The Mat That Gave My Rescue Dog Something to Do When I Left

The first Tuesday I went back to my volunteer shift at the library, I stood in the kitchen with my coat on and my keys in my hand, watching Pip watch me. Three hours. Nine until noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays, shelving returns and checking out books for people who still read paper ones. Three hours is nothing. It is also the longest I had left him alone since December, when I brought a four-year-old terrier-Chihuahua mix home from the county shelter and he spent his first nights under my kitchen table instead of in the bed I had bought him.

He weighs thirteen pounds. He came to me scared of loud noises and scared of the front door closing behind me, and eleven months later he is better, but he is still a dog who notices. What I needed was not a bigger production. I needed something for him to do with his nose for ten minutes while I was gone.

In February I bought an AWOOF snuffle mat. The listing calls it an interactive feed game for boredom, which is a marketing way of saying it is a square of felt cloth with folds and pockets you hide kibble in, so the dog has to work his nose through the fabric to find his breakfast. It is 18.8 inches across, unscented, with a non-slip cloth bottom. Mine lives in the cupboard by the back door. That cupboard placement tells you most of how the experiment went.

Before the mat, I had tried a chew toy, left on the floor where he naps. He never touched it. Not once. Pip is not a chewer. He has never shredded anything in his life, and I have the intact slippers to prove it. What he is, is a nose. On walks he reads the grass like a newspaper, four feet at a time, and I used to hurry him along. I stopped hurrying him.

The first week, I thought I had wasted my money. I scattered his kibble through the folds, set the mat down, and he gave it about a minute. He nosed the top layer, came up with two pieces, and walked off to the water bowl. I stood there thinking, well, that is that.

The second week it changed. He started at the edge and worked inward. Four minutes, then six, then about ten. Nine months later it still takes him about ten minutes, which is the number I care about, because ten minutes of nose work on a Tuesday morning is ten minutes he is not standing at the front window listening for my car.

Nine months later it still takes him about ten minutes. That is the number I care about.

Here is the routine, exactly. Tuesday and Thursday mornings only, never any other day. He gets his breakfast kibble in the mat instead of in his bowl, and I set it down on the kitchen floor while I put my coat on. It has not replaced his walks. We still go twice a day. The mat is the thing he does instead of standing at the door.

When I get home, the mat is wherever he left it and he is in the donut bed, which is where he goes when he has decided the morning is finished. That is the whole result. He is not a different dog. He is a dog with a job on the two mornings he needs one.

Cleaning is a shake-out over the sink and a hand rinse, then it air-dries on the rack for about a day. It has never been in the washing machine and I would not put it there. Felt holds crumbs if you let it, so I shake it out every single time. The non-slip cloth bottom does stay put on my kitchen floor, though Pip is thirteen pounds and not much of a challenge to anything that claims to grip.

I also have a lick mat, bought in the spring, and I use that one on weekends with a little plain yogurt. He finishes it in about five minutes and looks at me for more. The AWOOF mat is the longer job. If your dog wants to use his nose, it is the one that holds him. If your dog licks and quits, the other one is easier.

One honest note. If your dog is genuinely anxious, a mat is a mat. It gave Pip a job, and it made leaving the house easier to watch. It did not change how he feels about the door closing. I talked to Dr. Amaral about the noise sensitivity and I would say the same to you: ask your vet about the real anxiety, and let a piece of felt handle the boredom.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

I would tell you that the first week is not the answer to whether it works. I would tell you to scatter the kibble thin and all the way to the edges, because a dog who can see his breakfast will not work for it. I would tell you to keep the mat in a cupboard instead of on the floor, so it stays something that happens rather than something that is always there. And I would tell you that if your dog gives up in the first minute, that is a first-minute answer and not a verdict. Pip gave up in the first minute. He was wrong, and so was I.