Puzzle Toy Needed - Trying To Keep Her Brain Occupied

[JenniferS]

Our Razzy has been driving us a little nuts at night ever since the weather got cold & it is dark early. She spends her summer evenings sitting out the deck "hunting" for hours. We do give rawhides, but only let them chew them for a short time until they start breaking pieces off. She plays with stuffies for a little while, but gets bored quickly. I have tried other chew toys, but they don't always last or don't keep her interest. She gets plenty of exercise daily, I think she's just bored. Does anyone give their grey "puzzle toys" which occupy the brain a bit longer, and if so, which types do you recommend?

The high-pitched princess barking it driving us to drink!

[RedHead]

Mine has absolutely no drive to even lick to the bottom of the kong. One thing I do with my other (more food motivated!) dog is to take some kibble/treats and hide them all over the room. I make some easy, but put other ones under things, behind things, etc. It is really great because they have to use scent work to find them which really stimulates their mind. I have also been doing clicker training which is fun...we're working on weave poles now (not highly successful )

[krissy]

Frozen kong

Tricky treat ball

Kong wobbler

IQ ball

Buster cube

Tug-a-jug (busy buddy)

Twist n Treat (busy buddy)

Nina Ottosen and Kyjen puzzle toys - these are true puzzles but have to be supervised

 

We have several others as well. Any time I see a puzzle/treat toy I tend to buy it to keep Kili entertained. We have another one that is very similar in concept to the Kong wobbler, and 2 or 3 other "tricky teat ball" types.

[EnzaFerrari]

Find out where you can walk your dog inside - Pet stores, local stores etc. Or if you only do yard turn outs, start taking them for walks around the neighborhood. Enza is so desperate to get inside that we pretty much end up running the few blocks.

[spottydog]

Knuckle bones - you must supervise and ensure she doesn't gnaw it down to a "swallowable" size. There are also different shaped rawhides that are not as susceptible to being dismantled.

[Guest lemon]

Tosh has one called the atomic ball (5") which he actually gets fed his dinner from. It's funny to see his expression though as he paws at it- you know his little greyhound brain is working.

[GreytNut]

Riley has a plush tree trunk with holes that has little squirrel stuffies with squeakers hidden inside. He has to root around in the holes to find the squirrels and pull them out. He enjoys it. I've seen similar toys with bees in a hive and birds in a tree.

 

There are also toys called Egg Babies, which are plush animals such as a shark or platypus with a Velcro strip. Inside are stuffed eggs. The dog has to figure out how to get the eggs out of the toy.