Lick Mat for Dogs: What to Buy First
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A lick mat on its own is an empty plate. People buy one, put a smear of something in it, watch the dog clear it in ninety seconds, and decide the whole idea is overrated. What makes it work is what goes on it and how long that takes to come off. So this kit is a mat, two things to load it with, and a second lick surface you hold in your hand for the times the mat cannot come along.
Buying your first one, and why most first tries flop
The mistake is treating it as a bowl. A thin layer of anything disappears fast, and the point of the mat is the time, not the food. This kit is the entry point. One mat, something worth working at, and a plan for the first week. Our article on why we train with treats is the reasoning behind using food this way at all, and the rest of the kits sit on the Bundle Guides hub.
Skip it if your dog already has a mat he uses well. The next step for him is a bigger routine rather than a second plate, and the enrichment kits linked at the bottom are where that goes.
One mat, two loads, one stick
The Camp eMat is the mat itself. TPE, around 8 by 8 inches, printed with a retro van and camping design, in orange or green, and SodaPup describes it as one of the best suction cup lick mats for active dogs, made in the USA. The suction cups are the reason to start here rather than with a flat mat. SodaPup lists them for tile, glass and vehicle windows, and on carpet they hold nothing at all, so the place to put it is a bathroom floor, the side of a tub or a hard kitchen tile. SodaPup also says to supervise the session and to size up for strong chewers, and the mat needs washing after each use.
The loading instructions are SodaPup's own: spread peanut butter, yogurt, wet food or a pureed treat into the pattern and let the dog lick it clean, or freeze it first for a longer session. That is the whole technique, and it is worth reading twice, because the two most common first attempts are too little food and no freezing.
Our Pup-Ornaut Ice Cream is what we would put on it. Nonfat Greek yogurt, banana and peanut butter made from dry roasted peanuts and sea salt, freeze dried in small batches in Malvern, in one bag size. Our own eMat page says how it goes on: freeze dried treats from our kitchen crumble into a paste with a little water and spread onto the mat. It contains peanuts and dairy, so it is not one of our single ingredient bags.
The cheddar bites are the second load, ours, one ingredient, freeze dried in Malvern, in a single 8 ounce bag. Crumbled and mixed the same way, cheddar gives you something to alternate with so the mat is not the same thing every time. Two loads rather than one is the difference between a mat that stays interesting and a mat that lives in a drawer by February.
The eStick is the version that travels. It is a TPE lick toy with a textured head that a handler holds and presents, in four shapes: a yellow Beehive, a pink Ice Cream Cone, a light blue Flower and a pastel purple Waffle. SodaPup describes it as made for training, grooming or handling, set aside when the session is over. It goes on the top rack of the dishwasher and can be frozen ahead. In practice it is what you use at a groomer, in a waiting room, or anywhere there is no tile to stick anything to.
The waste bags are ours, leak proof on an easy tear roll, for the walk on either side of the session.
What is not in a first lick mat kit
No second mat. Two mats before you know whether your dog takes to the first one is money spent on a guess, and the sensible sequence is one mat, two loads, then a second pattern later if the routine sticks. We also left out squeeze tube toppers. They are the standard pairing on lick mat lists and we do not make them, so pointing you at one would mean pointing you off our own shelf at something we cannot tell you anything useful about.
The first three sessions
Load it thick the first time and do not freeze it. A dog who has never seen a mat needs to work out that food comes off it, and a frozen first session is a puzzle before he understands the rules.
Put it at his height on a hard surface and press until the cups hold. Tug the mat once before you walk away. If it lifts, the surface is wrong and the mat will end up across the room.
Freeze the third one. Same load, same spot, frozen beforehand, and SodaPup's own note is that freezing makes for a longer session. That is the version you will use from then on.
Wash it after every use, and stay in the room while he works. Both of those are SodaPup's instructions rather than ours, and the second one is the one people quietly drop.
What owning it replaces
The third squeaky toy of the month, which is two minutes of entertainment and then silence. A biscuit handed over to buy yourself ten minutes, which buys you thirty seconds. And, if you are honest, the television left on for the dog. Once the mat is in rotation, treats are the recurring part, and Explore sorts ours by protein, life stage and format if banana and peanut butter is not the flavor your dog goes for.
Questions about a first lick mat
How long should a lick mat session last?
Longer than a bowl and shorter than an afternoon. It depends entirely on how thick you load it and whether you froze it, which is why SodaPup lists freezing as the way to stretch a session. Start unfrozen and work up.
Can I use a lick mat on carpet?
The suction cups will not hold there. Tile, glass and a smooth tub wall are the surfaces SodaPup lists, so a bathroom is usually the right room in a carpeted house. On carpet the mat becomes a frisbee within a minute.
My dog chews the mat instead of licking it. Now what?
Stop the session and take it up. SodaPup says to supervise and to size up for strong chewers, and a dog who chews TPE rather than working at it needs a more durable format than this one, not a longer session with the same mat.
How it ships
The two hard goods come from one maker and everything edible comes from us, so this arrives in two deliveries. SodaPup/True Dogs, LLC items are sold and shipped by SodaPup/True Dogs, LLC through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift, which covers the mat and the stick together out of Longmont, Colorado. The two treat bags and the roll of waste bags leave Malvern separately. Wash the mat before the first session, run it unfrozen once, and if the routine takes, the rest of the enrichment kits build out from here.
