How to Make a Snuffle Mat for Your Dog

For Toy Tuesday, we are sharing a video on how to make a snuffle mat from an old towel.  What’s a snuffle mat, you ask?  Think of it as a shaggy carpety mat type thing that you hide some small treats in and then your dog has to spend time sniffing them out and eating them. Basically, it’s a toy that provides some mental stimulation, which is especially great since some of our pups aren’t getting their usual physical exercise.  For this mat, you only need: a towel and scissors.  You can use multi coloured towels, too, if you like, but it’s not necessary. 

The video is from our good friend, Nicole, at We Work for Treats.  

Step #1 Build your Snuffle Mat:

Step #2 Prepare your Mat for your dog:

You’ve got your mat ready, now comes the fun part.  For this, you’ll need some treats. (These could be special treats, or they could even be their regular kibble.  Use whatever your pup is willing to hunt for.)  Scatter the treats in the mat.  Make sure to get them right down into the mat.  The better you do at hiding them, the harder your dog will have to work to find them.  

Pro Tips: 

1. If you’re putting your mat into a box, like shown in the video, hid some treats under the mat.  Actually, you could do this regardless.  If so, just make sure your pup is locked up in another room, so you can prepare the mat without them hovering over you.  
2. Make some of the treats REALLY delicious….like toss in a couple pieces of chicken or cheese.  But make those ones really hard to get to.  
3. You can make this mat larger depending on how long you would like your pup to be working on it.  It doesn’t have to be small like shown in the video.
4. If your dog likes squeaky toys and if you have squeakers (the small plastic replacement ones) you can hide those under the mat, too.

We hope you and your pup enjoy this snuffle mat!  Let us know how it goes. 

Don’t forget to share you pictures and videos with us at: #playtimewithcitizencanine