3 DIY Dog Treat Dispensers – Sparkles and Sunshine Blog

We all know that having dogs can be expensive. However, you know what’s the best thing about having dogs when it comes to money? Dogs have no idea how much, or how little, you spend on them. The only thing a dog cares about is how you treat them and how much love you give them. Because of this, you don’t always have to buy the most expensive toy out there. In fact, there are many that you can make at home using items you already have!

I’m always looking to create new, out-of-the-box, dog enrichment ideas and I’m super excited about these DIY dog treat dispensers that I’ve come up with! All three of these DIY puzzle toys for dogs are great for dogs of all ages and they’re a super fun thing to do with your dog at home!

Learn how to make these 3 DIY dog treat dispensers using items you already have in your home below!

3 DIY Dog Treat Dispensers Sparkles and Sunshine Blog

1. Pringles Can DIY Dog Treat Dispenser

So the first DIY dog treat dispenser that I created was with a Pringles can! So, fun tidbit about me, is that I go through these spurts where all I crave are certain foods (and no I’m not pregnant ha!). Sometimes I’ll crave a specific food chain like Chipotle and other times I crave a specific food item, which in this case was Pringles. Because of this, I ended up with a ton of Pringles cans and I thought to myself, there’s got to be another way I can use these instead of just throwing them away. Hence, the Pringles can DIY dog treat dispenser was born!

This is a fun way to provide enrichment for dogs using an item you already have. Here’s how to make:

Step 1: Clean the inside of your Pringles can. Once cleaned, start poking holes that are big enough for your treat to come out (if your holes are too small, nothing will come out and your dog will either work harder to try to get them to come out or destroy it entirely, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but your playtime might be cut short!).

Step 2: Open up the lid and drop as many treats as you want. I highly recommend putting something in there that they love or is super smelly that they’ll be able to instantly recognize.

Step 3: Secure the lid with some packing tape or other heavy duty tape.

Step 4: Give to your dog and watch them solve!

Note: Every dog will react different with this toy (and all of the toys shared in this post). For example, Diesel is a more destructive player with his toys than Annie, so for this DIY puzzle toy for dogs, he thought it was more fun to destroy the Pringles can than to roll it around. However, in his defense, when I did this shoot, I did make some of the holes too small by mistake (which I mentioned above) so I think if he would have seen the treat come out of the hole he may have given it a chance, ha! However, if your dog wants to shred it a bit, let them! This is something you’re giving them and telling them that it’s alright to do that. Of course, always supervise and make sure they don’t eat any of it.

3 Homemade dog toys to keep them busy Sparkles and Sunshine Blog

2. Yogurt Tub DIY Dog Treat Dispenser

The second DIY dog treat dispenser and the most challenging out of all of them is the Yogurt Tub DIY puzzle toy for dogs. If you’re looking for homemade dog toys to keep them busy, this is for you! Annie LOVES homemade dog puzzles and this one actually gave her a run for her money.

Here’s how to make:

Step 1: Grab any yogurt tub of your choice and add your dog’s treats! Again, something they love or has a strong scent is preferred!

Step 2: Grab the lid and poke a big enough hole so the treats can come out.

Step 3: Secure the lid all around with packing tape or other heavy duty tape.

Step 4: Give to your dog and watch them solve!

The reason why this one gets challenging, is because once your dog gets down to only a few treats, it gets harder to get the treats out. When we were taking these photos, it was cracking me up to see how mad Annie was that she couldn’t get the very last treat out. She was slapping the container and it was so funny! By the end of it, she did get the treat out and then we let her sniff inside the container to double check all of the treats were gone (photo below), ha!

Pro Tip: If you’re from Florida, Publix puts their yogurt on BOGO often and that’s when I love to not only stock up on yogurt for breakfast, but also the containers for the pups!

3. Paper Towel Roll DIY Dog Treat Dispenser

The last homemade dog puzzle is the paper towel roll DIY dog treat dispenser. This DIY dog enrichment game is either going to be received as a homemade dog puzzle or a destruction toy, ha! When we took these photos with Annie, I was actually quite surprised that she took the destruction route. She usually never does! Either way, this is another fun DIY puzzle toy for dogs that you can make using a simple paper towel roll. Here’s how to make:

Step 1: Grab a paper towel roll and some packing tape or other heavy duty tape. Secure one side with the tape.

Step 2: Drop as many treats as you want, following the same rule of thumb as the other DIY dog treat dispensers.

Step 3: Poke holes large enough for the treats to come out throughout the paper towel roll. Remember, don’t do like I did with the Pringles can, ha!

Step 4: Secure the other side with tape and give to your dog!

Like I said, this is either going to last 30 seconds or longer! Every dog is different and no matter what, they’re having fun.

enrichment ideas for dogs 3 DIY dog treat dispensers sparkles and sunshine blog

paper towel roll DIY dog treat dispensers sparkles and sunshine blog

What did you think of these 3 DIY dog treat dispensers? These fun dog enrichment ideas are proof that you don’t always have to spend a ton of money to entertain your dog and make them happy! Sometimes, all you need is a Pringles can or yogurt tub to add a little fun to their day!

If you loved these enrichment ideas for dogs, and are a huge fan of dog enrichment activities, check out some of my favorite posts featuring some more fun DIY puzzle toys for dogs, Lickimat recipes, KONG filling ideas, and more:

Plus, don’t forget to check out some of my most recent posts below & subscribe to my newsletter to get more dog enrichment ideas delivered straight to your inbox.

Photography: Kate Kelley Collection