in the trash and stick your toys in the freezer. 

Did you know that you can stick all those toys in the dishwasher to get them clean? Kong and West Paw toys and natural rubber dog toys in general are dishwasher safe. I finally have a dishwasher so I am no longer scrubbing every food toy. Between the dishwasher and the pastry bag filling method, we have food toys down to a science. Maximum efficiency.  

Happy Festivus!

Break out the unadorned aluminum pole, it's time to celebrate Festivus! I'm a big fan of winter holidays, and this is a particularly silly one. It's a rejection of the holiday consumerism that pervades the month of December, and gets right to the heart of family get-togethers. That's right, I'm talking about the Airing of Grievances. Let's take a moment to talk about the ways in which companies have disappointed The Dog Geek over the last year.

Feats of Strength!

Kong, your Squeezz Crackle ball couldn't handle being squeezed and crackled.

Petsmart, your Puppies backwards-R Us treat spinner couldn't handle even a tiny amount of regular dog play.

Zack & Zoey, you turned out to be a regular Pet Edge brand, and not some adorably personable company with a charming backstory.

Loot Pets, you totally abandoned your geeky premise and sent us a regular dog-themed subscription box. There are tons of regular dog-themed subscription boxes out there, I got yours purely for the geekery. You got rid of the geekery slowly, sending regular toys instead of geeky toys, and fewer items in every box, until your finally abandoned the concept altogether, and that's when you lost a customer. It was a fun six months though, and those first few crates were awesome. The pet shirts never fit right though, you must all have super wide pug-shaped dogs or something.

Sileo, you did nothing for Ranger's fireworks fear. I think we're going camping for New Year's just to get away from the possible fireworks noise.

Company of Animals, your Pet Corrector needs to come with instructions about using it in the vicinity of other pets. It has a very non-specific, area-wide effect, so it "corrects" basically every single dog in agility class when some clueless student chooses to use it for their dog's leash reactivity.

Outward Hound, your dog backpack was awkward and uncomfortable and felt ridiculously cheap and flimsy. Like, I understand making things for a certain price point, but that felt like some serious dollar store shit.

Reviews.com...your research sucks. Bigtime.

Chuckit, your Floppy Tug was surprisingly non-durable.

Zukes, your Power Bones treats show a distinct lack of knowledge about the canine metabolism. I expected better of you.

Thank you for joining me for this little wallow in negativity. the Dog Geek will be back to the usual upbeat outlook following the Feats of Strength.

Stuff We Destroyed: November Edition

Brisbane wasn't much of a toy destroyer, he had some toys for more than a decade without demolishing them. Godzilla also tend to be easy on most of her toys. Zip, on the other hand, likes to chew stuff up. Yay! I finally get to test how durable our toys are! She's certainly not a power chewer, but she does occasionally decide to give something a good gnaw. Here's the most recent casualties:

Holee Roller by PetMate

I bought the girls a second JW Holee Roller so they could each have an Unstuffaball. Somebody got a little carried away liberating the fleece strips from the toy.

Kong Tuff 'N Lite Pig

Sisci Godzilla filled the pink pig with holes, but Zip is the one that chewed the face and feet off the pink pig. She loves ripping chunks off it. I didn't expect it to be totally hollow, but there was nothing inside. Except maybe dignity. 

Kong Squeezz Crackle Ball

Like so many reviewers before me, I found that our Kong Crackle Ball split at the seam just from regular play. This toy wasn't gnawed into oblivion, it was just fetched to death. I did get to see how it worked though, inside the purple ball was a clear rubber ball, and inside that was a piece of clear plastic like you might find holding a brand new action figure onto a cardboard back card. The result was a very firm and very crackley ball that was, it seems, entirely too much fun to chomp.

Outward Hound Splash Disc

This is one of those water toys that my dogs feel compelled to shred for some reason. I was keeping it out of reach until we could take it somewhere to play in the water, but it was all for naught. They really just wanted to demolish it on land or sea. There's just something about that neoprene bathing suit material that they can't resist.

Hyperflite Jawz Pup Disc

Hyperflite makes their Jawz discs for those dogs that tend to puncture everything in their enthusiasm. These are really seriously tough discs. They are not, however, tough enough to handle being pilfered from the disc bag for a good gnaw. I'm just glad Zip likes discs this much.

So that's what we killed this month. Toys that are getting a lot of playtime and handling it well so far include the Wox, both Jolly Balls, and an antler I bought for Brisbane in 2009.

Treat Tuesday: Kong Proactive Care Rawhide

This Kong Proactive Care Knotted Bone appears to be a slightly expensive regular rawhide bone. This is yet another licensed Kong-brand product that is not actually made by the Kong Company. The actual company behind it is Jakks Pacific, purveyors of kinda cheap dog and kid stuff. The packaging says it contains a patent protected bio-available form of Vitamin C. The actual ingredients are rawhide, Lactoferrine, Lisozyme, and L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate. That last one is Vitamin C. I had to look up the others.

Lactoferrin is a protein found in various mammalian secretions, milk seems to have the most. The protein has antimicrobial properties, and it has been clinically proven to improve oral health when used topically. This is definitely a good thing to use on a rawhide chew, but they've spelled it 'Lactoferrine' with an 'e' on the end which is throwing me off a bit. I've only found this spelling on ingredients lists, and I currently believe it to be a misspelling of Lactoferrin and not a sneaky way of making us all think it's got that in there.

"Lisozyme" is hopefully another funky misspelling, because Lysozyme is an enzyme present in saliva and various other things including egg whites. Its antibacterial properties were discovered by Alexander Fleming, the same guy that discovered penicillin. Lysozyme has shown antibacterial properties, so it is often included in human mouthwashes and products for dry mouths. This is also something that make sense to put on a rawhide chew.

I'm still not totally sure why they chose to advertise this bone as having Vitamin C, because I can't find compelling evidence that it does anything for healthy dogs on quality diets. Looks like it's just the generic "boosts the immune system!" claim.

One their website, Jakks Pacific claims that Kong rawhides are made in the USA. However, the package for this one says "Made in Mexico from U.S. beef hides." As the USA is the primary supplier of beef hide for the entire planet, even rawhides from China are usually made from USA beef hide. Not impressed. Not at all. Sisci isn't terribly impressed either, she usually gets to work on rawhides chews right away, and all she's done with this one is carry it around a bit.

Product Review: Kong Squeezz Crackle Ball

The Kong Squeezz Crackle Ball is a new take on Kong's translucent toy line. It's a firm ball with a good solid crackle when squeezed firmly. There's no squeak, and the sound it makes is not particularly loud or jarring. Other toys in the line include a dumbbell, bone, and stick.

Photo by Erin Koski

This ball is unique among our vast toy collection. It doesn't squeak, and it manages to be flexible, firm, and crackly all at the same time. Sort of like a plastic soda bottle inside a rubber Halloween mask. Does that make sense?

Of course, Brisbane can't stand crackly toys so he won't touch the Crackle Ball. Sisci, on the other hand, thinks it is marvelous. It's bigger than a tennis ball, so it's not a choking hazard for large breed dogs.

Photo by Erin Koski

Though it's made by Kong, it's important to distinguish between the company's 'interactive' toy lines, and their classic rubber toys. Like the Jumbler, Tuff N' Lite Pig, and the Squeezz Jels, this is a toy that is intended for supervised, interactive play between you and your dog. It is not meant to be gnawed lovingly for hours, or left with your power chewer while you are at work.

Pros: Provides a unique sensation when chomped. Big enough for big dogs to enjoy. Makes a fun and appealing sound that won't interrupt your important business phone call.

Cons: There seem to be durability issues, many users have reported that the flexible outer skin inevitably splits at the seams.

Bottom Line: Great for non-destructive dogs that like to fetch, catch, and carry their toys around. Not so great for dogs that destroy toys on a regular basis.

Product Review: Kong Binkie

The Kong Binkie is a Puppy Kong shaped like a pacifier. Or binkie. Or paci. Or soother. Or sucky. Or dummy. Or bobo. Or boppy. Or nuk. Or bippy. Or chupi. Want to have a really weird conversation with any group of people? Hold up a pacifier and ask them what it's called. The Kong Binkie is made from Kong's softest rubber, and is intended for needle-sharp puppy teeth and not permanent adult teeth. It comes in two sizes for small puppies under 20 pounds and medium puppies under 35 pounds.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Kong Binkie is an almost entirely unnecessary iteration of the Puppy Kong. Made from especially soft rubber, it has an added disc and handle at the top to make it look like a pacifier. So cute!

The Original Binkie

This is a great improvement over the original design, which placed the handle at the bottom and eliminated the stuffable hole that is almost the entire purpose of Kongs. Seriously, what good is a solid hunk of rubber? Most dogs I know have little to no interest in a food-free Kong. Obviously Kong realized this, and the design was changed with little fanfare back when Puppy Kongs were still being made with white swirly rubber.

Sure, it's shaped more like a pacifier,
but at what cost?

Wait, do you even have a puppy?

At 10 months old, Sisci has all her permanent teeth so technically we should not be using puppy Kongs and do so at our own risk. However, none of my dogs are destructive chewers and they enjoy the softer rubber. I am, however, well aware that if one of them suddenly decides to shred the things I will be in no position to complain to Kong. Fortunately none of mine have problems with eating things that aren't food.

Plus the Kong Binkie is really, really cute. There's no reason not to add it to our extensive Kong collection.

Pros: Soft and appealing for sinking tiny, sharp little puppy teeth into. The handle part is especially fun to gnaw. Stuffable. Made in the USA.

Cons: The adorableness of the toy and general lack of informed consumers means a lot of people will let their puppy play with this until their permanent teeth allow them to demolish it. Hopefully their puppy doesn't eat enough pieces to cause issues.

Bottom Line: Puppies are cute little babies, so it's fun to get them cute little baby toys. The Kong Binkie also helps puppies learn to self soothe, settle down, and have a good gnaw on something safe.

What was your dog's favorite toy as a puppy?

Where Are They Now: Toys We Had.

That ear. I can't even handle it.

 A few weeks ago we went to an AKC lure coursing ability test in Hollister, California. This two-day event was about five hours away, a bit further than we normally travel for dog stuff at this point. However, my husband's extended family lives out there, so we combined lure coursing with visiting his grandmother and various aunts and uncles. His aunt was kind enough to let us stay with them for the weekend, so we got to hang out with this majestic beast:

Adara is a sweet, lovable, and intense pit bull type dog who, like most bully breeds, is tough on toys. I brought her a bag of our sturdiest unloved toys to enjoy, and she was thrilled. How did they hold up?

The Dex & Penny Squeaky Stick arrived in our January BarkBox, and I failed to get a total of ten dogs to play with it over the course of six months. Adara loved it so much she gnawed the end off right away. It's finally gone!

The XL Black Kong Extreme was probably a little more Kong than we currently need around here, especially since I was gifted a second one. This got filled with peanut butter for happy crate time. She hasn't made a dent in it yet.

The PetProjekt Football Tretball requires a fair amount of force to flex in order to get the treats out, and my dogs are delicate little dewdrops who found it unappealing. Adara thinks it is the greatest toy ever. She loves rooting her nose into things, and with the football she finds treats while she's smooshing!

Product Review: Kong Squeezz Jels

Kong Squeezz Jels are squeaky, bouncy toys shaped like animals. They are durable, colorful, and bounce unpredictably. They are available in medium and large sizes.

Photo by Erin Koski

Brisbane loves squeaky toys, especially annoying ones. He prefers to ignore them until someone is making an important phone call and then squeak wildly at the worst possible moment. His squeaky of choice is the Cuz ball, but the Kong Squeezz Jel seemed like it would fill the same role.

I was surprised to find that Briz didn't really like the Squeezz Jels toy. He'll humor me if I toss it to him, but won't pick it up and play of his own volition. It's not just Briz either, none of my foster dogs have found this toy appealing either.

These toys are supposed to be translucent and look almost like candy, but ours is really cloudy. I suspect this happens to Squeezz Jels as they age. We tend to keep dog toys around for a long time, so I really prefer ones that age well.

Pros: Durable and annoyingly squeaky.

Cons: Translucent material grows cloudy with age. None of my dogs like it.

Bottom Line: I think these toys might be made to appeal to people more than dogs.

Puzzle Toy Review: Kong Genius Leo

The Kong Genius Leo is a roller-type puzzle toy shaped a bit like a bowling pin. It is made in the USA from natural rubber, and comes in three different sizes. Ours is the large size.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Kong Genius Leo was once originally sold as the Canine Genius Leo. The Kong Company bought the rights and hopefully made the Canine Genius people very successful.

There are two Kong Genius toys. The Leo is named after Leonardo DaVinci, and the Mike is named after Michelangelo. The Leo has a funnel-shaped top, and x-shaped openings at the bottom and on the side. Kibble can be loaded through the top and falls out as the dog rolls the toy around.

For a more difficult puzzle, the neck of the Leo can be shoved through one of the x-shaped openings in either the Mike toy or another Leo. This allows the kibble to fall freely between the toys. It also keeps the most vulnerable part of the Leo, the neck, safer from serious chewing.

Photo by Erin Koski

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 5/5
Provided I can keep it from falling out, I can fit a good cup of food in here.

Loading Speed: 4/5
I should be able to funnel tons of food in here in no time, but the size of kibble I use tends to just fall out the other openings if I'm not super careful.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 4/5
Darla can spend quite a while getting her 3/4 cup of kibble out of the Leo.

Photo by Erin Koski

Unloading Speed (superdog): 3/5
Briz would take a lot more time emptying the Leo if the holes weren't big enough for kibble to just fall out. I suspect our original Leo has slightly narrower holes.

Size: 5/5
Three sizes mean there is a Leo small enough for Ru and big enough for a really big dog. Our Large is supposed to be for dogs up to 40 pounds, but it sometimes feels a bit big for 40-pound Brisbane. The Extra Large is big enough for a really big dog.

Durability: 4/5
It's not made to be gnawed severely, but the Leo will stand up to pretty much anything else.

Noise: 4/5
It's hard enough to be a tad rattley on the hardwood when it's got a bunch of kibble in it, but it's not terrible.

Locatability: 4/5
That one flat side keeps it from rolling too far, and it's a pretty big toy.

Washability: 2/5
It doesn't open up and I can't see inside, but I can get a scrub brush in there.

Versatility: 3/5
It's big enough for a variety of critters to bat around, and to hold a variety of foods. The lack of washability somewhat limits what I'm willing to shove in there though.

Total: 38/50

Product Review: Kong Aqua

The Kong Aqua is a floating water toy with a rope attached for throwing. The Kong Aqua is not a stuffable chew toy, but it is a highly-visible and floats high in the water. The Kong website states that the toy comes in medium and large sizes, but I've only ever seen the large.

Photo by Erin Koski

Brisbane is pretty hard on water toys. After he retrieves them, he wold really like to shred them. He ripped the cover off the Water Wubba, and will tear chunks out of our Chuckit disc and bumper given the opportunity. I get the feeling that the people who designed the Kong Aqua have the same problem.

The rope on this toy is really long, at least 2' if not 3'. This makes it super easy to lob the thing way out into the ocean without getting my feet wet. It's a braided plastic rope, so it doesn't absorb water and Brisbane can't shred it once he comes ashore. He tries, it just doesn't come apart.

This is the same size as a large Kong Classic, and no significantly bigger than a tennis ball. Brisbane has a lot of trouble locating a tennis ball or Ultra Ball in the surf. The Aqua Kong is far more visible, even when he is swimming with his nose right at water level.

Pros: Nearly indestructible, holds up even when he stands on the toy and tries to rip the rope off. High visibility. Easy to throw long distances.

Cons: Extra-long rope makes it kind of awkward to carry. Plastic rope doesn't feel great on my hands when playing tug. This Kong is not stuffable because it is filled with floating foam.

Bottom Line: This might be our new favorite swimming toy.

Product Review: Puppy Kong Classic

Puppy Kongs are durable rubber stuffable chew toys made from extra-soft rubber. The Kong Company makes a variety of toys out of their puppy rubber, we have two large and one medium Puppy Kong Classics.

Photo by Erin Koski

Kong makes their durable chew toys from five different color-coded natural rubber materials. Pastel pink and blue puppy rubber is the softest, followed by purple senior rubber. Next is classic red, followed by dark blue, and finally Black Extreme.

Puppy rubber is intended only for dogs that still have their needle-sharp baby teeth. Puppy Kongs are extra-squishy and inviting, and I have used them to help teach reluctant chewers that Kongs are more than just vessels for food.

Naturally, the Puppy Kongs can be used the same way as any other Classic Kong. I like to stuff them with peanut butter and freeze them.

Photo by Erin Koski

When I had the foster girls here, they had just been spayed and needed to stay quiet in their crates for ten days. I would fill their Kongs with dry kibble after each potty break so they could roll the toys around rather than eating out of a bowl.

Pros: A safe, durable chew toy that can be stuffed with tasty treats and frozen for teething puppies. Comes in cute pastel "baby" colors. Bounces unpredictably for ridiculous puppy action.

Photo by Erin Koski

Cons: Puppy Kong is only for puppies with baby teeth, as soon as they grow some permanent teeth this toy should be tossed. I'm not crazy about stuff having a limited lifespan like that. Puppy Kong also only comes in Extra Small, Small, Medium, and Large, so giant breed puppies may outgrow their toys before they finish teething.

Bottom Line: I own Puppy Kongs because  am eccentric enough to want to collect Kongs of every size/shape/color.

Don't Bleach Kongs.

Shortly after acquiring our purple Senior Kong, it rolled off the counter and into the sink. I had been soaking some scary tupperware in bleach water, and didn't find the purple Kong in there until the next morning. I had originally thought that bleaching Kongs was cool, but my purple Kong ended up with white streaks on it that I couldn't rinse or soak off.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Kong Company is pretty cool, so I sent them a message asking whether the purple streaky Kong was still safe to use. The reply I got back was pretty cool, they were happy to hear from me and get some feedback about how their product was doing in the wild.

It turns out that bleaching Kongs is a no-go:

"I would suggest replacing the Senior KONG. The KONG natural rubber, althought it appears smooth, is actually porous and can absorb materials over time. The bleach could have soaked into the rubber and we would not want Brisbane to consume that."

So there is the official word on bleaching Kongs. Happily, my Kong was still covered by the company's 30 day warranty. Standard procedure is to take the damaged toy plus the receipt back to the store where it was purchased and get a refund or exchange it for a bigger/tougher Kong. I ended up sending the purple Kong plus a printout of my Amazon order directly to the Kong Company. It takes a while, but they are sending us a new purple Kong.

Communicating with the Kong Company has been a lot of fun. The person I messaged visited my blog, noted that I do rescue and fostering, and sent me some coupons to get some new Kong for my monsters.

Treat Tuesday: Kong Stuff'n Real Peanut Butter

I bought this tube of Kong Stuff'n while on a trip with Ru. I needed to have him ride quietly in a purse for about twenty minutes, and I needed to do it with only stuff I could buy in Petco right that very moment. This was absolutely the most convenient thing imaginable. It's real peanut butter, too. I'm pretty sure I could get away with feeding this to a kid.

Good For: When I'm away from home and I absolutely need a stuffed Kong RIGHT NOW. Squirting into tiny Kongs for tiny dogs. Putting a very small amount of peanut butter anywhere.

Not Good For: Actually, you know, stuffing a non-tiny Kong. A light smear on the inside does not a "stuffed Kong" make in my book.

How Much We Like It: Not as much as the E-Z Cheez-style spray cans of Kong Stuff'n. It's still around mostly because I feel silly using it and expect it to come in handy in some future emergency Kong situation.

Puzzle Toy Review: Kong Genius Mike

The Kong Genius Mike is one of two durable rubber roller puzzle toys in the Kong Genius toy line. It consists of a ribbed tube with cross-shaped openings in either end. The Kong Genius Mike can be combined with two Kong Genius Leo toys for an even more challenging puzzle. It is available in assorted colors and three sizes, small for dogs up to 20 pounds, large for dogs 15-40 pounds, and extra large for dogs over 35 pounds.

Photo by Erin Koski

Once upon a time, seven or eight years ago, Brisbane had a Canine Genius Leo toy. He was never that interested in it because he doesn't like to chomp on tough rubber toys, and one day he began actively avoiding it. I'm not sure what happened, but I assume he had some sort of bad experience. I eventually gave it to a friend. I was quite surprised when the Kong Genius toys hit the shelves of my local Petco a few years later, because I definitely remembered the toy being made by an independent company and not by Kong. The Canine Genius website is still up, but most of the links redirect elsewhere now.

I find the size recommendations on these kind of ridiculous. Our Mike toy is a Large, which puts Brisbane at the very top of the recommended range, and Uly over it. The XL is enormous, and I think the boys would enjoy the Small size more. They bat these around and roll them across the floor, but nobody is gnawing it. I cannot imagine a 25-pound dog being able to do anything but roll this toy around, they definitely couldn't compress it enough to get anything bigger than kibble out.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 5/5
I can fit at least a cup of food in here, maybe two.

Loading Speed: 3/5
It should totally work with a bottle funnel, except that the food falls out the other side immediately. I can either jam a few larger treats in there (which I will have to pry out later because the dogs can't get them) or attempt to wedge the funnel in the opening while holding the toy at an angle and...nope.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 5/5
It takes Uly something like 15 minutes or more to get half a cup of kibble out.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 4/5
Brisbane is adept at emptying the toy and figuring out which treats cannot be removed without brute force, but it still takes him a good while to get even a few treats out.

Size: 4/5
I really think the size limits on these things are too cautious and I would have no problem giving my dogs the small size for dogs under 20 pounds. The XL toys are just huge. According to the size chart there should be Kong Genius toys for every size of dog, but the small feels too big for toy breeds.

Durability: 5/5
This toy probably can't handle extended chewing by a dedicated dog, but the durable rubber should stand up to quite a bit of gnawing.

Noise: 5/5
This toy is intended to roll, but the rubber makes it quiet on my raised foundation and hardwood floors. The dogs don't tend to fling it, and they are silent when emptying it inside a crate.

Locatability: 3/5
Rolls, fits under furniture, and small enough to carry. I haven't lost it yet because I keep pretty close tabs on food toys right now, but it's only a matter of time.

Washability: 4/5
Dishwasher safe (grumble grumble) and a bottle brush and some soap work too. This toy is intended for kibble so it shouldn't get too gross anyway.

Hoardability: 4/5
Small enough to carry, Brisbane likes to take this to a bed to empty.

Total: 42/50

Product Review: Purple Senior Kong

The Senior Kong comes in the same shape as the classic red Kong, but in a softer rubber that is easier on the mouth. Purple Kongs for senior dogs come in three sizes for small, medium, and large dogs.

Photo by Erin Koski

Brisbane has been slowing down and showing his age a bit in the last few months, but that's not actually why I got him a purple Kong. The real reason is that I love the color and really wanted to add some purple to our Kong collection in the freezer.

The original senior Kong rubber was a swirled white and purple that I always thought looked a bit dirty. The puppy Kong toys also started out with this swirly rubber, first it was white and teal, then it was changed to white swirled with either blue or pink. I never really found these toys visually appealing, to me they always looked sort of dirty.

Obviously somebody at Kong had the right idea, because the puppy Kongs are now solid pastel blues and pinks, and the senior Kong is a nice vibrant solid purple. The only ones I have ever seen in my local stores were the yucky-looking swirly ones, and as soon as I saw the bright purple Kong on the company website I wanted it. This absolutely makes me a crazy dog lady, as well as a dog nerd of the highest order. But look how purple! My Kong collection is getting a bit silly though, I've almost managed to collect one of every color. I'm planning to get Brisbane an orange Aqua Kong next.

Pros: Purple! Look how pretty! Softer rubber is easier for older dogs to chomp and squish, making chewing more fun for geriatric dogs. As always, Kongs are stuffable, freezable, and bounce all crazy.

Cons: Less durable than classic red Kongs, and there's no real reason to switch to these when my dogs still thoroughly enjoy those. Old but powerful recreational chewers may well demolish a senior Kong, so these softer toys should be introduced with care.

Bottom Line: Kong couldn't make a more me Kong unless they made it out of dark pink/fuchsia rubber like the color of Brisbane's leash. I wish I had more to say, but I really just like the purple Kong for the color.

Project Kong Chewing

I love Kong toys and so do my dogs, but I feel like they are missing out. At this point we have maybe ten of them that I keep in the freezer, stuffed full of peanut butter and other tasty things. While all three dogs thoroughly enjoy licking peanut butter out of a Kong, none of them are very good at unstuffing the toys.
Kong's durable rubber chew toys are designed to be stuffed with biscuits, kibble, and squishy things like peanut butter. The dog can lick these goodies out of the toy, but sometimes the food gets stuck in there. Chomping down hard on the small end of the toy is the traditional move from the Kong playbook for loosening up trapped cookies. None of my dogs appear to know that maneuver, so I am attempting to teach them.

As of now, all three dogs see Kongs as food dishes rather than playthings. Once emptied, the toys lose all interest. Brisbane is not a recreational chewer, they doesn't enjoy gnawing on non-edible toys just for fun. Ulysses is also largely uninterested in gnawing non-food, with the exception of a ball during a game of fetch. Ru loves to chew his Nylabones, and also the occasional dropped wine cork.

The plan so far:

1. Play with the Kongs. This seems really obvious, but the Kong toys spend the vast majority of their time in the freezer, and are rarely on the floor and available for the dogs to play with. Since they are associated with food they could potentially become a source of conflict for Brisbane and Uly. I am addressing these issues by bringing unstuffed Kongs out for individual playtime in the yard. The dogs get to enjoy that unpredictable bouncing feature, and we both get some well-deserved one-on-one time together.

2. Size down. Since I'm trying to introduce the dogs to the concept that Kongs are made of rubber and can be chomped, I want to make things as easy as possible. Both Ulysses and Brisbane fall squarely into the large Kong's 30-65-pound range at 50 and 40 pounds, respectively. The large toy is definitely not a choking hazard, but the small end is still a bit of a stretch to get their back chomping teeth around. I'm comfortable letting them chase and chomp a medium size Kong with supervision.

3. Power down. The black Kongs are the hardest, least flexible, and most durable. The royal blue Kongs are less durable and more flexible while still being tougher than the classic red Kongs. Even softer than that are the purple senior Kongs, and the softest are the pastel blue and pink puppy Kongs. I don't like to admit it, but Brisbane can probably be considered a senior dog now. My vet thinks Uly is around eight years old, and his teeth are very worn, so he also fits the description of senior. I recently acquired (and then ruined) a senior Kong, but I thought I'd go even squishier and try out a baby Kong. (Yes, this is against manufacturer recommendations, and yes, it is potentially risky, however neither of the big boys chews on stuff for fun or tears things up or eats things that aren't food.)

So far, just bouncing a small Kong around the yard convinced Ru that this toy is good for gnawing. Hopefully this improves his toy-emptying performance. Will chasing and fetching a medium-size puppy Kong be enough to get Uly and Briz chewing instead of just licking?

My Kong Marathon is Getting Chewed Up

My dogs aren't serious chewers. Ru is the only one of the three who enjoys recreational chewing, he loves his Nylabones. Brisbane has had some of his food toys for eight or nine years, and used them regularly without any damage. Ulysses is the same way, he is only interested in getting the food out of the toy, and if it's too much work he just gives up. Both dogs have been using the Starmark Everlasting Treat Ball and Bento Ball for several months without doing any damage to the toys.

So why, after only a few uses, does our Kong Marathon ball look like this? Our original Kong Marathon toy was a small blue bone, but I quickly upgraded to a large green ball when I realized the small toys were intended for dogs under 35 pounds. Briz weighs 40 pounds and Uly weighs 50, the large toys are labeled for dogs up to 65 pounds.

It is fortunate that my dogs are gentle chewers with no desire to eat pieces of their toys, because the large Kong Marathon ball is falling apart on us. It's still pretty functional, but I could pull pieces off it with my fingers easily. It may only have a few uses left, which sucks because I've put less than ten treats in it so far.

The ball is put away when not in use, and my dogs don't chew on non-edible stuff for fun. They stop playing with the toy as soon as they get the treat out, if not before. They are normally gentle with their toys, and getting gentler as they age. I am certain our Kong Marathon toy has not been abused, or subjected to more than the most gentle chewing, but it just isn't holding up to normal use.

Cheapass Dog Fun: Non-Perishable Kong Stuffing

Every so often I get inspired and creative and stuff my Kongs and other food toys with sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, green beans, and canned dog food. I will inevitably regret this later when I find said Kong under the couch and full of mold a week later.

My dogs rarely empty a Kong completely, and we are all much happier when I accept this and stuff them accordingly. Sticking with non-perishable goodies means never finding a Kong full of green fur. If I stuff the toys in a very precise fashion, I might not even need to scrub peanut butter out of them after the dogs are done.

Peanut Butter is my standard stuffing, and each time I try something new I end up going back to it. The big jar lives in the refrigerator, but this stuff is shelf-stable. A peanut butter-stuffed Kong can spend months lost under the furniture and come back looking no worse for the wear. Peanut butter feels wet and sticky, but it actually has a very low moisture content, which prevents bacterial and fungal growth. The oil in it will eventually go rancid after a year or so, but it doesn't get gross hanging out inside a Kong under the couch for a few weeks. Heck, it could probably sit under there for a few months and still come out pretty much the same way it went in.

Brisbane and Ulysses cannot reach all the way to the bottom of a large or extra large Kong with their tongues. If I smear peanut butter all the way down to the bottom, I will have to scrub a solid plug of it out when they're done. For this reason, I usually start my Kong-stuffing with something dry and bulky to fill the space. A small scoop of kibble works, but I normally like to use something less dense. Broken up Cloud Star Buddy Biscuits and Zukes Skinny Bakes are currently my favorite things to cram in there.

Next I use a butter knife to spread peanut butter all the way around the inside walls of the Kong. A few more small biscuits help fill the space in the middle, and then I seal off the opening with more peanut butter. Sometimes I stick a biscuit in the opening for them to break off before they begin the unstuffing project.

This "How to Stuff a Kong Toy" diagram is all over the internet, and it always makes me laugh because it was clearly drawn by someone with no sense of perspective. Either this is a gargantuan XXL Kong, or those bone-shaped biscuits are tiny. Our Kongs are mostly size large, and I don't think I've seen any bone-shaped biscuits significantly smaller than the inner diameter of the toy.

I've also seen those "marrow bites" dog treats they show in the "dessert" layer, and a large Kong could fit maybe one or two in there. Definitely not five. Honestly, I think my dogs find kibble to be higher value than most biscuits, those things are pretty bland, so offering them as a dessert seems kind of silly. I also like the "tantalizer" placed in the small hole at the end, my dogs totally ignore anything in there. Maybe one of these days I'll try putting something really exciting in it to see if they notice. I'm thinking Limburger cheese or something equally stinky. They love stinky treats.

My dogs need no "appetizer" sticking out of their Kongs, they're really just in it for the peanut butter. I keep trying to find something less nutritionally dense to stick in there, but apparently nothing else is worth quite as much effort. I'm not going to argue.

I do occasionally leave Buddy Biscuits sticking out of the top of the Kongs before I freeze them, but it's for my benefit rather than theirs. I don't think the dogs care. I just like seeing those little guys waving like they suspect nothing.

So far, as long as I stick with the dry biscuits/peanut butter formula, I have yet to scrub anything Lovecraftian out of a Kong toy.

What's with All That Kong-Brand Stuff at Petsmart?

Anyone who has set foot in a Petsmart store in the last year must be aware of the proliferation of Kong-branded products. Far from the usual toys and treats, these items include beds, crates, collars, leashes, and even life jackets. Meanwhile, the Kong Company website continues to feature their usual product line and fails to mention anything about these other items that bear their name and logo. So is that harness actually made by the same company as those beehive-shaped rubber toys or not?

Photo by Erin Koski

Technically, no. The harnesses, collar, beds, and crates bearing the familiar red KONG logo are produced by Petsmart. The Kong Company merely sold them the rights to slap the Kong name on everything. This was a brilliant move, as Kong is a household name that is practically synonymous with durability. When consumers see a dog bed or a leash with this trusted brand name on it, they assume it is another quality product by a familiar company.

The down side is, of course, that Kong designed the logo, and pretty much everything else was developed and manufactured by Petsmart and assorted third-party suppliers.

Photo by Erin Koski

While searching for the whole story behind the Kong-brand products, I happened upon this post on the Complaints Board website. The poster related an issue they had with a Kong-brand crate, and shared the reply they received from the Kong Company. Here is their explanation:

"We have licensed our brand name to Petsmart recently on a variety of products that fall out of our normal toy and treat lines. KONG has worked with PetSmart to develop these products. While these products are marketed under the KONG brand, PetSmart has retained the direct contacts with the manufacturers. Because of these contacts PetSmart would be better equipped to handle your questions with the specific products."