Cindy, Try hard sterilized hollow bones and Kong toys. These are meant to be "stuffed" to make them more interesting for the dogs. Stuff them full of peanut butter, squeeze cheese, leftover fat from your dinner meat, even bannana if your dog likes these. Then mix in some of his regular kibble and/or a few biscuits. Put a piece of something really special and smelly deep inside, like liver, steak, chicken...so he will work hard trying to get it out. Make it easy for the food to come out at first until he gets the hang if it. When he gets really good at it, you can freeze them overnight so he has to work harder and longer at emptying them.
A dog on "bedrest" who might be getting bored should probably have his entire breakfast and dinner kibble "stuffed" this way. That way he can spend 20 minutes eating dinner (pretty much the highlight of his day, anyhow!) instead of 20 seconds. Nylabones are very durable. They are great if he likes them. I would avoid things that break off into big chunks, these can cause intestinal blockage. I would recommend rotating his toys (chew toys and stuffed toys as well) every couple days. That way he thinks he is getting a new one all the time! I hav emy dogs's toys in 3-4 "sets" that get changed periodically to keep interest high. If he is bored, try to spend some extra time w/ him teaching little tricks to keep his mind active while he revovers from surgery....teach shake, speak, whatever he can physically do. My Bean does "Shark!" This means he snaps up the air w/ great enthusiasm! Or just nice snuggles and belly rubs.... Vilma Briggs (Kistner) Mt. Gilead, OH U-UD Mocha Java Slurp, UDX, HIC, TT Ch. Brighteye Expresso Bean, UD, NDD, TT U-CDX Our Little Buddy, UD, NA, TT Thirdtym's A Charm, CGC and Ted
