What to Put on a Lick Mat: 8 Easy, Dog-Safe Recipes
A lick mat is a small, simple tool. You smear something tasty across the grooves, and the slow, repetitive licking helps a dog settle. It is a standby for nail trims, thunderstorms, or the ten minutes when you just need the house to be calm. The mat gives your dog's mind a job, and a busy mind is a settled one.
The question we get most is a simple one: what do I actually put on it? The good news is you probably already have most of it in your kitchen. Below are eight recipes our two corgis, Finn and Bear, have taste-tested more times than we can count. Read the quick safety note first, because it matters.
First, the safety rules (read this once)
Enrichment should never come at the cost of your dog's health, so keep these in mind every time:
- Use xylitol-free peanut butter only. Xylitol (a sweetener found in some “no sugar added” brands, sometimes listed as “birch sugar”) is toxic to dogs. Check the label every single time, because brands change recipes.
- Never use chocolate, grapes or raisins, onion, garlic, or macadamia nuts. These are toxic to dogs.
- Watch the calories. Whatever goes on the mat counts toward your dog's food for the day. Spread it thin, especially if your dog is watching their weight.
- Go slow with new foods. Introduce anything new in a small amount. Some dogs don't do well with dairy. If that's yours, skip the yogurt recipes or try a lactose-free version.
- Always supervise, and wash after. A lick mat is a feeder, not a chew toy. Put it away between sessions, and clean it in warm soapy water or on the top rack of the dishwasher.
When in doubt, ask your vet. They know your dog better than any blog does.
The 8 recipes
1. Classic PB & Banana
The crowd-pleaser, and the one Bear loses his mind over. Mash half a banana into a spoonful of xylitol-free peanut butter and spread it thin. Freeze it for 20 minutes and a quick snack becomes a proper wind-down.
2. Yogurt & Blueberry Swirl
Plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt with a few smashed blueberries swirled through. It's cooling on a hot day, and it looks beautiful going on. Freeze for extra staying power.
3. Pupkin Pie
Plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling, which has added sugar and spices) with a small dab of peanut butter on top. Pumpkin is easy on the stomach and a nice one for fall.
4. Bone Broth Freeze
Pour low-sodium bone broth (with no onion or garlic in the ingredients) into the grooves and freeze it solid. This is our go-to for hot afternoons, recovery days after the vet, and teething puppies. A pupsicle that settles them down instead of winding them up.
5. Everyday Wet-Food Smash
The practical one, and the reason we reach for a lick mat most days. Take your dog's normal wet food and spread it thin across the mat instead of dropping it in a bowl. A meal that would have vanished in a gulp becomes an activity, at no extra cost. This is where Bear's whole story started. He inhaled every meal until we slowed him down. If your dog eats the same way, here's how to slow down a dog who eats too fast.
6. Sweet Potato & Yogurt
Cooked, mashed, and fully cooled sweet potato with a little plain yogurt mixed in. A good source of fiber, and it's grocery-store enrichment. You almost certainly have the ingredients already.
7. Apple & PB
Finely grate a bit of apple (no seeds, no core) and mix it into xylitol-free peanut butter for a crunchy-creamy combo. Quick, cheap, and it feels like autumn.
8. The Layered “Long-Laster”
When you need real quiet time (storms, houseguests, a work call), build it in layers. Spread peanut butter first, then a layer of yogurt, then press a few small treats down into the grooves. Freeze it solid. Layering plus freezing makes a session last a good deal longer. This is the one Finn gets when the thunder rolls in.
How to make a lick mat session last longer
Three simple levers, in order of impact:
- Freeze it. This is the single biggest one. A frozen mat takes far longer to lick clean than a fresh one.
- Layer it. Alternating textures (creamy, then something with bits pressed in) makes your dog work harder for each layer.
- Spread it thin and into the grooves. A thick blob gets cleaned off fast. Worked down into the texture, it lasts.
When a lick mat helps
A lick mat is a tool as much as a treat. Owners reach for one during:
- Thunderstorms and fireworks
- Nail trims, baths, and grooming
- Crate training and alone-time
- Recovery or rest after a vet visit
- The witching-hour zoomies, when a dog has energy to burn and nowhere to put it
The common thread is a dog who needs to settle. Licking is steady and repetitive, so the mat gives them a calm, focused outlet instead of a chewed cushion. For the restless energy that shows up earlier in the day, a snuffle mat does the same job through your dog's nose.
A quick word on why this works
Dogs are built to work for their food. A bowl empties in seconds and asks nothing of them. A lick mat asks for patience and focus, and that mental effort is what leaves them relaxed afterward. A good sniff-hunt asks for the same kind of effort, which is why sniffing settles an anxious dog the same way licking does. Tired mind, calm dog.
If you don't have a lick mat yet, ours is textured to hold spreads in the grooves, has a suction base so it stays put, and goes on the top rack of the dishwasher after exactly the recipes above. You can grab one here, or get it alongside a snuffle mat and slow feeder in the Boredom Buster Kit.
Try one of these this week and watch your dog unwind. If you land on a combination they love, we'd like to hear about it.
The Busy Dog Supply Co. Team