You 100% Need This $8 Resuable Item If Your Dog Thinks Zoom Meeting Time Is Playtime

LickiMats are rubber mats or bowls with textured tops that can fit all kinds of pet-safe foods. The licking releases endorphins that can help calm anxious dogs during distressing times like thunderstorms and baths, and also reduces the boredom that can turn destructive or distracting in everyday life.

Offering this also redirects inappropriate chewing and licking to something safe and, when frozen as seen here, really keeps pets occupied for long stretches of time. (I prefer this to other toys with a small opening that can be filled with treats as those are very hard to clean and, if your dog is like mine, he's only gonna try so long before deeming it not worth it when he can't get his tongue to any actual peanut butter inside.)

Then, while this isn't an issue for Beau, these can also be used to force pets to slow down their dinnertime if you've got a gobbler on your hands (and can help reduce the risk of bloat, too).

As a special treat, I offer small portions of human foods my vet has approved for Beau's diet. Since today I had nonfat plain yoghurt and a banana for breakfast, I put a little bit of both on his LickiMat and popped it in the freezer as an afternoon snack. I've even used this to serve baby food my vet recommended as a bland diet during a past parasitic infection, or filled the whole tray with his regular Ollie meal and served it unfrozen, too. You are only limited by your imagination when it comes to the concoctions you serve.*

While I use the classic Soother most often, I've rounded up the other styles that serve important purposes, including one just for bath time. (Oh, and if you have a cat, there are even a couple specifically for your kitty pals, too.)

*Please always check with a veterinarian before serving foods not explicitly made for dogs to your own pets.

You don't need to have a bigger pooch to pick this LickiMat Classic Buddy Large for Dogs ($15). It's exactly the same as the classic Buddy, just this one is an 11-inch square (versus 7.87 inches) so it just serves up more and distracts him for even longer.

This LickiMat Slomo for Dogs ($14) is a good pick if you're trying to get a dog to eat slower (and the anxiety-reduction is an added bonus). The two quadrants with larger holes can serve up kibble and wet food can be smeared in the other sections as a mealtime bonus. Or, I especially love this for a special treat with blueberries in the larger holes and soft human foods like pureed pumpkin smeared in the other two.

Really make pups work with this LickiMat Wobble for Dogs ($16) which, as you may have guessed, teeters as they eat. Wet food can be smeared in on the bottom and that can be topped with his regular dry food to make dinnertime last longer for dogs who are prone to gulping all their food down seemingly in a few bites.