MeadowCat

We are big users of food dispensing toys/puzzle toys around here, so I thought I'd write a review of the toys we've tried, since we get questions occasionally about food toy recommendations.

Classic Kong
The classic Kong is a go-to food toy in our house. Reasonable price, easy to use, easy to clean. I stuff it with all manner of things, and usually freeze them. I run them through the dishwasher to clean. I usually spend a while stuffing all the Kongs in the house so I can have a box of frozen Kongs in the freezer so they are ready whenever I need one. Amazon.com: Kong Toy Lrg 4.5 In: Pet Supplies

Kong Wobbler
We love the Kong Wobbler in our house. I have one for each dog. They are easy to fill with kibble and have a large capacity. Can easily hold each dog's entire meal in one Wobbler. Dogs go crazy for them. Very easily to get the kibble in, and easy to get any remaining kibble back out. Easy to clean. Downside: it can be loud on the wood floor. Amazon.com: Kong Wobbler Treat Dispensing Dog Toy, Large: Pet Supplies

Twist 'n Treat
The Twist 'n Treat is a good toy, and durable. The big downside is it doesn't hold much kibble, even in the large size, so it's not as convenient for feeding a meal. However, it's reasonably quiet on the wood floor. It's not hard to fill and is easy to clean. Amazon.com: Premier Twist and Treat Dog Toy, Large: Pet Supplies

Buster Cube
The Buster Cube is one of the more challenging food toys, in that it takes more time for all the food to come out. The downside is that it is VERY loud on hardwood floors. It is tough to fill and doesn't have as much capacity as the Kong Wobbler. The biggest downside is that I find it difficult to open and clean, so there is a bit of kibble dust, and sometimes kibble, stuck inside. Definitely a more annoying toy, but does keep Shanoa occupied longer. Amazon.com: Buster Food Cube Interactive Dog Toy, Large (Colors Vary): Pet Supplies

Kibble Nibble
The Kibble Nibble is a pretty easy toy, which is nice to introduce dogs to a food toy. It's easy to fill and easy to clean. When we tried it, however, the two pieces did sometimes come apart because of the level of violence Shanoa uses to push it around. Amazon.com: PetSafe Premier Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble Dog Toy: Pet Supplies

Tricky Treat Ball
I was surprised by how much I like the Tricky Treat ball. The design is simple and it's soft plastic. Easy to fill with a decent capacity. The downside is that it can be tough to get all the kibble out, and it's a little harder to clean. But it's very quiet and does take a while for my dogs to get the food out. Amazon.com: Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball, Large: Pet Supplies

Tug-a-Jug
The Tug-a-Jug was the biggest failure in our house. Shanoa's first technique was to pick up the toy by the rope and smash it on the floor over and over again. Then she figured out how to unscrew the bottom to get all the kibble out at once. However, this is a good, challenging puzzle for most dogs. Easy to fill and clean, with large capacity. Amazon.com: PetSafe Premier Busy Buddy Tug-A-Jug, Medium/Large: Pet Supplies

Magic Mushroom
The Magic Mushroom is a bit different and a decent challenge. The only downside was that I had the same problem as with the Kibble Nibble - occasionally the pieces would unscrew and the toy would come apart. Otherwise, easy to fill and clean with a decent capacity. Amazon.com: Petsafe Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom Pet Toy: Pet Supplies

Nina Ottosson toys
We tried a couple of Nina Ottosson toys, but most of them seem designed for dogs to use their nose to push around the pieces. Shanoa is very "paw" oriented and used her paws, violently, on all of them, making them not very effective. For a dog that would use their nose, however, they would be great. Very challenging mentally for most dogs. Downside: they are not the type of toys you can leave alone with your dog to play with the way most food dispensing toys are. They are more of an interactive toy. Nina Ottosson - Pet activity toys & treat puzzle games

Please share your reviews of different food/puzzle toys!

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RottenVonSpotten

I have the Smarter Toys IQ Ball (IQ Ball). My last foster was obsessed with it and was always pushing and pawing it around. My new foster has a very low frustration tolerance and is only interested when the hole is at the largest setting, giving him instant gratification. If I make the hole smaller, he gets frustrated and gives up. I really like it though as it's pretty hardy and can hold a good amount of treats (I put Zukes treats in it). It does hit the baseboards and can be loud, but is not unbearable.

I really want a kong wobbler. I think I'll get one as a belated Christmas gift to myself.

dglvr

I use kongs and stuffed bones pretty regularly, but the big winner at my house is the above mentioned Tricky Treat Ball. It keeps all three running around and entertained for a while.

Biggest failure was the jw ball, the hole is so big everything just falls out with a few nudges. Amazon.com: JW Pet Company Hol-ee Treat Ball for Dogs: Pet Supplies

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honda123

Our SS gave us the IQ Treat Ball, learning level: brilliant.
It is the 5" size.

I am amazed to say that this Ball has given hours of play (supervised.).
And, is still intact!

The Kong wubba was alot of fun to throw and chase. But, when I wasn't paying attention, on the computer, for 5 minutes, the "tails of the toy" were chewed off like scissors. I couldn't believe it.

The other toy from our wonderful SS is a Starspinner Dog Toy Puzzle.
It is 100% intact and keeps our Dober Guy busy and searching for his treats. It must be tough because a few times, he picked it up by the edge and threw it accross the room.

NOX

I got the Starspinner from my SS also, but unfortunately Nox ate off 2 of the star ends in the middle of the night. I guess he was bored of it being empty and decided to eat it instead
But on the bright side, he enjoyed that toy a lot with or without food in it !

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AlyssaN

The Kong Wobbler is one of the best things that I've purchased for Murphy. It's so loud on the laminate, but we still put half of every meal in so that he has something to keep him busy.

Upside: Keeps him busy. Fairly easy to get treats out of.

Downside: Almost too easy to get treats out. I've actually duct taped the hole to make it more difficult because he'd get 6 or 7 kibbles out at once. Also, it kind of ruins our walls when he pushes it against them. Fortunately all it will take is a little paint to fix.

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Thor_Red

StarMark Bob-A-Lot Interactive Dog Toy
Relatively easy to fill and holds a fair amount of kibble. I never had it on hardwood floor but as it is hard plastic I would assume it makes a decent amount of noise. I really like how easy it is to adjust how difficult or easy it is to get the kibble out by how wide you open the little slider window on the side. Khaos has not shown any interest in it until yesterday and I actually fed him an entire meal with it. I linked a video of him using it, I hope it works since its my first video link. On the downside, I have to hide it from Cleo. The narrow neck gives her a good grip and leverage to sling in and it hit my husbands head today with a decent amount of force. Thank god it could have been really bad and hit the TV



The Classic Kong is banned from the house for the same reason

Tug-a-Jug
The Tug-a-Jug was also a failure in our house. Cleo didn't even bother with unscrewing the back, she simply crushed it with her jaw and splintered the acrylic.

Buster Cube
The Buster is still a toy we use her, also not for treats. Even on the hardest setting it takes Cleo only a few minutes to empty it. I will try to feed her a meal with it, which I have not done yet. She does enjoy carrying it around (yes her mouth opens pretty wide she can carry it, but doesn't give her enough leverage for her patented fling action so it will fly a little, but not high and hard)

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dobermangirl

Will the kong wubba be good for my 11 month old Doberman he likes balls and toys that look like monkeys lol but he well destroy they in like two days.


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Thor_Red

While kong makes quality toys, the wubba can still be destroyed by a determined dobe. My female can and has destroyed them, while my male loves them and even so he destroys other toys does not destroy the wubba. So can it be destroyed yes, will it, that depends on your dobe.

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dobermangirl

Ok I think I will give it a try, I'm also trying to find some Doberman lovers like myself and meet up with them cause he loves playing with other dogs.


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Tayl

Row loves the tricky treat ball though it took him awhile to figure out to roll it instead of chewing on it since he just thought it was a regular ball.
The kong wobbler is great but very loud and once he got the hang of it very easy to get the food out. I am thinking of trying tape to make it harder.


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SpecialK

I appreciate you starting this thread because I was seriously just thinking about what treat/thinking toys are good out there that we can try this winter. So far we have only tried the reg kong, the wobbler and the IQ ball. We have the same issue with Rowan picking them up/carrying them around and swatting them around with his paws.

For us, the regular kong has been invaluable, using it to create positive associations with things like his crate or being left and also keeping him occupied/quiet at times. The wobbler was great when he was a puppy and scarfed his food, but recently I started bringing it back out just for mental stimulation and he started chewing up the top. I wasn't as impressed with the treat ball as he can fit it in his mouth and starts to try to gnaw on it when he gets tired of working to get the treats out.

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Hilltoprunner

Thank you for the thread! I bought the Nina O "puzzle brick" for diezel. He's very paw oriented, but it took him only a day to figure this one out. He used paws and nose. Takes him only a minute to eat all the treats. I'm glad I bought it off amazon and for less. He's a smart cookie.....anyone want to purchase a slightly used brick

alys

I have always found my Dobes to use their feet a lot,almost like hands! Far more than any other breed

Rosemary

Buster Cube + crate with metal pan + GSD puppy = ungodly racket

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MeadowCat

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dglvr

The new hit of the day in the house is the kong genius. Not as difficult as the tricky treat ball when used with small kibble, but larger bits keep them busy for a good long while.

I have just the blue part, but I like that you can add on other parts and make a whole new (more difficult) toy! As long as your dog uses it as a treat toy, and not a chew toy, I would recommend it!

Amazon.com: KONG Genius Leo Dog Toy, Extra Large (Colors vary): Pet Supplies

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Rosemary

My crew must not be as determined as some. If they can't get the treats out of this, they just ignore it.

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dglvr

My guys get very competitive, all vying for the toy they find the "easiest" out of the 2 or 3 I put on the floor. My RT female always ends up just scavenging the bits that fly out instead of working her own toy.. lazy.

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odiakkoh

bumping this

lestat1978

I like the classic Kong. I usually use frozen yogurt or peanut butter. Ivan's pretty efficient at getting in cleaned out though.

Ivan loves the Kong Wobbler. We're on his second. Problem is he'd rather chew it apart/unscrew it than bat it around.

I only have a small twist and treat. Ivan chews on it enough that it eventually opens wider and the treats come out easily. Agree it doesn't hold much.

I'd like to try the buster cube and tricky treat ball.

Tug-a-just was a fail here too. Ivan just crushed the neck of the bottle.

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lestat1978

Ivan's latest toy is the Buster Cube. Definitely creates a racket. Ivan launches that thing all the across the room and smashes it off of every piece of furniture. If I take my time filling it, it'll hold a cup of food.

Also bought Ivan the Kong Genius Leo. His kibble is too small for the toy. . . easily comes out the X shaped holes. If I were to buy other parts and combine them, how easy are they to pull back apart?

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MeadowCat

Richter chewed off the top of the Kong Genius toy we had, so I don't know how well they work

The Buster Cube is the loudest toy of all time

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CalamitysHuckleberry

Yeah I took one look at the genius and knew it wouldn't last 5 minutes. Did you have any luck with that Toys R Us puzzle. Ours is still going strong but it is completely supervised!


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StarlightDobe

my dogs can destroy a wubba in a day

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