We're AWOOF, and we plant gardens for noses.

We started AWOOF with one question: why does a dog with the best nose in the house eat out of a plain steel bowl? A dog's nose is built to hunt for food, not wait for it. So we sewed that hunt back into mealtime. Our dog snuffle mats are small fleece gardens, with petals, grass, flaps and hidden pockets where kibble and treats disappear. Your dog sniffs them out one piece at a time, and a meal that used to vanish in thirty seconds turns into ten or fifteen minutes of calm, focused nose work.

Every snuffle mat in our garden is planted a little differently. The drawstring snuffle bowl mat is our lightest: it lies flat as a sniffing pad or cinches into a soft bowl, and it packs into its own pouch for travel. The 28 x 28 inch Big Flower mat hides whole biscuits under four rings of petals and adds four bonus puzzle games. The 3-level puzzle snuffle mat buttons its flaps shut as your dog gets smarter. For large breeds, or two dogs sharing lunch, the 34.6 x 19.6 inch large dog snuffle mat gives a big nose room to roam.

Why a slow feeder mat instead of a slow feeder bowl? Because foraging works the brain as well as the belly. Sniffing is real mental exercise for a dog. It takes the edge off a rainy day, settles a busy puppy, and gives an anxious dog a job to do when you leave the house. Nearly all of our mats have a non-slip base, several buckle or tie to furniture so they stay flat, and most go straight into the washing machine.

Some noses want a game they can carry. That's why we made our snuffle toys: a hermit crab with six treat pockets under its shell, a caterpillar that pulls apart into six squeaky snuffle balls, and a shaggy hedgehog snuffle ball with food hidden under its spikes. For dogs who just want to squeak, we make no-stuffing dog toys in value packs: sea creatures, long forest animals with 45 squeakers between them, a fruit patch of crinkle toys, and a 3-in-1 eggplant with a carrot and a spiky ball hidden inside. There's no fluff to shred and nothing loose inside to swallow.

Cats get their own corner of the garden. Our catnip toys for indoor cats include a butterfly cat wand set for stalk-and-pounce play and a six-pack of plush catnip kickers, each with a measured pinch of catnip. Our cat activity mats, shaped like a cat, a fish and a mouse, hide toys, bells and treats in patchwork pockets, then double as a cozy nap pad. For the chores in between, we sew an adjustable cat grooming bag for baths and nail trims and a reflective kitten harness and leash set for first steps outdoors.

Pets are our family members, and we build every AWOOF snuffle mat, dog enrichment toy and cat mat the way we'd want it for our own fur babies. Start easy, stay close for the first few sessions, wash the fleece often, and let the nose lead.