A Lick Mat might be a useful item if your pup eats too fast, or if he suffers from anxiety.
Lick mats offer a variety of benefits:
- They can help reduce canine anxiety. (See below for more on this.)
- Lick mats help cure boredom!
- They can help clean teeth and help with dental hygiene.
- The mats can provide needed distractions – maybe while bathing, at the groomer or when you have company in the home.
So how do they work?
Lick mats are simple, really. They’re rubber-like mats, usually with many spaces, grooves and shapes on the mat. You press your pup’s food or special treat into the grooves on the mat and then your he’ll have to work for his reward!
Why would licking a mat help your pup's anxiety?
Licking has an anti-anxiety effect on dogs, so it can be helpful for dogs prone to anxiety. It can also be used as a distraction for stressful situations such as strangers in the home, vet visits, and grooming appointments.
Repetitive licking is a soothing activity for dogs. It releases hormones that relax the dog and can really help an anxious pet. These mats will encourage your little one to lick until all the food is gone, helping to ease his anxiety and possibly distract him from the source of the problem.
They're not expensive. Try a couple of these to see which one works best...
Be sure to look for mats that have suction cups on bottom, so your dog doesn’t push them all over the house trying to get his treats! Click here or here to see a couple excellent examples. Or, here’s a cool bowl that might work well for your overly aggressive eater! Click here.
There are also smaller mats with suction cups that can be stuck on the wall during a bath.
What do you use to fill them?
Here are a few ideas:
- Wet or dry dog food.
- Peanut butter, or better yet, all-natural, organic peanut butter. (Lower in sugar and salt.) But BE SURE that the sweetener in the PB isn’t Xylitol. Xylitol, while good for you, is extremely toxic to dogs.
- Cream cheese.
- Cottage cheese.
- Minced meat.
- Canned chicken or fish.
- Pureed vegetables.
- Healthy yogurt.
- Canned pumpkin.
One last tip: Fill your lick mat with your dog’s favorite treat. Then, put it in the freezer.
We really do think these can help...
If your dog, young or old, seems to struggle with anxiety; or perhaps if he always has too much energy; or even if he just eats too fast…we think these lick mats can potentially help. Couple this idea with the Himalayan Yak Chews we’ve recommended in the past and you’ll be providing your family member with healthy, safe, effective solutions to anxiety issues.
And don’t forget to give this idea a try as well – Hemp oil from Muenster. This THC free hemp oil is known to help calm dogs with anxieties. And here’s a link to a chewable form of the calming hemp product.
