Here are the Best Snuffle Mats for Dogs. We Tested 10+ & Took Pictures.

Snuffle Mats can be a great enrichment activity for your dog. They turn feeding time into an engaging foraging activity, as well as slowing down your dog’s eating. A foraging mat (another name for a snuffle mat) is somewhere between a toy and an enhanced food bowl. It can be a great way to stimulate your pup and let them use their natural urge to forage constructively.

We bought and tested 13+ of the best snuffle mats from across the market (ok, mostly Amazon), and we picked favorites. There are definitely some great snuffle mats out there – and some that are definitely less great. They may surprise you – some of the most popular snuffle mats on the market are ones we liked the least.

(Jump to the Snuffle Mat Reviews)

What is a Snuffle mat? Are They Good for Dogs?

A snuffle mat is a mat with loops of fabric (or carpeting pile) that you can hide kibble and treats inside. Then your dog sniffs to discover their kibble, and gets to use their nose. They slow down dog eating, and add stimulatory activity to mealtime.

In the book Canine Enrichment in the Real World, Bender & Strong write about snuffle mats:

Before long, most dogs start to use their noses. It’s fairly obvious when they do: nose goes to ground and they start making deep snuffling noises as they breathe through their nose more than their mouth. When that happens, you shouldn’t need to help them anymore; you have successfully taught your dog to use their nose to seek out food. This activity is surprisingly exhausting for dogs. Most of our clients who do this with their dogs report that it can easily take their dog an hour to finish breakfast, and when they’re done they take a long nap. Using their nose and their brain to seek out and find their breakfast is hard work!

Allie Bender, CDBC, CPDT-KA, SBA, and Emily Strong, CDBC, CPBT-KA, SBA, are certified behavior consultants  – Canine Enrichment for the Real World

They are very good for dogs, and help dogs address their need to forage and sniff. These mats develop a dog’s sense of smell at the same time they eat – so you get to accomplish two key activities at once.

They’re especially good for older dogs or dogs with mobility issues, who can get a lot of stimulation and nose work without a lot of movement.

According to vet Dr. Joanna Woodnutt, “Spending 15 minutes using their brain in this way can be just as tiring as walking for an hour.”

Are snuffle mats safe?

Unless your dog eats the snuffle mat, using the snuffle mat is completely safe.

IF YOUR DOG EATS THE SNUFFLE MAT, THAT IS NOT SAFE.

DO NOT LET YOUR DOG EAT THE SNUFFLE MAT.

Don’t let your dog use a snuffle mat unsupervised. (For that matter, do not let your dog eat any non-food object, like t-shirts, toys, etc.)

Our Testing Methodology

I purchased retail units for all of these off of Amazon. Two were provided as test units and the rest were purchased at retail, but if you purchase one of them thru a link in this piece we’ll receive a fee. I tested them with my test dog across a few weeks.

Please be aware that your dog may behave differently with these, and this just reflects our results – every dog is different.

How Should You Choose a Good Snuffle Mat?

Some snuffle mats are designed much more thoughtfully than others. Generally they come in two flavors – the ‘bath mat’ snuffle mat, that looks like a bath rug, or a bright and colorful snuffle mat with other loops of fabric. Generally the bright and colorful ones have more variation, and more fabric spaces for kibble to get into. Personally I like a softer fabric snuffle mat because I think it’s gentler on the animals’ snout, as well provides a better snuffling experience.

Some snuffle mats are more difficult to fill up than others, and require manual placement of each piece of kibble. I lack the patience for that, and like snuffle mats where it’s easier to spread out the kibble or treats and can do so with a scoop. That make certain elements with the snuffle mats (Particularly some of the strips parallel strips of fabric) too time consuming for my enjoyment.

Some dogs pick them up and dump them upside down. Watch your dog and prevent this behavior, or use one with suction cups.

All snuffle mat prices change pretty frequently and often have coupons available, so use an app like camel camel camel and make sure you’re not overpaying on Amazon.

Make sure you look at the actual size of the snuffle mat in inches or CM – many of the images on Amazon contain dogs that are photoshopped in and give the impression that the mat is much larger than it is. “I wish it was bigger” is one of the most common complaints, especially on the smaller/cheaper snuffle mats.

Our Favorite Snuffle Mats

PAW5 Wooly Snuffle Mat

The PAW5 Wooly is our top pick for larger dogs. It uses a soft wool-like fabric that is gentle on dogs’ snouts and easy to fill with kibble. The non-slip backing keeps it in place on hardwood floors — a common complaint with cheaper mats. It is also machine washable, which is essential for a mat your dog eats off of regularly.

Rundik Big Grey Snuffle Mat

Of the ‘bathmat style’ snuffle mats, the Rundik was our favorite. This is mostly due to their innovative inclusion of suction cups, which would prevent the dog from flipping this over.

This was also a larger, sturdier snuffle mat, that was very easy to put kibble into.

AWOOF Big Snuffle Mat

The AWOOF mat is big, fun, and easy to put away. It’s a little pricier, (prices change all the time so check the latest price on Amazon), but it’s worth it.

The multiple snuffling modes between the different kinds of leaves provide a lot more stimulation for your dog than other mats.

Alibuy Dog Snuffle Mat

The Alibuy snuffle mat was one of our favorites of the ones we tested and narrowly missed our top choice. We felt like it as a great value and very interactive snuffle mat for what you got. It had many attractive elements to it, including soft double-looped fleece (polyester) in the center of the flower, which was excellent for snuffling. Along the edges it had some different kinds of containers – some were more convenient and better for hiding than others.

On the negative side, the mat is quite small. Additionally, the ‘non-slip backing’, well, isn’t, and it slides around a great deal. Plus many of the snuffle-formations require manual insertion of treats, making treats take longer to put in.

It also included a free carrot to play with, which was fun and enjoyable.

Others We Tested

The Vivfying and Related Snuffle Mats

The primary good thing to say about these is that they’re really inexpensive. They seem to be very similar products with the same design and fabric choices, with different colorways.

The fabric is VERY stiff and doesn’t fall over kibble particularly well, and these are pretty small. Our test dog also seemed to want to tip over these more than the more mat-shaped one, but that will vary from dog to dog.

They weren’t our favorite but may be the cheapest way to acquire a functional snuffle mat.

Pet Parents Forager(r) Mat

This snuffle mate was fine as the bathmat ones go. The quality of the pile is good and there’s lots of spaces for treats to hide. It is pretty small generally

It certainly isn’t a bad snuffle mat, but wasn’t one of our top picks.

Paw5 Wooly Snuffle Mat

This snuffle mat is different than the others. It is made in Ghana, (all the others so far reviewed have been made in China), and is made primarily of cotton.

It is a perfectly fine snuffle mat, but it is materially more expensive than the other snuffle mats we’ve reviewed here today, and we don’t see the additional price recouped in additional features or size. Additionally, the offer for free treats on the packaging did not work when we attempted to subscribe to it.

FAQ