It's getting autumnal outside and it's raining....
Time for the snuffle mat.
Che and Murphy have done their yard round and ran back into the flat as fast as their legs could carry them.
"We don't want to go out any more — it's horrible out there. But we're full of energy, so do something with us?" say their looks. Che wants the snuffle mat I made for him last year. And Murphy looks up with a questioning expression:
"What's a snuffle mat?"
I think for a moment, walk to the sideboard and pull out the snuffle mat. The two look up at me expectantly, already excited about the nose work to come. It works perfectly well for both dogs to search on a single mat, since there's no food rivalry between them — but when each has their own mat, they can sniff and work without any stress.
Craft time.
A good thing I enjoy crafting so much! And in this case, also a good thing the days are getting shorter again and I feel more like doing creative handwork, since there's no sunshine luring me outside. Do you find the same — that in autumn and winter you'd rather potter around at home? Right then: snuffle mat number two needs to be made!
Here I'll explain how you too can make a snuffle mat for your four-legged darling.
Snuffle Mat Materials & Tools.
We only need the following materials:
- Fleece fabric (either buy a cheap blanket or fabric from your fabric supplier of choice)
- Rubber sink mat (available at Bauhaus)
And we need these tools:
- Scissors or rotary cutter (and a suitable cutting mat to work on)
- a ruler, if needed
- tailor's chalk, for those who like to be precise
Snuffle Mat = Handmade.
Preparation.
I'd definitely recommend washing the fabric or blanket before use — several times if needed — to make sure as few loose fibres as possible remain on the material. Our four-legged friends should only have air and treat-smell in their noses.
Snip Snap.
Down to business — starting with the snipping. The size of the fleece pieces can vary from snuffle mat to snuffle mat. Since two Frenchies are waiting here, I've tried two versions.
The blue-green mat has rather shorter, slimmer rectangles — but many more of them.
The pure blue one is made from wider but longer fleece strips.
Since I've already sewn the odd star cushion and crown cushion, I use the rotary cutter and the square tailoring ruler to divide the blue fabric into the required rectangles. This makes cutting the fleece pieces go nice and quickly.
I go by gut feeling (including for the dimensions — I trust my eyes) and produce a certain amount — usually I find I'm a few short towards the end.
The missing ones are then simply cut afterwards.
Knot by Knot.
Now comes the knotting. Each rectangle is pulled through 2 holes and secured with a double knot. This ensures that an overly enthusiastic sniffing nose doesn't just push the fleece strips apart again during the search, which would destroy the mat.
The time I need for this varies between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on the number of holes in the mat and the number of fabric strips used.
Snuffle Mat, let's go.
And once all the knotting is done, the finished item is ready to go. I give the mat a good shake, then hide the goodies in among the fleece strips. First, Che and Murphy have to sit patiently and wait until I give the signal to start searching.
Then the sniffing begins until there's nothing left to find. You can see what that looks like in this video:
Snuffle Mat Care Instructions.
To keep the snuffle mat clean, I give it a good shake after each use. If stickier or greasier treats like cheese are involved, I pop the sniff toy in a laundry bag and run it through on a 30-degree rinse cycle. A gentle spin and then lay it flat to dry — and the homemade snuffle mat comes out looking brand new!
Also check out Sabrina from Hundetage und Hundstage — she knotted a pink girly mat!
Happy crafting!
