Hagen BIONIC Stuffer - 12.5cm

The Hagen BIONIC Stuffer is a hollow rubber toy you fill with food. It is the simplest kind of enrichment there is -- the dog gets the same dinner, but has to work the toy to get it out, and that work is what tires a dog mentally in a way a walk does not.

Key Features

• Hollow Through The Middle: Takes dry food, soaked food, paste or a mix. Pack it loosely for a beginner and tightly once the dog has the idea
• Defensive Geometry: BIONIC's patented shaping spreads bite force across the thick sections, so it holds up to serious chewing better than a soft hollow toy
• Bounces And Floats: Unpredictable bounce off hard ground, and it floats -- which is what matters at the beach, because a sinking toy is a lost toy
• Size: 12.5 cm long
• Dishwasher Safe: Top rack of the dishwasher, or hot water and a brush. Rubber holds the smell of old food, so wash it after anything greasy has been inside

About The BIONIC Range

BIONIC toys are built around what the maker calls defensive geometry -- thick ribs and curves placed so that a bite lands on the strong part of the shape rather than on a thin edge. The material is a rubber-like polymer, harder than a latex squeaky toy and more forgiving than nylon, and the whole range comes in the same bright orange.

No Toy Is Indestructible

Hard rubber toys last far longer than soft ones, but every one of them has a limit. Check this over whenever you pick it up: a split along a seam, a chunk missing or a chewed-down edge means it goes in the bin, not back in the toy box. Swallowed rubber does not show up on an X-ray and is a common reason for emergency surgery. Dogs that destroy things in minutes should only have a chew toy while someone is watching.

If You Stuff It With Peanut Butter

Check the jar first. Some peanut butters are sweetened with xylitol, sometimes listed as birch sugar or E967. It is harmless to people and can kill a dog from a very small amount -- it causes a collapse in blood sugar and can damage the liver. Use a plain peanut butter whose only ingredients are peanuts and perhaps salt. Freezing a stuffed toy makes it last much longer, and whatever goes inside counts as part of the day's food, not as an extra.

Who Makes It

Rolf C. Hagen was founded in Montreal in 1955 and is one of the largest privately owned pet product companies in the world. Its brands include Catit for cats, Dogit and Zeus for dogs, Living World for small pets and birds, Exo Terra for reptiles and Fluval for aquariums.

Out Of Stock Right Now

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Good To Know

• A food toy is one of the few things that genuinely helps with being left alone. Giving it as you walk out of the door, every time, turns your leaving into the cue for the best thing of the day -- though a dog that panics rather than sulks when left needs a behaviourist, not a toy.
• Serve a whole meal from it rather than adding treats on top, and a greedy dog slows down enormously.
• Check it every few weeks. Once a chewer has opened out the rim, the toy is finished.