How To Help Foodie Dogs Love Toys Too

Playing with your dog should be part and parcel of your everyday life together.

It brings with it a whole host of benefits: it’s good exercise, it relieves anxiety and it's great for boosting the bond you share, which forms the foundation for all round happiness and successful training. It’s also FUN - for both of you. 

The trouble is, if you have a dog who’s only motivated by food, and show no interest in toys, then play can be tricky. 

However, it IS possible to teach foodie dogs to love toys too. 

The first thing to remember - and it’s an important one - is that you should never force toys onto any dog. The secret here, as with all training, is to keep it positive and work with your dog, not against them. 

So how do you do that? 

Well, at Tug-E-Nuff, we’re very experienced with foodie dogs who don’t like toys. In fact, our company was founded because of one. 

Back in 2013, one of our beloved collies, Indy, had absolutely no interest in playing tug, or playing full stop. Her only motivator was food. So we set out to create our own toy that would tempt her into playing because we knew it was an essential component to training and having fun together. 

We came up with the Bungee Food Bag - and it was a huge success. It ended up being the toy that turned us into the successful dog toy business we are today - but that’s another story - and it has since helped thousands of foodie dogs across the world discover a love of play. 

The magic of the Bungee Food Bag is that it incorporates food within a toy - so you’re using the one thing your dog loves most to your advantage. 

How to use the Bungee Food Bag:

1. Fill with yummy treats. The smellier the better, like dried sprats or our Grain-Free Fish Treats. 

2. Feed your dog from the filled pouch a few times before enclosing the treats inside.

3. Once closed encourage and praise and interaction with the Bungee Food Bag. Drag it around a bit and get your dog the chase and mouth it before you start a game of tug. Build this up slowly first in an environment with little distraction.

4. Keep the sessions short and sweet and make sure you always finish the game whilst your dog is still fully engaged.

5. The smell of the food will help build drive and focus. Don’t worry, the toy is machine washable on a cool cycle so it won’t always smell of dog treats!

6. You can gradually remove the treats once your dog is used to the game and you could then try playing tug with a different toy from our range. Our Wondabaa Bungee and Sheepskin Chaser With Tennis Ball often follow on nicely and add some interesting variety. They usually prove irresistible to dogs because of the scent and texture of real fur.

7. Mix things up by playing games like ‘fetch’ and ‘find it’ with other food-based toys, like The Clam.

8. Ta da! Your foodie dog will soon be a toy-loving maniac (which is the best way to be, if you ask us!).