Hope Animal Rescue of Iowa: KONG Toys Grant Report

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

The Kongs are being used for multiple purposes by our dogs and puppies in foster care. They are being used as crate-training aids and distraction for nail trimmings, and for slow feeding, soothing teething pain, teaching dogs to fetch, and other entertainment and enrichment activities.

The Kongs are being used for activities that provide physical and/or mental stimulation to all ages of dogs/puppies in our care.

How many pets did this grant help?

Multiple dogs, as they are durable and easy to clean so they are being used over and over again

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

Foster Peggy Sue, a gorgeous Lab-mix girl (first three photos), came to us recently and was obese at 123 lbs. She is an almost 10-years-young dog who is benefitting from the use of a Kong, as she is on a nutrition plan for her weight loss and is a fast eater. The use of multiple Kongs makes her work harder and slow down to get the contents when eating a meal. She also enjoys the use of a Kong as a distraction for nail trimmings and as an enrichment activity to help lessen her nervousness, and for snack time. She is not yet up for adoption as we continue to work with her on her weight loss and exercise tolerance. However, she will be looking for her fur-ever home in the near future.

Puppies Pine (fourth photo) and Dano (fifth and sixth photos) used the Kongs while in foster care. The Kongs were used as appropriate outlets for their puppy chewing and curiosity, crate training, and to keep them busy. They recently joined their fur-ever families.