Are puzzle toys worth the expense?
Especially if you’re willing to experiment with how you use them.
Don’t just fill these puzzle toys with wet food and place them on the floor. Add some challenges to mentally stimulate your dog and simulate foraging.
Here are some suggestions to get you going:
If you decide to use the puzzle toys as an enrichment activity with treats instead of a meal, here are other suggestions:
Nina Ottosson puzzle toys to the rescue!
I had seen Nina Ottosson puzzle toys before, but they were usually being used as a treat game. Since I use treats with most of my training, I rarely play enrichment games with Bernie and Lizzie that require food.
I decided to take a second look at these intriguing puzzles for dogs to see if they could be used as slow feeders for wet food.
Generally, the pups will eat their food out of the Tux first. Then they tackle the Toppls. My two are not big chompers, so I don’t even twist the two Toppl pieces, or they’d never get them apart.
Once they’ve separated the Toppl pieces, the chowing down truly begins.
Sometimes Bernie will continue to push the empty Toppl pieces around, stop to lick, and then push some more. He’ll even carry the Toppl to a new location. Maybe he’s hoping new food will show up?
I just love that these West Paw puzzle toys are so engaging for my two. They’ll spend 20-30 minutes figuring out how to get every scrap of food out of them.
Since they do seem to create a slimier mess on my kitchen floor, I tend to use these the day before I’ll be mopping.
I’ve got several of the medium Outward Hound Fun Feeders in different swirl patterns. Any of the patterns slow Bernie’s eating down, so I save the purple flower pattern for Lizzie, my speed eater extraordinaire.
Lizzie takes about 5-6 minutes to eat her meal out of this bowl.
In an unregulated stainless steel bowl? She’ll scarf her entire meal in less than three minutes. With the other Outward Hound Fun Feeder patterns, she takes about four minutes, so she’s been permanently assigned the purple flower pattern.
Frequently, I will split her meal into two parts, so I can let some time pass between servings. And yes, I refer to my dog as a Hobbit who gets second breakfast.
They don’t get enough mental stimulation throughout the day
Dogs need to exercise their brain as much as they need physical exercise. Some breeds more than others, but all need some form of mental stimulation throughout the day.
A lack of enrichment can often lead to dogs eating too quickly. It’s easy to understand why. Think of it this way: If your dog’s day is SO boring that the highlight of their day is meal-time, they may find it hard to control their excitement and gobble down their food.
The good news is that even if you’re stretched on time, you can actually provide your dog with mental stimulation during their meal-time by incorporating enrichment feeding into your routine.
When many dogs are fed at the same time or together from just one bowl, a competitive situation can develop in which dogs start to eat quickly in order to get enough food.
If you experience this at home, try to let your dog eat in a quiet place where they won’t be disturbed by others.
Sometimes it’s just your dog’s instinct that causes them to eat quickly. After all, fast eating happens to us humans sometimes too, even though we know that it’s better for us to properly chew our food and eat slowly so that we can tell when we’re full.
HIS NEW BOWL TESTED | SLOW FEEDER DOG BOWL
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Dogs are like humans in their eating habits – some are picky eaters who choose each piece carefully and take hours to finish, while others scarf their food almost faster than you put it in front of them. Fast-eating dogs are quite hilarious, however, the implications this has are not.
When dogs scarf their food down without chewing, they can choke or vomit or cause themselves a serious upset stomach. A serious medical implication can from this: bloat. Bloat, medically known as gastric dilation-volvulus (GDV) is life-threatening in dogs. The stomach fills with air, overstretching it and causing it to rotate which cuts off blood flow from the abdomen and legs from returning to the heart. Toxic hormones are released by the pancreas and, in short, your dog’s heart can stop as a result.
A slow feeder bowl looks like a maze filled with food. It contains many obstacles, including elevated ridges and curled corners, to get the food. To get the food, your dog has to focus and concentrate. He must insert his nose and paws to pull the food out. For most dogs, this is an enjoyable game. If your dog is of the super-smart variety, you can move up to advanced slow feeders that are even trickier. This mental stimulation is one of the major benefits of a slow feeder bowl.
Slow feeders aim to increase the time it takes for your dog to get food out of the bowl, allowing food eaten to settle in the stomach and for your dog to actually chew their food before swallowing. The opportunity for food to lodge or for your dog to gulp in too much air are significantly decreased, helping them feel better and improve digestion.
So, let’s look into how slow feeders can help save you time, money, and improve your dog’s overall digestion.