If you need to slow down feeding time, entertain your English bulldog, or provide them with some much needed enrichment, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve done the research and found 21 ways to turn feeding time into enrichment time, with toys, DIY solutions, and much more besides.
21 ways to turn feeding time into enrichment for bulldogs
Whether you’re looking for something you can whip up at home or a complex toy that will do the interactive job for you, there’s a little something for everyone. Sit down, get yourself comfortable, and we’ll dive right in.
Let them hunt
A great way to stop your bulldog eating too quickly and encourage their sniffing/hunting urges, throw their dried kibble into grass (or elsewhere in the garden) and let your bulldog find it – like the old, pre-domesticated days!
Don’t have a garden? Throw some kibble around the house – under the table, on the carpet, etc.
By making your bulldog hunt or sniff out their food, you’re slowing down their eating, working their mental capabilities, and keeping them occupied.
The tougher it is to find the kibble, the longer your bully will focus on it…
Unless they get bored and frustrated, of course.
Not every feeding-enrichment activity will work for every dog, but that’s why we’ve given you 21 different activities to try.
You’re bound to find something that works for you and your pampered pooch.
Add food to a layered interactive toy
There are so many interactive and fun toys and gadgets on the market these days, and many of them are great for not only encouraging slow and steady feeing, but also mental stimulation, enrichment, and more!
The Lickin’ Layers Interactive Dog Feeder by Outward Hound is food-safe, super easy to clean, has a non-slip base, helps to reduce anxiety, offers mental stimulation, slows down eating, and is perfect for both wet and dry dog food. Your bulldog will need to move, slide, and work out the layers, to unlock a new round of delicious snacks.
The Outward Hound range extends beyond than the three-layered toy, too. There’s the Challenge Slider, Dog Hide n’ Slide, and even puppy-specific options.
Hide kibble in empty toilet roll tubes/egg boxes
Frank absolutely loves this feeding exercise, and it was a great way for us to stop him eating too much food, too quickly, before regurgitating half of it up. You know what those greedy bullies are like!
Toilet roll tubes and egg cartons are usually natural and recycled. If your bulldog is anything like Frank, they’ll love a cardboard box – running around with it, ripping it to shreds, occasionally eating it…
Bad Frank!
What we did realise, though, is that Frank loved to snuffle and play around with cardboard boxes, so we could use the information to slow down eating and provide mental entertainment and activities.
So, we put some of his kibble into empty egg cartons. We also put some into empty toilet roll tubes, which we then folded over at each end. When presented to him, Frank went basically insane, pawing, sniffing, and throwing around the boxes to get to the treats inside.
It was hours of entertainment for both Frank and us, his human companions!
We bet it will be hours of fun for your bulldog, too.
Use lick mats
Lick mats are exactly as they sound: mats that your bulldog (or any dog, obviously) is meant to lick.
You can put all sorts of things on the mat, such as:
- Wet food
- Peanut butter
- Smashed/pureed fruits or vegetables
You can also use the lick mat as a distraction. You might have seen social media videos that feature pet parents using lick mats (or similar) to distract and entertain their dogs while they clip their claws, check them for fleas, etc.
So, as well as slowing down feeding time and giving your dog a mentally stimulating activity, lick mats also help you – the pet parent – to get stuff done!
If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to lick mats, here is one of the best/top-rated ones out there at the moment:
This is the Avont Lick Mat for Dogs, available on Amazon. It can be mounted on a crate for crate training, held, attached to other things, or even just placed on the floor.
Incorporate hand feeding
There are so, so many benefits to hand feeding your bulldog their meals – whether it’s once per week or every day.
The American Kennel Club states:
Hand feeding your dog teaches him that when you reach toward him good things happen, like he gets to eat!
Hand feeding also helps with issues such as:
- Fast eating (leading to digestive issues)
- Snatching food
- Anxiety, shyness, and other negative traits
- Low attention or focus
- Socialisation problems
- Impulse control problems
- Resource guarding
- Poor recall
- Bad food manners
The more you hand feed, the more attentive your bulldog will be to it – and the more of the above benefits you’ll get out of it.
We like to hand feed Frank once per day, but we don’t berate ourselves if we miss a day or two. Life gets in the way sometimes, you know?
Water bottle dispenser
With an old water bottle, fizzy pop bottle, or any other kind of plastic and round bottle, you can create a cheap, DIY kibble dispenser that does the job just as well as the more expensive and complex ones.
All you need to do is wash the bottle thoroughly, so there are no traces of the previous product remaining, then cut circular holes in the sides, big enough for the kibble to fall out.
You might want to make sure that the edges aren’t too sharp for your pup. You can sand them down a little if they are.
Feed with a Yoggie Pot
A Yoggie Pot is, quite simply, a pot that your dog can eat out of. It has soft teeth on the inside, to make accessing food more difficult than usual, and you can either hold it in your hand while the dog eats or pop it down and let your dog play away.
Made with 100% natural rubber, the Yoggie Pot is:
- 100% recyclable
- Dishwasher safe
- Freezer safe
- Microwave safe
- Great for reducing anxiety, boosting fun, and mental stimulation
It also doesn’t contain BPA, PVC, Phthalates, Silicone or TPE Plastic – so it’s perfect safe for your four-legged family members!
There are six colours available:
- Turquoise
- Green
- Orange
- Pink
- Purple
- Red
Use kibble quota as training rewards
While we’re on the subject of hand feeding, another great way to turn feeding time into enrichment for bulldogs is to use their regular kibble as treat rewards.
Bizarrely, Frank will leave kibble in his food bowl, but will eat the same kibble, that we take from the bowl, from our hands.
He’s a stubborn little tank… but then again, aren’t they all?
Anyway, to keep Frank on the correct calorie count (because it’s so easy for them to become overweight,) we use his regular daily kibble count as part of rewards for correct behaviour.
He eats slowly, we aren’t feeding him too many calories, he’s learning new tricks, not resource guarding, not having eating issues…
It works for everyone! (And it hand feeds him, too!)
Add kibble to a KONG Extreme ball
KONG balls are well known for being durable and bulldog friendly… to a point. Nothing is durable once one of these doggos gets hold of it, but KONG balls do hold up for longer than most of the rest, in our experience.
Made from all-natural rubber, they bounce, boing, and fling off in all sorts of direction, acting as a great toy to keep your bulldog entertained. The secret is a fillable centre. You can add kibble, treats, peanut butter, or any number of goodies. It’s especially great for slowing down eating and also turning feeding time into enrichment for your bouncy bully.
Create a food trail
Pop your bulldog in their crate, another room, or in the garden, then arrange their kibble in such a way that it creates a trail. Add a gap in some parts, so your bulldog needs to go hunting/sniffing out the remainder of the trail, and don’t forget to hide a few in easy-to-reach places.
Your bulldog will have a great time using their primal instincts to find food!
Frisbee fun
Have you got an old frisbee? Give it a clean, so it’s safe for your bulldog to eat off. Then, place it down, with the lip facing up, preferably on a tiled, lino, or wood floor, with kibble or wet food inside.
As your dog tries to get the food it will slide around, making it more difficult. As a result, your dog will spend more time chasing the food than eating it!
Use a chewing ring
Chewing rings are great for chewing puppies, but they’re also great for both big and little bulldogs alike to slow down feeding and provide hours of enrichment.
The ring can be fitted with treats for your bulldog to try and get out, and when they’re done, the ring is strong, durable, and perfect for chewing.
There are two colours available on the ZooPlus website – black glittery and red glittery. (Fabulous, right?) They also come in four sizes:
- X-small: 8.5 cm diameter, 1.7 cm height
- Small: 12cm diameter, 2.4 cm height
- Medium: 16 cm diameter, 3.2 cm height
- Large: 20 cm diameter, 3.9 cm height
It’s made with durable, non-toxic thermoplastic elastomer, known in short as TPU. The ring also contains bicarbonate crystals for dental cleaning and care, a meaty aroma, and gum-massing benefits!
Hide treats in rolled-up towel
One thing that we like to do with Frank, is to take his kibble, pop some on the edge of a towel, then roll it up a couple of times. Then, we’ll add a few more kibble bits and roll a couple more times. Repeat until there’s no more towel left to roll, then pop it down on the floor.
It won’t take your bulldog long to get interested, then get to work unrolling the towel – and they need to think about it, too!
Invest in a snuffle mat
A snuffle mat is, quite simple, a mat that has lots of bits that come off it, often in lots of different textures. They’re designed for dogs and/or cats, but you can also get similar items for kids, too.
The different textures are attractive to bulldogs (and other dogs,) and the little cubby holes, flaps, and hidden segments means that your dog will have to work harder for their food than usual.
Obviously, snuffle mats are best suited to dry kibble. Wet food will make a right mess, and you’ll spend your life cleaning it before it gets too stinky.
Helpful reading: Top 10 Snuffle Mats for Your English Bulldog
Try an interactive puzzle feeder
As previously mentioned, there are so, so many interactive puzzle-type feeders on the market for dogs, including bulldogs. This one is slightly more complex than the previous layered one. In fact, your bulldog must solve puzzles, such as sliding, flipping open, and more.
Most owners report that their dogs usually need a little help to understand the toy initially, but once they’ve got the hang of it, it becomes a firm favourite.
Not only does this TENGDEE Dog Puzzle Interactive Feeder help to slow down your pup’s eating, it also mentally stimulates them and works their brain whilst also making sure they don’t get bored.
It’s win-win all around!
Throw kibble into a digging box
Grab yourself a large-ish cardboard box, then fill it when lots of shredded or ripped up newspaper, junk mail, or any other bits of paper you find. Make sure there are no staples or anything like that still on the paper, because these will cause injury to your bulldog.
Once filled with shredded paper, throw in their kibble, then pop the box on the floor.
Your dog will need to dig around, sniff around, and play around to find their food, making feeding time take longer, aiding proper digestion.
Sneak kibble into their toy box
It might take them a moment to figure out, but once your bulldog realises that there is delicious food in taht box of magical toys, they’ll be all the more interested in it! It’s a simple way to get them to hunt out their food in safe and comfortable places, delaying eating and providing hours of fun.
Play with a pyramid
The Roolo Treat Dispensing Pyramid Dog Toy has great reviews, especially for how long-lasting it is, but it’s designed for dry food/kibble only. If you’re a wet food fan, you might want to look at something else. This one is going to be an absolute nightmare to clean when you use wet food.
The shape is self-propelling, so you won’t need to run around after your dog, rolling it for them. It’s made from “non-toxic, food safe and super durable TPR,” and can be used both indoors and outside. According to the manufacturer, Roolo:
“Just 15 minutes of Roolo play is equivalent to around 1 hour of walking!”
We like the sound of that, don’t you?
Freeze food in an ice cube
For lots of summer fun pop kibble, fruits, vegetables, or even wet food in an ice cube tray or container, then fill with fresh, clean drinking water. Leave it in the freezer overnight (or until properly frozen,) then add them to a bowl when it’s time to feed your pupper.
There’s likely to be a watery mess, so you might want to feed your bully in the garden!
Turn feeding time into a game
The Trixie Dog Activity Turn Around Strategy Game is perfect if you want something simple, but effective to slow down and enrich your bully’s feeding time. With two levels of difficulty and non-slip rubber feet, it can be used for wet and dry food, but dry food/kibble will certainly be a lot easier.
In case you were wondering it has mostly five stars out of five on the ZooPlus website… and it’s on sale right now. Just saying.
Shoebox, tennis balls, and kibble
Have you got an old shoebox? You can use that, along with a couple of tennis balls, to create an interactive toy that doesn’t require any extra costs. The tennis balls rolls around inside the box, acting as a barrier between your bully and the kibble they’re trying to get. The more balls you add, the more difficult it will be.
Try a little trial and error! Add more balls one time, then take them away the next. You’ll soon get an idea for what’s right for your beloved pet.
Turn feeding time into enrichment for bulldogs: conclusion
And there they are: 21 different ways that you can turn feeding time into enrichment for your bulldogs, with both paid-for and completely free/DIY options. As always, not all bulldogs like all things, so try a few different ones to see which ones work best for both you and your pet.
Thanks so much for visiting Planet Bulldog today. We’ve loved having you here, and we hope you come back soon!