Frozen Lick Mat Summer Treats for Car Show Weekends

A frozen lick mat starts with our freeze-dried treats, single ingredient and crumbled into the grooves before anything else goes on. Car shows mean a lot of standing around next to the Camaro, and a frozen lick mat summer routine has become our way of keeping Ella settled at the folding chairs while we look at everyone else's paint jobs. It started as a way to keep her from wandering off toward every other dog in the lot, and it has turned into one of the things we pack without even thinking about it now, right alongside the folding chairs and the cooler. Most shows run long, with more standing around than actual walking, and a bored dog on a leash tends to notice every other dog and every other snack before we do.

What to bring

A Lick Mat Topper Trio: Cheddar Bites, Heart and Sardine Heads is what actually goes on the mat, since it is freeze-dried in small batches and single ingredient, easy to crumble or press flat depending on the mat and the dog. We usually bring a bag of Pup-Ornaut Freeze-Dried Dog Ice Cream: Banana Peanut Butter too, for the topper on days we want something sweeter, mixed in with a little water before it goes in the freezer the night before. Both pack flat in a cooler bag next to the lick mat itself, so the whole kit takes up about as much room as a lunch bag would, easy to tuck under the folding chairs along with everything else.

Why Frozen Works at a Car Show

A car show is a lot of parking, waiting, and standing next to a lawn chair while people walk the rows. A frozen lick mat gives Ella something to do for the stretch we are stopped, which is most of the day, and it buys us enough time to actually look at the cars instead of watching the leash. We use the dog lick mats shipped by SodaPup and The Modern Dog Company, since the flat design freezes well and rinses out easily between shows, which matters when we are doing this most weekends from June through the end of summer. One thing that never changes no matter how the mat is loaded: Never leave a dog in a parked vehicle unsupervised. The mat is for keeping her busy at the chair, not for leaving her behind, whether we are two rows into the show or all the way at the far end of the lot. Our trail and travel page covers more of how we set up a full day like this, chair, mat, and all.

Packing It Frozen

We freeze the mat at home the night before and carry it in a small cooler with the rest of the road trip bag, which keeps it solid until we are set up at the show, chair unfolded and mat down on the ground next to it. Everything else in that bag comes from our road trip essentials collection, built around whatever we are already packing for the drive, from the water bowl to the towel we use to dry the mat off before it goes back in the cooler at the end of a long day of walking the rows. If the lick mat runs out before we do, the full freeze-dried dog treats collection is where we go for a backup bag that does not need a cooler at all, which has saved more than one afternoon when the ice melted faster than we expected. It is the same reasoning that keeps a bag of freeze-dried treats in the road trip bag at all times, cooler or no cooler. Before a weekend like this we also check the dog-friendly car events board to see what is on the schedule nearby, since most of these plans start there.

From the shop

Lick Mat Topper Trio: Cheddar Bites, Heart and Sardine Heads, Pup-Ornaut Freeze-Dried Dog Ice Cream: Banana Peanut Butter, and Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Dog Treats come from our kitchen. The dog lick mats are shipped by SodaPup and The Modern Dog Company.

Questions

Does the lick mat need to stay frozen the whole time?

It works best frozen solid at the start and softens as the day goes on, which is part of why it keeps Ella occupied for a while instead of finishing a treat right away. By the end of a long show it has usually softened all the way, which is a fine stopping point too.

Can the topper trio be used without a lick mat?

Yes, it works as a regular treat too. The lick mat just changes how long it takes to eat, which is really the whole reason we started using one at shows in the first place, since a treat handed over all at once disappears long before we are ready to move to the next row.

What if there is nowhere to keep a cooler at the show?

That is when we switch to the freeze-dried bag instead of the frozen mat, since it does not need to stay cold to hold up. It is a fine backup plan even on the days the mat is the main event.

For more of how a treat kitchen and a car show weekend fit together, see Explore.