Healthy animals love playing with their food! It gives them something to do to keep them out of trouble, stimulates their brain, and it’s just plain fun! Personally, I collect enrichment toys for my animals. This was a nice addition to the collection.
I purchased this toy for my mini poodle, Angel, and will also use it for foster dogs and other foster animals.
Angel and I really liked this toy. It’s easy to tilt over, even on carpet; this makes it easy enough for most size animals to use. It rights it’s self pretty well too, better on hard floor than carpet.
I like the ease of filling it allows, you just screw off the top lid and dump hole-sized bits of food in there. Dry works better, but semi-moist can also work as long as it’s not wet or sticky. Kibble is great in this toy. I like using the dog’s meal, or sample sized bags of kibble reserved just for treats. You can also break apart larger treats, or purchase pre-made small treats.
It’s really easy to clean and sanitize. This is something important that most people overlook. Some toys get so filthy over time but don’t allow you to get at the dirt, and they eventually molder and need to be thrown away or animals can get sick. I prefer to clean toys after every use, this toy would do well with a bottle brush cleaner and dish soap. The bottom of the inside would be best cleaned by wiping with a damp cloth, or else you might get water into the metal gears of the timer inside.
I like the design of the toy, the over-all shape and construction. It seems well made and sturdy. I like that there’s nothing to grab on it, so that dogs can’t chew off and swallow pieces, or pick it up and drop it on hard ground. Some dogs like carrying toys up the stairs and dropping them down… They can’t do that with this toy! It seems pretty safe.
The chamber size allows you to store a lot of treats. This is where the timer comes into play, but while it has that pro, it also packs two downsides. The ringing noise at the end of the time set will let dogs know that it’s not going to supply anymore food (you can teach them this by immediately taking it away when it rings, and they’ll learn over time and eventually leave it alone). This can startle and scare dogs, and also frustrate them because no more treats are forthcoming. I prefer to not use the timer and instead not fill the chamber up completely, and just take it away when it’s emptied.
Want one? You can buy it here.
