Having a variety of food toys available for your dog is a good thing. Why? Dogs need mental stimulation, and unless they’re playing or training with their guardians, they need something to challenge their capacities the other hours in the day. That is, when they’re not catching up on their beauty sleep.
Dogs need brain games, and because dogs are predators, most self-rewarding toys will be about food and to get that food out.
The TreatStik is a food toy that looks like a flashlight, is built of some pretty strong heavy-duty non-toxic nylon, and can hold a meal’s worth of kibble, if you buy the right size. When my dogs get a Treatstik, there’s invariably a few kibbles left inside that keeps them occupied via gnawing on the thing to get the remainder out. I usually end up doling out the last morsels.
If you don’t screw the end on tightly enough, the TreatStik will open and then the dog won’t have to do much work at all to get his meal ration’s worth. I speak from experience. Make sure YOU tighten that lid.
As for the strength, I don’t think the TreatStik will hold up to extreme chewers, but for average to light chewers, it should do fine. Take a look at this video. Here’s a Lab going at his year-old Treatstik, and has a nice chew on it at the end.
Buy the TreatStik here. Made in the USA!
By Helen Verte
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed, Certified Trick Dog Instructor
Dog Trainer in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida
