If your dog finishes dinner in forty seconds and then looks around for something to do, the meal itself is a missed opportunity. Enrichment feeding means giving food a small job to do — hiding it, slowing it down, making the dog work for it a little — so eating engages the nose and the brain, not just the stomach. Dogs are built to search for food. A bowl asks nothing of them. A snuffle mat or a lick mat asks just enough.
Both tools in this guide slow a dog down, but they do it in completely different ways, and they suit different moments. Here is how each one works, when to reach for it, and how to keep it clean.
The snuffle mat: a job for the nose
A snuffle mat hides kibble or treats in layered fabric fronds so the dog has to work its nose to find each piece. On our Snuffle Mat, the layered fleece fronds let you tuck food at different depths — a few pieces near the surface for a beginner, deeper pieces once the dog understands the game. What looks like a shaggy rug is really a foraging puzzle: sniff, nudge, search, find, repeat.
Nose-work is focused work. A dog searching through the fronds is concentrating in a way that simply eating is not, which is why a snuffle mat suits regular mealtimes, wet-weather days when the walk gets cut short, and dogs who inhale their dinner and go looking for more. The non-slip backing keeps the mat in place on the floor while an enthusiastic nose pushes it around.
The lick mat: a job for the tongue
A lick mat works the opposite way. Instead of searching, the dog licks — slowly, repeatedly, at one spot. Our Calming Lick Mat has a textured silicone surface that slows the licking pace, and you spread a thin layer of soft food across it so the dog has to work the texture rather than gulp. The suction-cup base sticks to tubs, floors, or crate walls, so the mat stays put without you holding it.
That makes the lick mat the tool for stationary, potentially stressful moments: baths, crate time, vet visits, and thunderstorms are the classic cases. The dog is in one place, the situation might not be its favorite, and a slow, repetitive task gives it something steady to do. Where the snuffle mat is an active game, the lick mat is a settling one.
Which one does your dog need?
A quick way to choose:
- Food type: dry kibble and treats belong in the snuffle mat; soft, spreadable food belongs on the lick mat.
- Energy: the snuffle mat burns mental energy through searching; the lick mat settles a dog through repetition.
- Moment: reach for the snuffle mat at meals and on restless afternoons; reach for the lick mat when the dog has to stay in one spot.
Plenty of homes keep both, for the same reason you own both a ball and a chew toy — they are different answers to "my dog needs something to do."
Getting started
Start easy. For the first snuffle session, scatter a few treats on top of the fronds rather than burying them, and let the dog win quickly. For the first lick session, use a thin smear of something your dog loves. Keep early sessions short, stay nearby and supervise, and put the mat away when the food is gone. Stored out of sight, it stays interesting; left on the floor all day, it becomes furniture.
Keeping them clean
Food tools need washing, and both of these were designed with that in mind. The Snuffle Mat is machine washable, and it folds flat for storage between uses — shake it out first so loose crumbs do not go through the wash. The Lick Mat is dishwasher-safe silicone, so it can go in with the regular load; a quick rinse of the suction-cup base keeps it gripping well. Wash after use, especially with soft foods, so nothing old hides in the fronds or the texture.
You can find both mats — and everything else we make for daily dog life — in the full CritterOn collection.