Dog puzzles

Puzzles

With a puzzle, you can challenge your dog to find his own food. Your dog might have to push away lids, press large buttons or flip components in order to reveal the treats you’ve hidden there. It’s important to start off easy. Every puzzle comes with its own difficulty divided into 3 categories (1, 2 or 3). To introduce your dog to puzzles, it’s best to start with easiest difficulty as you don’t want to make it too hard on the first go. The Nina Ottosson Treat Tumble is a great product to start with as it has a difficulty level of 1. Has your dog gotten used to puzzling? Try a more difficult puzzle! Holt Games – Tortuga is challenging as your dog needs to move different components in order to get to his treat. Has your dog become a puzzling professional? Try the Nina Ottosson Dog Twister, a puzzle with difficulty level 3.

Fillable puzzles

If your dog tends to gulp his food, you can also pick a fillable puzzle. By moving the toy, food will fall out and slows down your dog while eating.

Snuffle mats

Another puzzle variant is a snuffle mat. With these mats, your dog must use his nose to find treats hidden in the strips of fleece. Eat Slow Live Longer Play Mat is a great example, as it comes in different colours and as it is washable, it allows you hide dry or wet food. You can also have a look at a snuffle blankets like the Trixie Dog Activity Sniffing Blanket or the Buster Activity Mat. Instead of fleece strips, treats are hidden under fabric puzzle compartments. It is important to keep an eye on your dog while he’s on the hunt for treats on his mat. Some dogs have the tendency to use the mat as a chewing/playing toy which would break or rip the mat. Encourage your dog to find the treats instead.