Cleaning Kong Dog Toys
Every positive reinforcement dog trainer agrees on one thing: Dogs should have plenty of mental enrichment every day. Food stuffed dog toys, such as Kongs, are a quick and very effective way to keep your dog’s brain busy all day. But how do you remove all the sticky residue from the cracks and crevices of dog toys afterwards? Here are a few simple hacks for cleaning Kong dog toys.
Smart Kong Stuffing Tactics
For the most part, sticky and gooey foods make the best filling for rubber Kong toys. While the sticky texture of these foods help keep the filling inside the toy, it can leave a gross residue that’s impossible to remove. The toughest place to remove gummed up food is the very bottom or within crevices.
To prevent food from caking at the bottom, fill the bottom third of the Kong with kibble. Then, fill the remaining 2/3 of the toy with cream cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, squeeze cheese, banana, honey, bread or sweet potatoes. Freeze to ensure the food stuffed dog toy lasts longer.
RELATED: 4 Kong Stuffing Tips to Make Your Life Easier
Scrape With a Butter Knife or Bottle Brush
When dog saliva and peanut butter mesh together during an hour-long dog toy licking session, traces of food will inevitably get left behind. Use a butter knife to scrape out the larger chunks lodged inside and toss into your garbage disposal. Some pet owners use a bottle brush to scrub out the food stuck in cracks and crevices, but wire bristles just don’t reach all the way inside. Either way, it’s important to scrape out the large bits from the bottom to prevent mold from growing.
Soak in Warm Soapy Water
Once the larger chunks have been removed, it’s time to give the dog toy a long soak. In the past, I would put dishwasher safe toys on the top rack of our dishwasher, but then I would notice the color fading and cracks developing due to extreme heat.
Now, I fill our sink with hot water and liberally drizzle natural dishwashing liquid to form a hot soap soak. If you go this route, toss all of your rubber Kong toys into the water and let them soak for an hour. A long soak will help lift and remove the food stuck in crevices. Rinse each toy well after thorough soaking, air dry and stuff them with food for your dog again.
Once a week, I gather up all of my dogs’ Kongs and stuff them with food. Filling each dog toy individually is such a waste of time, and it gets so dang messy.
Let’s chat about leaky food stuffed toys for a minute. Leaky food stuffed toys make a mess in your refrigerator, freezer and even your favorite rug. An easy way to prevent the food from leaking is to plug the holes with peanut butter. 