KONG Archives - Stylish Paws

So this is a first for us and we are very excited about it…. We are taking over Friendship Collar_SA Instagram story for the day.

Firstly, we are huge fans of FriendshipCollar, we of course have our own set of The Top Dog range. It’s bright, colourful and cheerful and looks great on us all 🙂

The Top Dog set is all about being “playful, boisterous and cute as can be, when playtime is over, it’s cuddles next to me”. This description fits us perfectly! Those of you who follow us regularly will know that Zara is a super happy and energetic pup who absolutely loves swimming and playing with all her toys. Oscar on the other hand is a huge snuggle bug and loves to spend his days sleeping right next to me. Zara has learnt a thing or two from the snuggle king and she now loves to snuggle up too, usually on top of me!

For the Instagram Story take over, the theme is “Stylish Paws in the kitchen”. Those of you who know me might laugh hysterically at this. Cooking for myself is not something I love doing at all. In fact I find it a chore. BUT when it comes to finding yummy recipes for my furry loves, i’ll happily spend hours baking, creating recipes and yummy treats for them to enjoy- of course they love it when I’m in the kitchen because they know I am usually cooking or baking for them 😉

Today’s recipes and treats are a winner in our house. They’re super easy with ingredients found in most kitchens and most of all they’re quick! Here goes…

Fresh and Frozen Kong recipes:

I have two totally opposite pooches when it comes to food. Zara literally eats anything and everything! She loves tasting new fruits and veggies and so far the only thing she isn’t keen on is raw eggplant-who eats raw eggplant anyway- and zucchini. Oscar on the other hand will sniff a piece of meat for about thirty-seconds just to make sure it is in fact something good enough to put in his mouth. He is by far the fussiest pup I have ever come across. So, for the two of them to get the full fun experience of a KONG toy, Zara gets a frozen one which keeps her busy for a few hours, and Oscar gets a fresh one because he doesn’t enjoy the ‘coldness’ of the frozen one and would leave it to melt before eating it…

Zara’s Frozen Kong

Ingredients

Scrambled egg-cooked and cooled completely

Cottage cheese

Coconut oil

Chick peas

Directions

You can either layer each ingredient or mix everything together and stuff it inside the KONG toy. Then freeze for a few hours or over night.

Oscar’s Fresh Kong

Ingredients

Mashed banana

Peanut butter

Strawberries or blueberries

Coconut oil

Directions

You can either layer each ingredient or mix everything together and stuff it inside the KONG toy, give it to your pooch straight away. Fresh Kong’s are a lot messier than frozen ones so you may want to give it to your pooch somewhere comfortable outside.

The combinations are endless when it comes to Kong toys. You don’t need to rush out and buy special ingredients. Use what you have and be creative with it. Of course please be very mindful of what is safe for your furry love to eat and what’s not!

Baked biscuit recipe: Green Pea

This biscuit recipe is one of my favourites to do because it is so quick and easy to make a batch and we always have the ingredients. Plus the colour of these treats is just awesome…

Ingredients

1 cup frozen peas blitzed up into a puree

1 egg

A handfull of fresh parsley chopped up (optional)

1 cup flour

2 tbs coconut oil

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. Mix together the pea puree, egg and parsley. Then add your flour and combine until a dough forms. If it is a bit sticky just add a little extra flour. Roll your dough out onto a floured surface and use cookie cutters to cut the treats. Place them onto a greased baking tray and bake in the oven for +-20 minutes or until cooked and just slightly brown (you want to keep their bright green colour). Allow the treats to cool, and store in an airtight container. Your pups will love these!

So that’s our kitchen experience for today, of course we did all this while wearing our super stylish Friendship Collars! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @stylish_paws and @FriendshipCollar_SA and watch the story take over- you’ll love it!!

You can also browse the Friendship Collar collection in the Stylish Paws online store | click here to shop.

Thank you for reading.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the magnificence that is the KONG toy!! Where has this toy been all my life? Ok let’s be honest, Oscar isn’t the most food orientated pooch on the block so I never really explored different recipes or ways to keep him entertained using food. Enter Zara, a hurricane of energy and appetite… I suddenly found myself in a frustrated mess as to how to keep my beautiful baby girl entertained and happy while sustaining her massive appetite between meals.

Zara lives for food. She will do a backflip for you if it means getting a treat, be it meat, fruit or veggies, she LOVES food! Oscar is the fussiest pooch around and will happily tell me when he isn’t so keen on a new teat recipe I am trying out.

During my months of being a frustrated mess, my Instagram family steered me in the direction of the KONG toy. Sure I had heard of it but I wasn’t sold on the idea. I had a lot of reservations about it, will it be strong enough to withhold the teeth and jaws of my dinosaur puppy? How will she get whatever I put inside out? And will this seemingly small toy really keep her that entertained?

I gave in and ordered the biggest and strongest KONG toy of the collection. And waited patiently for it to arrive… While waiting I began to explore and think of the things I would put inside this new toy. I was sorting through Oscar and Zara’s toy box and I came across two other balls that had a hole in the centre. One was a Rogz Grinz ball and the other was a BIONIC ball. The BIONIC ball would have to be modified but it would work I figured. I decided to give this a try and I filled them each with natural plain yoghurt and blueberries and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours and then surprised my two babies with a yummy frozen delight. The reaction was unbelievable. Both Oscar and Zara found a comfy spot and sat quietly and enjoyed their new treat. I could not believe that I now had some “free time” on my hands. I actually didn’t know what to do with myself so I just sat and watched while they enjoyed-haha!! I could not believe that Oscar was into his frozen treat, the fussiest pooch around!!

Oscar’s frozen ball is a very specific kind, he cannot seem to get his tongue into the smaller holes of the KONG or the Rogz Grinz ball so I have modified a BIONIC ball for him and he loves it. It has a hole that runs right through-a bit like a donut. I simply put a small piece of tin foil around the bottom, fill it up and freeze it.

Because of their eager reaction I came up with a whole lot of yummy fillings for all three fillable balls and here are their favourites…

Frozen Ideas:

Plain yoghurt, blueberries, strawberries, coconut oil

Plain yoghurt, peanut-butter, blueberries

Plain yoghurt, mashed banana, peanut-butter

Carrot mash, frozen peas, coconut cream

Sweet potato, frozen peas, carrot chunks

Pumpkin mash, frozen peas, carrot chunks, coconut oil

Fresh Ideas:

Cooked pasta, carrot cubes, coconut oil

Cooked pasta, Mince meat, coconut oil

Cooked pasta, cottage cheese, fresh peas

Butternut mash, apple chunks, grated cheese

Cottage cheese, apple chunks, strawberries

Pineapple chunks, strawberries, peanut-butter

Macaroni cheese

These are just a few of the endless possible filler ideas. They happen to be Oscar and Zara’s favourites so I just mix and match the ingredients depending on what we have in the fridge. I am obviously mindful of what is safe and not safe for pups to eat and you should be too!

Since the KONG toy arrived I have not regretted my decision at all! In fact I want to order some more so there is always one in the freezer ready to be enjoyed. Changing the filling from frozen to fresh is also a great way to keep things interesting for Zara. So if you have not ordered your KONG toy yet, I suggest you do now!

Thank you for reading.

Stylish Paws

Tag: KONG

FriendshipCollar_SA Instagram Take Over: Stylish Paws in the Kitchen.

Frozen KONG toy ideas…