Outward Hound Nina Ottosson Interactive Dog Toys - Advanced Level 3 - Puzzle Toys & Treat Dispenser for Boredom Relief, Mental Stimulation & Dog Enrichment, Reduces Anxiety, Engages Smart Dogs

🐶🧩 This is an excellent, engaging puzzle that has been really useful for my small dog. He is a smart, persistent little man who tends to get into mischief when under-stimulated. We initially bought it for him while he was recovering from cruciate surgery, needing ways to provide mental stimulation without physical activity. The toy was invaluable when he was confined for a prolonged period and only allowed short walks on a lead. 🌧️ Key Observations & Experience • Difficulty Level: The "Expert Level 4" rating is accurate, but the leap in complexity from Level 3 is significant. This puzzle requires a sequence of actions - sliding tiles, moving centre covers, and using the orange locks for an extra challenge - which really gets the dog thinking critically. • Mental Stimulation & Recovery Aid: The low-impact nature of the activity meant he could be mentally active and satisfy his natural foraging instincts while strictly adhering to rest orders. This mental outlet helped tremendously in reducing his anxiety and cabin fever during the post-op period. Engagement Specifics & Managing Frustration: • The square sliding panels were easy for him to use, and having so many of them engaged him effectively. • The central wheel and the concept of sliding the cylinders in/out was much more challenging. 💡 To manage his frustration, I used a specific technique: I placed pieces of grated cheese under the wheel, in line with the compartments each slider needed to be moved to. This rewarded him for the slow, controlled turns of the wheel needed to be successful with the sliders. This adaptation was key to teaching him the multi-step process successfully. • Durability and Quality: We have had this toy for nearly four years now, and it has held up remarkably well. It has withstood enthusiastic nudging and pawing without breaking. 📣 Bottom Line & Manufacturer Feedback If you have a smart, persistent dog or need an engaging, low-mobility activity during injury recovery, the Outward Hound by Nina Ottosson Multipuzzle Level 4 Expert Dog Treat Puzzle is an exceptional choice. My one minor (mostly tongue-in-cheek!) complaint: The progressive problem solving challenges provided by the Nina Ottosson puzzle toys have helped create a Houdini dog 🪄✨. They say dogs don't extrapolate very well: mine can liberate himself and his sister from crates, and he can escape a puppy pen despite the obstacles I set in place to prevent him from doing that! 🙈 On a serious note, my constructive point for the manufacturer is that clearer instructions for assisting dogs in the transition from "intermediate to expert" levels would be very helpful. Overall, this is a fantastic product that offers a rewarding challenge and lasting enrichment ✅ I highly recommend this for bright dogs, who have experience with puzzle toys and who enjoy a challenge. 🎓🐶🧩 ❌ If your dog has a low frustration threshold, this might not be the puzzle for them. 😫 🐾❤️

Good product, took my dog a little while to figure it out but she got there and gave her some good entertainment until she managed to pull one of the tiles out. Had it about 2 months but will have to look at another treat puzzle now.

Absolutely brilliant, occupied doggo for nearly 45 minutes. Good difficulty level and he had a good nap afterwards. Especially great for if I'm about to go out to tire him out a little bit. Have bought Outward puzzles in the past and they continue to impress! Also pretty destructible, he did go at one of the cylidners a little bit and, aside from a few bite marks, stayed in place and didn't tear any plastic off.

Very good stimulation for our Cocker.

1) Product specification. Bought the green, circular toy with sliding cups and fishtails and a rotating central disc to cover the holes. Packaging says that you can lock the disc with the fishtails, but... you can't - it still spins freely with the fishtails in any position - but you can lock it if you leave a cup inside the one notch on the disc. So maybe that's what they meant, otherwise, the product isn't being manufactured to proper specifications! 2) Robustness. Dog is a border collie, so I bought this one even though we haven't tried any of the other puzzles, because reviews said collies solved those within minutes (which I'd expect... they're very clever dogs). Possibly I over-estimated his skill, but he isn't stupid, he just knows that if I let him, he could lever the central disc off with his teeth and get at the treats that way... So you definitely should not leave your dog alone with this puzzle for even a second! Also it wouldn't be great as a training tool, because if your dog isn't already obedient to being called off, it will wreck it within seconds. But it's a nice little diversion. 3) Treat extraction. I used very small treats at first (because I don't want to overfeed him) but he discovered immediately that he can curl his tongue right under the edge of the disc and extract them that way, which would be the same for peanut butter, so I advise that it works better with larger treats! Also don't use little flat disc treats because they can get stuck in the groove that runs around below the disc and require extraction with a spoon handle. 4) Puzzle solution. Putting treats under the cups so they have to be slid over the holes works well, although I'm not sure if he's actually worked that out or it just happens naturally as he snuffles for the treats. The fishtails are free-spinning at all points but do need to be moved out of the way to uncover the outer treat holes, so they add a little extra challenge. Turning the central disc is so far proving a major challenge. It's a little stiff, and he wants to use his nose and tongue rather than his paws, so I think that might be causing some of the trouble, but he also clearly doesn't understand what he has to do - yet. I'm hopeful we'll get there eventually though, and at least it means he hasn't solved the whole puzzle at once! Overall, the puzzle is well made (apart from the odd inability to lock the central wheel the way it describes) and sturdy, except that the average dog's jaws can get through marrowbones, so 'sturdy' does not equate to 'indestructible' and (I repeat) you really must not leave your dog alone with this, like the packaging warns. It's a bit of a faff to wash clean, because of all the sliding parts, but it does rinse and drain well. Dog loves it - well, he loves finding the treats - to be honest I think he'd have just as much fun, and use about as much brainpower, hunting for treats under upturned cups like in the 'find the lady' street hustler trick, so whether we've wasted our money remains to be seen; if he can just work out what's required to move that central wheel! (To be fair to my dog, he is medicated for epilepsy and probably stoned out of his gourd half the time, which doesn't help.) So it's not a terrible product... but I'm less satisfied with it than I'd hoped. I think I should probably use it daily to help him learn. You could use it more often if your dog eats kibble (just use some of his daily food ration) but mine has rice for dietary purposes so kibble is out.

Our lovely Collie loves it.

Absolutely brilliant ...kept my dog amused most of the morning......can do 2 levels ...struggling a little with the top level..but he will master it I'm sure ..he's only 18mths..can recommend 👌

This is a good size and build for our rottweiler. On the first day he played with it three times. The third time he saw it on the draining board and he went nuts for it. We're on day 3. He hasn't quite figured how to play it properly yet or move the pieces but he still manages to get most of the treats from it. Keeps him occupied for 10 - 30 mins depending on what I put in it (peanut butter takes the longest). Good build as no edges for him to break or chew. Easy to clean.

Our 5-month labrador is super Happy after he got to play with this. He was done quite fast but his behavior to play and how learned was impressive.

Sehr schönes Spielzeug und eine schöne Beschäftigung für den Hund.

Utmanande för hunden

Got this when my pup was abt 7-8mths old. He figured it out quite fast and is still enjoying it one mth later. We put his lunch kibble in it so it’s more fun for him and he can’t gobble up his food too fast!

Świetna zabawka, choć dla mojego psa jest odrobinę za trudna. Plusem jest możliwość wyciągania elementów co pozwala zmniejszyć poziom trudności.