How to Make an Easter Egg Hunt for Your Dog

Remember hunting for Easter eggs when you were little? Crawling around the backyard or living room, checking under tables and in bushes?For the once-prolific Easter egg hunter, it can be a bit of a bummer to outgrow the tradition.Well we’ve got just the thing—why not set up an Easter egg hunt for your dog? Watch them roam and sniff, and happily snap up the prizes! They’ll know the day is something special, even if they can’t quite tell what all the pastel colors and bunny-shaped decorations are all about.

Plastic Easter eggs can crack in a dog’s mouth if they chomp on them to get to a treat, and can cause cuts or get stuck in their throat. Place your dog’s treats inside dog-friendly toys—

—or just leave the treats au natural in the grass. Your dog will enjoy hunting for them either way!

, so don’t offer them any chocolate Easter treats, no matter how festive they may be. Peanut butter and

can be something new and exciting.

Pick out a few treats for your dog to find. You can fill some specially-designed toys with treats, or just leave the treats by themselves. For one dog, depending on the size of the treat you’re using, around 5-7 treats will be enough. You don’t want your pet becoming sick from eating too much rich food too fast, and you certainly won’t want to take some of their hard-found treats away once they’ve sniffed them out.If you want the game to go on longer, take a few of your dog’s favorite toys and put just a dab of treat paste or peanut butter on them. That’ll limit the snack food your dog is getting, while still allowing for lots of searching fun.

You’ll want to count the treats so you know how many there are and if they’ve all been found by the end of the game. Leaving a doggie treat outside might just mean a fun snack for Fido later, but it could also attract unwanted critters, as could a treat left hidden behind the curtain in the living room.Hide the treats in places low to the ground or on the ground—you don’t want to encourage your dog to start jumping or climbing in search of food. You also probably don’t want to place the treats inside something your dog will have to tip over or knock open, as this can encourage such behaviors when it’s not game-time. Just placing the “eggs” under a bush works great, as does behind a couch leg. Your dog will be thrilled to get the treat.

Now it’s time for the hunt! If you’re setting up your hunt in a park instead of your own house or backyard, keep your dog on a leash, but let them lead you as they sniff out the treats.Here’s wishing you and your dog a happy Easter and a happy egg hunt!

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