This video is part of our playlist featuring tips and training advice for first time Pomsky puppy owners: ru-vid.com/group/PLCQCXQqQUvKDCqy_weiHoT88xG4mEo97d
Great video! My dog is very food motivated, and I recently introduced him to a snuffle mat. He LOVES working for his food, and I want to try puzzles next. This was very helpful! Thank you!
Hi James and Laurent: I found this video because I was looking for reviews of the Nina Ottosson toys. Thank you for posting; I thought your presentation was great and very well done, as well as your explanations of each product. Briefly about me and my dog: I'm a woman living in the midwest of the States with my 76 lbs working German Shepherd. He acts as my eyes when we are navigating, and boy, is he a power rocket dog, just what I need and love! We do go on very long walks, but being very high drive, he thrives on going to destinations--finding doors, counters, and navigating through crazy environments with lots of pressure and that require him to constantly think and make rapid fire decisions. Due to Covid, we aren't doing that, so I have been trying to find other things to keep his brain busy. I recently started introducing the concept of puzzle toys to him. We're starting out really simple--putting food in a Gnawt A Rock toy from Ruffwear. I ordered the Wobble Ball by Nina Ottosson, and depending on how things go, I hope to introduce him to all of her puzzles systematically. What I really appreciate is that these puzzles challenge handler and dog to play together. I love training my dog, so this will be interesting for both of us. Thank you for this video; I have subscribed to your channel, and I hope you all are safe and healthy. Take care.
We hope your dog enjoys these puzzles. We are biased because Nina Ottosson sponsored our video. But we're the oens who reached out to them, because we liked their product in the first place as a customer, not the other way around. We use these puzzles on a daily basis. Even though Beedi knows them all by heart now, she still enjoys them.
@@JamesandLaurent Hi James and Laurent: Thank you for your responses to both of my comments. (I never comment to get a response or even expect one, but I always welcome and appreciate them.) Because my dog HughBrew/HughSter/HR is very new to the concept of toy puzzles, I am taking little baby steps. I'm introducing him to the Wobble Ball/slow feeder tomorrow, then I plan to introduce the Dog Smart puzzle next week. As a guide dog, he was raised to only eat from a standard bowl and take treats from me (but only after I give him a marker). So this toy puzzle deal is even more weird to him than others because he's like: "Ummm no, I don't think I'm supposed to do that." I'm looking forward to introducing him to the Nina Ottosson puzzles. It will be great learning opportunities for both of us and allow him to use instincts like nosing and sniffing--things that he's asked not to do when guiding. * * * Speaking of the effort that goes into making videos, last year, I spent two months working on a mini video series for someone. They were talking head type videos, so nothing as involved as your content. Still, the experience really humbled and helped me to realize just how much work goes into a video project. I struggle to read viewer comments in most RU-vid videos because people are often so quick to bash or criticize creaters without thought of how much work was put into the content and presentation. I don't comment unless I have something sensical to contribute. If I ever give any kind of feedback, you can expect it to be respectful and thought through. Thank you for all of your hard work, for making content that entertains but also teaches viewers. Take care.
Nina Ottosson now has one Level 4 puzzle. My Sheltie figured out the brick in no time, and when I got another Level 2 toy, he figured it out in 2 or 3 minutes. Definitely time to move up the ladder.
Nice video, thanks for the review. I’m going to look into the puzzles. One comment- the fastest way to create a picky eater is to leave the food out! If instead the food is offered, left for five more muted and then picked up, the dog quickly learns (much as is true in nature), that if she doesn’t eat it when it’s there, it disappears. No more picky eater.
I just got the dog brick puzzle for my husky/boxer today, i wanted to find something that would stimulate him other than physical activity but mental activity, he had trouble with the white bones so i tied strings in the wholes so he can easily grab the string to pull it off, he goes through the puzzle so quick!!
@@JamesandLaurent yes! And you’re right level 1 is super easy! Other thing I don’t like about that one is the plastic bone, mi puppy used like a chew toy 🦴😬 I want try the ones don’t have a removible piece 😜
Wow! I'm excited to try this brand of puzzles. The Kong is still working, but variety is the good ol' spice of life! I've never heard of either the puzzle brand or the food brand in this video so thanks for the new options!🐶
These puzzles have been a life saver for us. We hope you also watched our video called 'Is a Pomsky the right dog for you?' ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i0-NuUQr4CA.html
Love this review! My pomsky, Comet, will be getting neutered this month. Knowing active breeds, I need to find ways to keep him busy, but with the normal intense activities :'(
Thank you for posting this. My dog is very smart. He got the level 2 puzzle really quickly. I just got my dog the dogs casino. I think I will get the challenge slider next.
We just got our 1 year old, little pitbull/ chihuahua mix named Kahlua the dog brick puzzle in the mail yesterday and gave it a try today for the first time. She was driving our cat crazy so we thought it was a perfect time to give it a try. I started with just a little bit of her regular kibble in it and then sat on the floor with her and guided her through it. She definitely seemed interested in it. I’m wondering how often you would use it? Once a day? Or more or less than that? Or like only occasionally so she doesn’t get bored with it? Do you have any recommendations? She’s extremely needy and starting to be destructive so I recently ordered several new “toys” as a way to hopefully redirect her attention and behaviors on to something more stimulating for her, but I’m just not super sure how often to use these things?
We have five different puzzles that we rotate. We give her one puzzle back-to-back and after three or four times, we switch to another puzzle. She's used them so many times that it only takes her two or three minutes to do a puzzle nowadays. So, three times back-to-back lasts her ten minutes or so. Then, the next day, we'll try to use different ones. But there are definitely some puzzles she likes more than others. We bought the first one a year ago and she still loves it, even though she's done it hundreds of times. We have found these puzzles to be a much better investment than other toys. We also have a video about DIY toys. She loves them too and they don't cost anything :).
Let us know how they work out for you. We'd love to know. Coincidentally, we just put Beedi's orange juice bottle back into her toy box after she just played with it for 20 minutes. Still going strong almost a year after we filmed this video :)
Thanks. We appreciate it. These puzzles have been godsent and Beedi still uses them everyday. We wish they could keep her occupied for an hour. But well take the few minutes :)
Beedi has had her puzzles for almost two years and never got tired of them. It was a bit of an upfront investment, but money much better spent than on toys that she plays with twice and gets bored with right away. If you want to save money, we also have a video about DIY dog toys, you might want to check it out.
@@JamesandLaurent we have two new Cockapoos - and your show helped me figure out what to get and how to use them. Thank you for the food idea first then cutting up treats. 😊
Welcome aboard! Let us know how the puzzles work out. Beedi still uses them on a daily basis, even after three years. They've been a life saver for us.
2:18 Level 1= Lift 2:41 Level 2= Lift -> Slide -If the dog play Lv1 first, he/she may never know the puzzle has a secret. 4:22 Level 3= Slide in order -Puzzle? More like memory. 4:58 Level 3= Rotate -> Slide -> Slide back -That more like Level 3. I wonder if there has Level 4. Maybe the last puzzle with some hidden secret like the 2nd puzzle.
Yes, there is now a Level 4 puzzle. It didn't exist yet when we made this video. We just released a new video specifically about the Level 4 puzzle called MultiPuzzle.
The clerk at the store told us to skip the Level 1 puzzle and go directly to Level 2. The nice thing about Level 2 and Level 3 is that you can modulate the difficulty more easily. Good luck with them. Beedi does them quickly, but she never got bored with them.
@@JamesandLaurent I had to order online, because of covid I didnt want to visit 10 pet stores before finding puzzle toys. I dont know why but they are not so popular here in Turkey. I’m super happy about the video, now that I know more about puzzle games I can order accordingly.
“Puzzle” for my first dog: something you have to lick for long enough to get a treat out of Puzzle for my poodle mix: buttons, levers, boxes, and pull tabs. Finished in two minutes 😂
How well did Beedi do with the puzzle that had the orange drawers around the edges and the white locking bones on the top? The treats go in the drawers and if you turn the bones sideways, they lock the drawers. The dog has to push the bones back into the bones' depressions to unlock the drawers. I have this one for my Pomeranian. He can't make the connection between moving the bones to unlock the drawers. I leave the drawers unlocked for him and he can get them open for his reward. I just wondered if Beedi figured out that particular puzzle. The video showed the puzzle but didn't show her working on it.
Same here. The white bones are a bit too far from the drawers for her to connect the two. We're sure she could eventually figure it out, but she's not motivated by food enough to spend the time to figure it out :).
@@JamesandLaurent -- Thanks for the response. I guess this particular puzzle is a bit too advanced for my Pom. When I bought it, I wasn't aware that those bones would lock the drawers. The pics on the box didn't give a clue. But most of your other puzzles were great. If I can find one or two of them, I might give 'em a try. The video was well done and your dog is lovely.
Thanks. The Dog Brick, Challenge Slider, and Dog Worker are the three puzzles that have the most options and that Beedi keeps going back to over and over again. She hasn't liked the Dog Casino and Dog Twister as much.
@@JamesandLaurent waiting for our order to arrive but we got the puppy smart, puppy tornado and obviously the brick. My pup loves puzzles but the ones he is used to only requiere sliding pieces so I wanted to start with puppy smart. Plus I wanted to have enough to rotate without him getting bored.
Neat premise but it really seems like all you'll accomplish is to train your dog to come up with creative solutions to acquire food. Which uh, doesn't take a genius to figure out how terrible of an idea that would be. Would be interested in finding some non-treat based puzzles but it seems the market is saturated with the former.
