Is your dog struggling with overarousal, anxiety or reactivity?
Lick mats are a fast and easy way to help them relax.
Licking (just like sniffing) is a very calming activity and can help your dog "come down" when they're wound up.
Make sure to fill your lick mats with healthy choices - I mention several in the video :)
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:19 What Are Lick Mats?
00:43 Which Foods To Use
01:11 When To Use Lick Mats
01:31 Supervised Use Only
01:52 Resource Guarding?
02:13 Buying A Lick Mat
I ordered these after seeing this video. They just arrived. We call this time in the evening “the witching hour” when our high anxiety boy starts his pacing and random barking. We filled one for him and our other dog. They’ve been happily licking them for about a half hour now, and still going. There has been barking on the tv and no reaction! This is the best!Thank you!
Hi Sandi, Aww this is so great to hear! I love that you ordered them right away and got started :) So cool that there was no barking at the TV now ... great job!
We use one for bath time, nail trim, and we put doggie ice cream in a wobble lick bowl after playing in the yard to help cool Lexi down. She loves them! Thank you for the info.
That's wonderful! That's definitely a great use for them :)
We put an egg on ours once a week, which our dog absolutely loves.
That's awesome!
Thank you for this video. I have 2 lickmats. Keeping them clean is an issue, but you may have helped me with that because of your suggestions about what to use. I’ve been using peanut butter which is hard to clean. I’m not going to use that anymore. I’ll use wet dog food or soaked kibble. Thanks again. I love your videos.
Thank you for the nice words Deanne! Indeed, peanut butter makes it hard to clean, as it's so fatty it sticks really well and it takes a lot of dish soap to loosen it sometimes ... The wet food can definitely be rinsed off easier!
Hi deanne you can fold them In half and rub together , or use hose and spray them, sock them, or dish washer them all very easy.
Just got mine from amazon put 1 tsp PB smeared on it. Let her out of crate when we got home so she was wound up but she laid down by luck mar and was INSTANTLY calm. Kept her busy for 15 mins.
we got these to help calm our pup in the bath, but now we use them all the time. i freeze them and give them when she seems bored,
Perfect!
My dogs have been eating their meals from lick matts for years so much more enriching than the boring bowl
Yes, we love lick mats!
Sometime around 3pm, my dogs start getting pesty for attention and food. It isn't quite dinner time and I still have a couple hours to work (at home). I give them each a lick mat some days, some days a bully stick, some days I hide treats in toys. But after any of these, they calm down until dinner.
Hi Joan, That's a super strategy to tie them over until dinner time :) Good job!
I freeze mine so they last longer.
That’s also a great option 😊
Good idea!
Where do you buy that stackable lick mats?
Hi There, Thanks for reaching out! The lick mat can be found here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG8MG1WY?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_C94S98PY6QEBY5F6SJE6&language=en-US
Am I the only one whose anxious dog chewed his lick mat?
Some of our dogs may be more prone to chewing them up if they usually destroy toys! There are some harder/more durable mats out there you can look into! I believe SodaPup has some :)