With all this extra time most of us have at home lately, we’d like to share an easy DIY Snuffle Mat tutorial to help keep your canines (and even felines!) entertained.
Mental enrichment for dogs is a very important part of their overall wellbeing and many bored dogs start showing problematic behaviours when they aren’t getting enough enrichment. There’s loads of different enrichment toys available on the market, but these snuffle mats are an easy and fun project to make for your pooch using only a few materials.
Snuffle mats are designed to promote, well, sniffing! Sniffing for dogs is like us reading the daily newspaper or jumping on 
Facebook to see what’s happening out there in the world. Dogs have over 300 million scent receptors in their “snoofers” – that’s over 290 million more than what humans have! So, there’s no surprise that they enjoy a good sniff…and with a few treats hidden in between the folded fleece, it’s sure to promote a good sniff-sesh for your furry friends.
These mats are super easy to make and only require some polar fleece, a Bunnings rubber mat, scissors and a tape measure…oh and don’t forget the treats. For this tutorial, we’re using SavourLife dog treats because they’re natural, healthy, Australian owned and made and SavourLife support rescue’s like us. You can purchase their treats at PetBarn and City Farmers stores.
Thing to remember:
- Fleece material is stretchy – usually horizontally against a patterned print, so to get the most out of your fleece, make sure you cut your strips accordingly. Stretchy strips of fleece make it easier to double-knot them to the mat.
- Whilst we don’t recommend putting these snuffle mats in the wash, you can hand wash them with a pet-safe detergent and let them dry in the sun.
Materials:
- 1.5m of Fleece Material
You can use any material, but we prefer fleece for this project - 1x Bunnings 40×60 Matpro Mat (or any mat with holes will do)
- Scissors
- Measuring tape
Instructions:
