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When we first bought home our rescue patterdale Blake, he was more than a handful. His craziness and mild fear of my husband coming down the stairs was difficult in the first few weeks (poor Blake was abused by a man in his previous home). Blake bonded with us and this then turned to him being completely attached to both of us, followed by separation anxiety. Blake had one to one dog training before he was allowed to go into classes and that’s when we were introduced to the Licky mat for dogs.
What is the Licky Mat for Dogs?
The licky mat for dogs is a plastic mat that you can smear treats on such as wet dog food, dog pate, plain yoghurt and peanut butter. Freeze it to make it longer lasting! The licky mat will make your dog work for its food both giving him/her intellectual stimulation and distraction in difficult situations.
What to Put on the Licky Mat
- Wet Dog Food
- Cottage Cheese
- Pate
- Yoghurt
- Dog Peanut Butter
- Dog Liver Paste
- 𝗦𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝘅𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 & 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺: Help relieve your furry little one’s stress and anxiety with the LickiMat for dogs. Perfect for calming pets during stressful moments like vet visits or thunderstorms, this dog lick mat promotes endorphin release, keeping your dog occupied while they enjoy a small, tasty treat over a prolonged period.
- 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵: Our Soother dog feeding mat features a licky, textured surface specifically designed to stimulate natural behaviours; boosting your pet’s saliva production, enhancing teeth health, and promoting healthier gums. This licky mat for dogs removes food particles and bacteria effectively.
- 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀: The LickiMat for dogs is a product that's just perfect to spread runny treats - yoghurt, peanut butter, and bone broth come to mind. The thoughtfully designed surface allows for slower feeding time making it a great alternative to slow feeders, where your dog can enjoy healthy treats for a longer time.
Advantages of having a Licky Mat for your Dog
The Licky Mat is an exciting treat for your dog that will keep them entertained and focused. Licky mats are extremely beneficial for use in difficult situations for problem dogs. For example, they can help to reduce separation anxiety, combat anxiety in new environments and help them to get used to allowing visitors into your home.
Licky Mats for Helping with Separation Anxiety
Blake’s separation anxiety was extremely severe in the beginning. We put a video recorder in the kitchen and saw him howl non-stop for an hour while we popped to the suprmarket! We started to introduce the frozen licky mat as we left him alone and this would give him a good 20mins to half an hour of focusing on getting his food. The time while he was alone would go much quicker and slowly things improve.
However, leaving your dog alone with a licky mat comes with a word of warning – we’ve had reports from at least 4 Patterdale terrier owners stating their dog actually ate through the licky mat! Only leave your dog alone if you are sure that he won’t do this, and you leave your dog alone with any toy at your own risk.
What we did with Blake was give it him supervised for the first few times and saw that he was ok with it and didn’t eat or destroy the mat after he had finished licking the food. We then left him for a very short period of time with it with a camera on hi so we could see what he was doing. We then only left him when we were sur that he was going to be ok with it.
If you have a chewer you might be better leaving him with an extreme Kong. They are much mire durable than licky mats.
- Instinctual Needs: The KONG Extreme black rubber toy helps satisfy dogs' instinctual needs and provides mental stimulation. Healthy play is important for dogs' physical and mental development, emotions and behavior. By encouraging healthy play and satisfying instinctual needs, this toy helps solve chewing, separation anxiety, teething, boredom, weight management, crate training, digging, barking and more!
- Fetch Toy: The KONG Extreme's unpredictable bounce makes for exciting games of fetch and other interactive play with your pet.
- Power Chewing Dogs: The KONG Extreme black rubber formula is created for power chewing dogs.
Licky Mats for Helping with Visitors to the House
We also found that it helped with Blakes barking and mild aggression towards visitors. Because of his background as an RSPCA rescue, Blake was very untrusting of strangers. He particularly hates strange men coming into the house and once bit the carpet fitter and hung off his jumper!!!! (He was very understanding thank God!!!!) We started to prepare the licky mat for Blake and would give it him the second we knew that the door was about to go. The licky mat would then go down and he would start licking and hardly notice the door. This would give us time to get the male visitor sitting down (less threatening) and armed with treats. This would be a much better situation for Blake to come into when there were visitors and he now associates visitors with more positive things.
Have you ever tried using a licky mat for your dog? What kind of treats do you smear onto it for your furry friend? I’d love to know what you think of the licky mat, so please leave your comments below.