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We own several of the Nina Ottosson dog toys, and my dogs love them all. The Dog Magic is the best one to start with if your dog is new to puzzle toys; it's easy for the dog to figure out. You hide treats in the bone-shaped depressions under the plastic bone-shaped cups, and the dog has to figure out how to dislodge the cups to get to the treats.
The trick to puzzle toys is to start easy and work your way up. Start by placing treats in the depressions and allowing the dog to get the treats (don't use the cups yet.) Your dog will figure this out pretty fast, then you can begin using the cups. Place the cups across the depressions the wrong way, so they are easy to dislodge. Once the dog is confident doing this, start placing the cups in the depressions the correct way and let the dog figure out how to remove them. You can make it more difficult by hiding treats under only a few of the cups for the dog to sniff out.
If your dog ever gets bored, or can't seem to figure it out, help them by encouraging them to move the cups, or backtrack to the previous step in learning the puzzle. Every dog learns differently one of my dogs picks the cups up in her mouth, while the other removes them with his paws.
I like the plastic Nina Ottosson toys because they are so easy to clean. The cups fit right in the top rack of the dishwasher, and the base is easy to hand wash in the sink. A note of caution: this is an interactive toy only, and not meant to be left out for the dog to play with by himself. The plastic is too soft to withstand heavy chewing and would be destroyed in no time. I keep mine out of reach of the dogs when we're not playing the games together.
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My dog is alone every day for at least 10 hours, so I love to leave him food based toys to play with. I was so excited to see this line of new puzzles to try although the price kind of put me off. But when it comes to my pets, no expense spared, right?! I liked the fact that this one was available in plastic (the Brick), making it easier to clean and less likely to absorb doggie slobber.
Unfortunately, the puzzle is just too easy. It took him maybe a couple tries to figure it out at the most difficult level, and he can now empty the entire thing in just a few minutes (my video clip shows him doing it, and not even at a very fast pace). This is in comparison to other treat filled toys that can keep him busy literally for more than an hour.
I'm going to try and modify the toy by trying to find something more challenging to put in between the sliding pieces, like heavy blocks or fishing sinkers, but I expect it will only slow him down slightly. I do think though that it's a nice alternative to just putting down a bowl of kibble, I can put my small dog's entire meal into the spaces it has, and certainly can help slow down a fast eater as well.
I've since also gotten the Tornado, it was in a local store for only $30 and since my dog did seem to at least enjoy the Brick I figured it was worth getting and hopefully would be more difficult. I would say it was maybe only slightly more difficult, and only came with 3 of the white bone "blocks" used to increase the difficulty, I use several more from the Brick toy which thankfully are the same size to make this one harder, but it still takes my dog a fairly short time to finish with it.
If you are just looking for a fun toy, maybe something different to put their daily kibble in, and don't care about keeping them occupied for an extended amount of time, you might enjoy these puzzles. If you are looking for toys that will help occupy your dog while away from home, this is a fairly limited toy.
Check some of my other reviews for other toys that I recommend and that are much cheaper as well!
UPDATE: Recently I also got the Twister puzzle from this same line, and I have to say, this one actually is a bit challenging and takes him awhile to get the food out. Instead of the bones easily coming out when he paws at them, he has to pull these bones out in order to slide the tiles. The tiles are also in a circle, so he has to slide them in order, rather than just randomly pushing them as is the case with the other toys. So it takes him much longer to get his treats out with that game. However, I'm not sure I'd recommend it for all dogs, as you are basically encouraging them to chew on the bones, and he also will take the entire toy, flip it over, and pull out the black rubber feet on the bottom which to him seem the same as the bones on the top! Problem is, those are very small and could be easily swallowed. Shelties (at least the ones I have owned) are just not really into chewing non-edible items (most won't even chew plain rawhide bones) so this is not a big issue for me. But it could be a bit safety issue for another dog, and particularly I would not use that toy with a large dog at all, at least not without supervision. We've had this toy a bit longer now, and he no longer flips it over and it does still take him a reasonable amount of time to empty (still pretty darn fast though, and kids in particular love to watch him solve the puzzle!)
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We own several of the Nina Ottosson dog toys, and our dogs love playing with all of them. The Dog Brick is a good toy for dogs with a little experience with puzzle toys; start with the Dog Spinny or Dog Magic if your dog is new to these types of toys. The Dog Brick holds treats in roundand bone-shaped depressions covered with slider blocks and bone-shaped cups. The dog has to remove the cups and slide the blocks to get to the treats.
As with all puzzle toys, the trick to teaching your dog is to start easy and work your way up. Without using the cups, place treats in the bone-shaped depressions and let the dog see them and get the treats. Then place treats in the round depressions, slide the blocks so they are only half-covering the treats, and let the dog get them. Once your dog is confident sliding the blocks, cover the treats all the way and allow the dog to slide the blocks to get to the treats. Finally, you can replace the cups in the middle bone-shaped depressions and let the dog figure out the entire thing. You can make it more difficult for your dog by hiding treats under only a few of the blocks for them to sniff out.
My dogs have lots of experience with puzzle toys and they figured this one out very quickly, so I like that you can adjust the difficulty to make it different every time. One of my dogs uses her mouth to dislodge the cups and slide the blocks, while the other likes to use his paws to move them. Part of the fun in these games is learning more about your dog as you play!
I prefer the plastic Nina Ottosson toys to the wooden ones because they are so easy to clean. The cups go in the top rack of the dishwasher, and the base can easily be handwashed in the sink. A word of caution: These toys are not meant to be left out for the dog to play with by himself. The plastic is too soft for determined chewing, and could easily be destroyed. Mine are placed out of the dogs' reach when we are not playing the games with the dogs.
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This is the first interactive puzzle I purchased for my dog, a 6 month old mixed breed. She figured it out immediately at the most difficult setup, which was fun for us. However, she also quickly damaged the plastic bones and quickly pulled off the easily removable plastic non-skid feet. She could have easily swallowed it, as it's a small piece. The toy definitely isn't meant for hours of play (unlike the advertisement), and should not be used without supervision.
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It took my border terrier 1 day to figure out the basic principles of this puzzle, and it now takes him less than a minute to get all the treats out. Granted, border terriers are probably above average on the dog intelligence scale, but I have a feeling most dogs would quickly figure it out. But I could be wrong, I only know that for us, the challenge of the puzzle lasted about a day. Like an earlier reviews suggested, I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to make it more difficult. Also going to look at the Nina Ottosson Casino game, which looks more challenging.
