27.2.2015

My Shih Tzu TinkerToy is just shy of 7.5 pounds at 19 weeks old. I ordered two sizes of this toy - a small one and this X-small, since I'm not great at conceptualizing size from written measurements. Both Kongs are beautifully made, so I'm sure he'll have them both for many years. At this point, this tiniest Kong is the right size for him, so I am saving the next size up for later, when I'm relatively certain he will be able to manage it, especially once his permanent teeth come in.The Kong is a sturdy toy without a lot of flexibility (especially in the X-small size), so Tink can't really chew on it, given the tiny size of his mouth and his tinier puppy teeth -- but he can get enough of a grip on the smaller end to toss it around.As his permanent teeth come in, I think he'll be better able to actually chew on at least ONE size of this toy (and maybe both). Either would certainly stand up to aggressive chewing in ways that some of his softer squeaky toys never would.Right now he plays with the Kong as if it were a ball - and seems to love the fact that the shape allows him to play with it all by himself. It bounces oddly and doesn't roll away from him and under things, which is fun for him for longer periods of time. It takes my involvement for him to play with a real ball since, more often than not, I'm the one on the "fetch"ing end when the toy rolls under file cabinets, etc.I haven't had much luck with filling this tiny Kong with tiny treats. His kibble is too small to stay inside, the puppy bones are too big, carrot sticks are too easy to pull out, etc. Peanut butter was a particular disaster (and a PAIN to clean thoroughly through the small opening). I think the next size up ("small") will be better for that purpose - and will keep him occupied for longer periods of time, so I can get more work done in my home office without the distraction of wondering what he's up to when he's not begging me to play with him. (Right now he's a bit like a 2-year old child - I have to watch him like a hawk!)This is not Tink's *favorite* toy at this point, but I'm pleased with the purchase and rotate it with the rest of the toys I leave out for him to play with (a tip I learned that keeps him interested). He gets excited every time I pull the toy swaps -- and it also gives me a chance to clean/wash the ones he's been playing with. As long as you don't fill the opening with peanut butter, the Kong is a dream to clean quickly under running water.I deducted one star, since I haven't been able to use the X-Small toy with food -- puppy breeds with longer "noses" and larger tongues may be able to get the peanut butter out of even the smallest size, but Tink simply couldn't do it. If I'm right about the next size up ("small") working with treats inside, the Kong may also become one of Tinker's favorites as he grows larger - keeping him busy trying to get the treats OUT. In that case, I'd give it an unqualified FIVE stars.I hope this helps YOU decide whether this would work for your dog - and gives you a bit of perspective on sizing.xx,mgh(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie - ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)- ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder -"It takes a village to educate a world!"

24.2.2015

The KONG looked to be a solid, well made product that could withstand much abuse from my delightful chewy chums. It came with some simple packaging that even the most sophisticated chewy chums could have appreciated, and it arrived safely and was delivered to the paws of the licking panting shedding machines.The waggy tailed chewy chums loved the smell and taste of the stinky rubber. Each to their own. I tried to tell them that if my keyboard smelled like that I definitely wouldn't lick it, but they were not put off by my reservations. The toys sent the pack of wild beasts into a frenzy of bouncing, wagging, panting and general euphoria.The menagerie was sent into a further frenzy when they saw the jar of peanut better being pulled carefully from the cupboard. Me being a mere human slave, I couldn't get anything past them! They were then sent to another level of euphoria, a rubbery peanuty one. As I slathered peanut butter into the stinky rubber toy they ascended onto another plane of existence, becoming one with the universe and at peace with all the wrongs in the world. They were drooling and watching me with big puppy dog eyes as I slathered very thick and hard to slather peanut butter all over the inside of the stinky rubber toy.When the wild beasts disguised as my pets received the peanut butter filled stinky rubber toys, they each took them to a comfy spot, and proceeded to lick ferociously at the peanut butter, unaware that it was pretty much the same sort of consistency as wallpaper paste, and that it would take hours to get it all off. The hairy ones licked away for hours, unaware of the goings on of the world, too busy to look up from their peanut-gasm.Eventually, the cuddly hairy ones decided to leave the stinky rubber toys and came back to the modern world, and continued to live their lives, with a peanut shaped void clearly visible in their eyes. It saddened me, but I didn't want to face the repercussions of them overeating peanut butter and the river of peanut mud that would follow later on. Upon inspection of the toys by the human slave, she was correct in thinking they had finished. The only remaining peanut butter was far out of reach of the beasts tongues and starting to dry. A quick wash out with some water and they were as clean and stinky as new.The love - peanut relationship went on forever. The lick machines continued to lick peanut butter from the kongs, but they also found a new love for them even when the peanut was gone. They would take the black toys and sit with them, aimlessly chewing them for hours, making a beautiful symphony of squeaking rubber noises. Mozart couldn't compare. Even after several months, and then eventually years, the toys still stood up to the test of large sharp beast teeth and regular abuse. The toys stayed intact with only a peppering of tooth marks all over, like tooth holed freckles. They were firmly in love with these toys, and they lived happily ever after together.

29.9.2015

We rescued a mixed-breed stray pup that was 8 weeks old. My college-aged daughter, at home for an internship during summer break, brought "Lady" home after finding her en route after leaving work. The puppy was small, but grew fast into a 30-lb. house wrecking beast of a dog at four months old. We were at our wits' end, and had decided she was going to the animal shelter because we were walking her three to five miles a day before and after work and she was still wrecking the house, destroying our things and we didn't want her to live captive in a kennel.I've been around dogs all my life and nothing -- nothing -- compared to this kind of wreckage. Every day,something -- often many things -- ended up destroyed; our back yard isn't secure, and I don't like cages. I've had several working dogs and only one -- a high strung English springer spaniel -- was in the same ball park and Lady made him look tame by comparison. Reluctantly, we tried kenneling Lady while were gone as a last resort. A neighbor suggested using Kongs, saying it would make kennel training easier and ease her nerves from separation anxiety, something we had decided was the real culprit.All I can say is after two more months, our dog is still with us and is now behaving better than ever. She still ransacks the house if we don't kennel her, but she's calmer now, and we're down to three miles of walking a day (we split it up, so it's not too bad) instead of five or six. After a day at work, my calf muscles are grateful. I fill one of these with something tasty -- Cheese Whiz, cream cheese with a rolled up slice of ham, some kibble with some sort of cheese binding agent (she hates peanut butter... go figure). We use what we have, mix it up each evening, freeze it and give her one when we leave in the morning; I come home most days and let her out at lunch time (if I can't, my wife does) and we give her another frozen Kong before going back to work and kenneling her again.She loves her kennel, often curling up in there when the door's open and she has other options. She doesn't argue about getting in each morning or after lunch. She isn't always enthusiastic, but she always goes in after no more than two commands.She plays with her Kong in the yard... I throw it and she brings it back. She prefers a tennis ball, but she enjoys the erratic bouncing of the Kong, too. Anyway, she's not only calmer, but our home is calmer. She's more fun to be around when we're home. Less wild (though she still goes pretty nuts for a minute or two after we get here... we're ALMOST up to the no jumping on people stage).Other similar generic toys work, too, but the Kong is the original and has my brand loyalty... Without this idea, we would have missed out on a loving pup due to our own inability to handle the dog. I'm not only pleased with the product, I am THANKFUL for it. Lady is, too, and that's what really matters.

24.9.2018

Oh my word what can I say about the Kong? My 11 year old Samoyed, (25kg), is obsessed with this thing. I fill it with a disgusting dog treat liver paste (German made), and shove in a few treats and he's transfixed for hours, throwing it about trying to dislodge the contents, pacing around with it in his mouth, showing me how clever he is, chewing away, stuffing his whole tongue inside it as far as it will go. It looks exhausting but as soon as he finishes his breakfast he begins to howl until I give him his daily Kong.One word of caution however, that I only heard about long after my dog became addicted, is that some dogs' tongues may get stuck inside the toy leading to asphyxiation.

27.8.2015

I recently adopted an adorable bulldog/boxer mix. I quickly learned that my dog had a severe case of separation anxiety the first time I left my dog home alone (which was only about 30 mins!).I came back home to a kitchen and living room covered in peanut butter- my dog had managed to climb onto my kitchen counter top, unscrewed the lid to the peanut butter jar, and eat half of the jar within half an hour! I suspected he might suffer from a slight case of separation anxiety since he was abandoned (possibly multiple times), but not to this extent. I bought this toy immediately after doing some research online.I bought the medium size toy initially, because he is considered a medium sized dog.

11.7.2015

What would we do without these? When our dog was a puppy, and we needed to tire him out, we'd fill these with kibble and let him bat it around for a while to get his meals. It was one tactic that would help a little bit to wear him out. We'd balance the kong on the narrow end, and the puppy larned very quickly how to bat the kong around...We also frequently stuffed these with mashed banana, kibble, and peanut butter. We would keep them wrapped in plastic in the freezer and would take one out when we were leaving the house and put it in our puppy's crate. When he had a stuffed frozen kong, he would completely ignore us! It used to take him at least 30 minutes of constant licking to empty one of these when frozen as a puppy,

20.11.2011

I read about the Kong Toy in a training book (Imagine life with a well behaved dog). I have only had it for a day but I can already see that the dogs love it! They are both rescue dogs, I have had them for 10 months. One is a very tenacious chewer with separation anxiety, 7 yrs old (dachshund) and the other is a boredom chewer (dachsxterrier) who is 3.I decided to try a kong because rawhide is not good for the dachs, it makes her vomit. I'm not happy to give them shank bones because the dachs can splinter them. They also chew sticks and bits of wood.I bought the extreme (black) kong because the dachs has got a very strong jaw and I didn't think the classic kong would last with her.

26.4.2017

I couldn't be any happier about this purchase if I tried! I have purchased various KONG products over the years and for the most part have always found them to be high quality, well made toys. KONG are a brand I have always trusted but a while pack I purchased one of their toys and let's just say, neither me nor my dog had a very positive experience.While this put me off for a while, I have used KONG extreme with other dogs in the past and never had an issue. I purchased one as my dog needs more exercise, but due to her older age and health problems, it needs to be something both gentle and stimulating. The KONG extreme is made of seriously hard wearing rubber and is easily stuffed with treats of your choosing,

14.11.2016

Lasted 7 years of daily use, helped relieve separation anxietyI have a border collie who can destroy toys within minutes. These kongs are indestructible. I now have 3 and fill each with some food, freeze it, and give it to my dog just before I leave the house. It takes her about 30 minutes to finish eating from a frozen kong, which gives her time to adjust to being alone. The sizing is a bit odd. The large is actually quite small and I'm only happy giving it to my mum's terrier. The hole MUST be bigger than your dog's jaw as they will get it right in there and could get stuck. If you are leaving your dog unattended this could result in a broken jaw.

9.1.2016

This toy has been great for tiring out my 6 month old Aussie/Collie/Lab mixed breed mutt. Needless to say, all of these breeds are quite energetic, and it takes an extraordinary amount of mental and physical stimulation to keep him calm and happy. Right now it is in the subzero temperatures and we have huge drifts of snow on the ground, and I found out that he does not like to spend more than twenty minutes outside when it is windy and cold. Any longer and he kind of hunkers down and looks miserable, so it's been difficult to get in his exercise. KONG to the rescue!Ralphie has been eating all of his meals from the KONG, which helps make him feel like he worked for the day and keeps him calm and deters undesirable behavior such as barking,

31.12.2016

I ordered this natural rubber Kong in large for my 7 year old dog and it arrived well packaged 2 days later. He's been chewing and having fun with it for several months now and not only is it still perfectly usable but it hardly looks worn at all. I'm really impressed at how much punishment it can take.I've had mixed results with my 2 year old Terrier and while he spends time with it and loves it, he hasn't quite learned how to get frozen or difficult foods like Peanut butter out, so tends to spend less time on it, but it's definitely still fun for each of them.Although they both do a great job of getting every last bit of food,

5.8.2016

My terrier is a chewer. He can eat large nylabone if not supervised. He used to eat all the pet beds and toys then threw up. Hanging jacket sleeves, bed sheet tails, and the likes are not discriminated. I used to buy a few new pet beds every month. Since he got old enough to handle classic Kong, he's only ate pet beds twice a year during July 4th weekends and holiday parties. Great improvement!My rat terrier is 15 pounds with big chest and small head. So Medium Classic Kong is a little big for him. But that's his preferred size. Anything smaller is too soft and weak for him. He would not touch the senior or puppy Kong. He's not food oriented but he's very into fetching balls.

21.2.2013

The Kong has been around for a long time, but over the years they have been re-invented and improved. The Extreme Kong is a lot tougher than the others which is what hard jawed dogs need.When chosing a Kong always get a bigger size than you think your dog needs. I purchased this one for my older rescue Mongrel (Alsatian x Greyhound x Staffie). She has a big mouth but is not an aggressive chewer and I mainly purchased it as another activity toy for feeding, to slow up her eating!To use for this purpose (on any size Kong) put something slightly soft and sticky in first (soft cheese / peanut butter etc) then push in some food (I use Iams) then some more soft food and so on,

1.3.2011

The short review: Buy it, your dogs will love it.The detailed review:My house and yard is home to four rescued dogs of various sizes and temperaments. Trying to find something all will enjoy and can be used both inside and outside has been an impossible task. I took a chance and ordered one Kong in hopes at least one would use it. Opening the package released a strong, rubbery smell which, thankfully, diminished over several days. Initially, none of the four dogs had any remote interest in the toy other than a quick sniff when it was bounced across the floor. Once loaded with treats it was another story entirely.

18.1.2014

One word of warning: This is a heavy and solid toy and due to its shape it doesn't bounce evenly. If you are tempted to throw it in the house for a game of fetch, watch out for the TV. I threw, it bounced at an odd angle and then hit my TV dead centre and cracked the screen!Our family rescued a mongrel that grew to be a large dog with a sharp set of teeth. We bought him lots of different chew toys and they all ended up, literally, in bits. I bought him a 10GBP Tough toy from Pets at Home and it took him less than 10 minutes to reduce it to little yellow chunks. I worked out that if he can get his back teeth onto a toy, it is history.As chance would have it I found our old retrievers Kong toy that lasted him his lifetime and decided to pass it down to our new dog.

Kong Classic - Reviews

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