As summer comes to an end (be gone heat!), many households are preparing for back to school. Unfortunately for your dogs and cats, the house becomes a little quiet and lonely. Fight the bark-to-school blues with our interactive tips to keep them entertained while you’re shopping for supplies, meeting new teachers, starting after-school activities, etc.
Play Dates
When planning a play date with new classmates, consider inviting their furry family member too. This is great for both exercise and socialization. However, this is probably only ideal if you have smaller dogs and/or ample space for a little roughhousing.
Interactive Toys
Interactive toys are like school, for pets. These toys offer hours of long-lasting, brain-stimulating entertainment for dogs of any size. Depending on the toy, you can stuff in treats, frozen bone broth, or good ol’ fashion peanut butter (xylitol-free, of course) to keep your dog’s attention and incentivize him to keep playing. Interactive toys are meowzing for cats, too. These toys are engaging and satisfy kitty’s natural drive to hunt or search out their food. Team Tomlinson’s recommends:-
Planet Dog Orbee Tuff Snoop (or Lil’ Snoop): The multiple award-winning Orbee-Tuff® Snoop challenges the brain in fun and stimulating ways. Snoop is translucent and squishy with a deep crevice that conceals the treasure. Filled with treats, dogs will pounce, nudge, nose, and nibble to release the hidden reward. And when it gets grimy, just pop it in the dishwasher.
- Coastal Pet Turbo MegaScratcher Cat Toy: The Mega Turbo Cat Toy supports
a huge 14" scratch pad (big enough for scratching and sleeping) and a smooth motion track ball. For variety you can turn the toy over for a game of peek a boo with the jingle ball. Catnip included. Non-Skid pads prevent toy from sliding around.
Chews
Satisfy your pup’s innate urge to gnaw while saving your shoes or furniture. Chews provide stimulating activity for your pup or cat. We recommend checking out our blog on bones & hard chews to figure out which is best for your pup. However, if your dog will be unsupervised, we recommend using a plastic or silicon chew like West Paw Hurley Zogoflex Dog Toy or Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff Orbee Bone Dog Toy.Play Dates
When planning a play date with new classmates, consider inviting their furry family member too. This is great for both exercise and socialization. However, this is probably only ideal if you have smaller dogs and/or ample space for a little roughhousing.
Hide & Seek
Before you head out for the day, hide some small treats in various places around the house and watch your dog be entertained and instantly rewarded for hours! If your dog has a strong sniffer, this will be his new favorite activity. The same goes for cats, too: hide a few bites of food around the house for your cat to hunt down. Or if you feed canned food, scoop a spoonful into a small dish (measuring cups or shot glasses work great) and stash it in various corners. Just remember to pick up any remnants at the end of the day—you don’t want any left over food attracting other critters.
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