How Ian Dunbar Invented the Food-Stuffed Kong

A simple question about a dog that chewed the house led Ian to rethink the entire approach to home-alone behavior problems.

Today, stuffing a Kong or other hollow chew toy with food seems like an obvious way to keep a dog occupied.

But it was not always obvious.

In the late 1970s, the common question was:

How can we stop or punish a dog for unwanted, destructive chewing when no one is home?

Ian had experimented with elaborate booby traps involving empty beer cans and mousetrap triggers. The goal was to make chewing unpleasant even when the owner was away.

Then, during a seminar, someone told him that his dog had chewed the house and that a Kong “didn’t work.”

Ian tried to see the toy from the dog’s point of view. A dog cannot read the label. Why would a strange rubber object automatically seem like something worth chewing?

That led to a very different question:

What if we put the dog’s food inside it?

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Ask a Better Question. Get a Better Solution.

Punishment focuses on stopping behavior after it happens.

Good training teaches the dog what to do instead and then makes that behavior rewarding so that the dog chooses to do it again.

A food-stuffed chew toy can reward a dog for several desirable behaviors at the same time:

  • chewing an appropriate object
  • lying down
  • remaining quiet
  • relaxing when left alone


Every piece of food the dog works out of the toy reinforces the behavior happening at that moment.

Instead of trying to catch the dog doing something wrong, we can arrange the environment so the dog is repeatedly rewarded for getting it right.

In Simple Solutions for Common Dog Behavior Problems, Ian explains how to prevent and resolve common problems by changing the setup, teaching the desired behavior, and rewarding dogs in ways that genuinely matter to them.


Save 75% on Simple Solutions for Common Dog Behavior Problems

For a limited time, you can get lifetime access to Ian Dunbar’s full seminar for just $25—normally $100.

You’ll learn practical strategies for:

  • house training
  • destructive chewing
  • excessive barking
  • home-alone problems
  • jumping up
  • unreliable responses to cues
  • and other common behavior and training challenges