First of all I wanted to thank everyone who offered support and such kind words about the loss of Joey. I really appreciate it. I know it’s going to take some time but with the help of friends it’ll get easier.

So, on top of the sudden loss of Joey, I’ve been rather sick this past weekend. It hit me on Friday night and had me in bed all weekend except to take Joey to the vet. With puppy in the house, it was extremely difficult to keep him from driving everyone nuts. One of the only saving graces that I had were the many food dispensing toys in my house. He played with the Kong Wobbler, the Nina Ottosson Dog Treat Maze, and two different types of other balls/toys that can dispense food.

Give him these toys on the ceramic floor and he was running around like crazy, pouncing on the toys, rolling the toys, smacking the toys, flipping the toys… he was active and crazy for 10-15 minutes and then he’d tolerate napping in his crate for a little longer while I napped. They have really been a saving grace that gave me a little bit of leeway with the amount of exercise and work puppy was given. He didn’t love that I spent most of the days in bed but he wasn’t driving me nuts or going off the walls bonkers since he was getting some mental and physical exercise every few hours getting to have some food from a dispensing toy.

I’m also glad I have such a wide variety of toys because each one provides different challenges and levels of work needed. The variety also keeps him on his toes since what works for the treat balls doesn’t necessarily work for the wobbler–he has to be creative and innovative to work each new toy.

So, if you don’t have treat dispensing toys, I highly suggest them! They can be a huge lifesaver if something happens that prevents you from doing the typical amount of exercise/training/fun.