National Mill Dog Rescue: KONG Toys Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The Kong toys were stuffed with peanut butter and used to provide sensory enrichment experience to our dogs during quiet time in their kennels. Our dogs have had no exposure to toys and we love to use KONGs to facilitate a positive interaction with humans and their environment.

We enhanced their quiet time and training programs by providing a long-lasting toy that resulted in mental stimulation and a satisfying independent activity. We didn't have to allocate funds for this purpose due to having this generous grant of high-end toys.

How many pets did this grant help?

We usually have 100+ dogs at our kennel. All who were able to enjoy the KONGs were provided with a toy. The toys are washed and reused in our sensory enrichment program.

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

We recently rescued eleven 10-month-old husky puppies destined for euthanasia at a puppy mill. They arrived at our kennel scared and worried, displaying typical behavior of retreating from humans, such as hiding in corners and avoiding eye contact. We filled the KONG toys with peanut butter and our rehabilitation staff used this as an engagement activity to build trust and provide a positive interaction. To our joy, the puppies approached the toys and eventually starting sniffing and licking the peanut butter. We intend to continue to use the KONGs as a core part of our rehabilitation of puppy-mill survivors.