Globally, 70% of dogs still get most of their calories from scavenging, which means they spend large chunks of their day searching for food. All that time spent scavenging is quite satisfying for dogs. Their brains are designed to crave it. So while it's wonderful that our dogs have reliable access to high-quality food, the loss of scavenging is a bummer for them and can leave them feeling bored, with mental energy to burn. This excess mental energy can show up in our dogs in a variety of ways from inappropriate chewing and digging to pestering to barking.

So, we recommend letting your dog scavenge a few times a day. They can scavenge for meals and snacks using store-bought and homemade food puzzles.

If you don't have a bunch of food puzzles, or even if you do and you just want some variety, here are some of our favorite recycling materials to turn into food puzzles:

Packing Paper

Spread packing paper out and then sprinkle treats on it. You can crumple it into balls or roll it and then knot it into a pretzel!

Yogurt Containers and Peanut Butter Jars

Serve as is, frozen, or with treats sprinkled in!

Boxes

Sprinkle treats inside and add toys, packing paper, or other objects for your dog to search for. If your dog is a newbie, cut the flaps off. For advanced dogs and super chewers, tuck the flaps into themselves.

Never give homemade food puzzles to dogs with a history of ingesting non-food objects.

Learn, Play, and Grow with Your Dog

Learn more fascinating facts about dogs and how they experience the world, and get toys and gear to explore their world with them with our Discovery Kits.