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Interactive Food Dispensing Toys?

2K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  chibicricket 
#1 ·
Mira has these two 4" food/treat dispensing balls (photo in attachment, amazon links below) and she loves 'em, but they each only hold less than half a cup of food.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ARUKTG/ and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P0MK4UO

I'd like to find one that holds more food so I can feed her a larger portion of her main meal using 'em without having to refill multiple times.

My old dog had the Buster cube and IIRC, it held a decent amount of kibble but I remember it being difficult to clean. No idea what happened to that one but I'm thinking of getting one for Mira anyway. Just the fact that it's square instead of round and therefore needs more effort to manipulate might provide additional challenge. There's also a soft version now, but I'm not sure how well that would work on carpet (she usually plays with them in the living room).

Anyone else have suggestions for interactive feeding tools/toys that hold more than half a cup of kibble for a dog who likes to push things around with her nose? :)
 

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#2 ·
I have the Kong Wobbler and like it, and the dogs like it quite a bit.

I also have a snuffle mat which they both enjoy using, but they can get kinda grungy.
 
#3 ·
Tug-a-Jug? / BusterCube? / TUX?

the Zogoflex "Tux", made by West Paw Design, is pretty nifty -
sturdy, non-toxic, bouncy, easy to clean.

I liked the BusterCube, but yes, it's noisy on hard floors - the dog doesn't mind, but the downstairs neighbors may complain.
I let my dogs use Busters on carpet, but do vacuum shortly thereafter - any little crumbs contain FAT, & can stain.
The sooner they're sucked-up, the less chance of oil-marks / off-odors. ;)
U wouldn't think an itty-bitty crumb could make a rancid odor, but they can.

I won't patronize StarMark products -
A fellow APDT-member described her & her dog's experiences while she was a resident student at their Academy; it was a nightmare. // She wrote about it on the APDT trainers'-board.
Among other things, they used highly-aversive & forceful methods, everything from shock-collars & double-handed 'corrections' with prong-collars to hanging & helicoptering; they told student-trainers that they "needed to know all methods". ?????
Also, on a purely-practical level, they ran out of food - but only for the local SHELTER dogs, who were sent there to be student-dogs for those trainers who didn't bring their own dogs along.
Then they ran-out of kennel disinfectant, & had an outbreak of a fairly-nasty intestinal virus; most of the dogs in the runs got sick, only student-trainers' personal dogs who stayed with them in their rooms, sleeping in crates, escaped the diarrhea.
Considering what they charged each student-trainer at the time [& this was B4 2008], they could well-afford to buy kibble for the shelter-dogs, AND disinfectant to contain infection. :thumb-down:
Student-trainers who were there at that time bought kibble with their own money, to feed their shelter-dogs.

- terry


 
#4 ·
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#6 ·
The Kong Wobbler is a good one, holds a fair amount (at least 1 cup), and comes totally apart to clean. I increase the difficulty by adding either large treat pieces that are hard to get out, or by putting a ball in there to sort of block up the hole and prevent food from just pouring out. Sometimes if I want a long period of peace, I will fill a smaller treat dispensing ball (like the everlasting treat ball, filled with kibble) and put that IN the wobbler, so treats have to get out of that first, then out of the wobbler. I also have a mave toy from Planet Dog which sees use at my work pretty regularly, and could also be stopped up and made more difficult by mixing in bigger pieces. Those are probably my 2 favorites, though I have a bunch of others. The planet dog ball doesn't come apart, but can be rinsed with water and dried with the HV dryer at my work, though I wouldn't put anything other than kibble in it due to that.
 
#9 ·
We had this one, but Baxter chewed through all the rubber on the sides and then pushed it down the stairs and the plastic cracked. (That's been his favorite thing lately, watching things fall down the stairs...)

We've been looking for a new one that's more durable, I'll hafta look for the Kong Wobbler.
 
#8 ·
I also have the Kong wobbler (originally for the pig but the pup adopted it) also I hang a plastic container, drill holes, add treats and the fun is on...really don’t even need treats with the dog, he bops it around like a tether ball, great exercise.
 
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