Best Interactive Toys to Keep your Dog Active

Does your dog ever get bored with chewing on a rope toy or simply fetching a ball? Well, why not? Your dog is very smart and these toys, while fun, are not always very challenging for your dog. In the last several years a new kind of toy has emerged. Interactive dog toys are made with the idea of encouraging your dog to think. Your dog has to figure out how to make them work and, when he successfully uses them, he is usually rewarded with treats. Interactive toys are for thinking dogs and they are a big hit.

Benefits of Interactive Dog Toys

The primary benefit of interactive dog toys is that they are wonderful for keeping your dog entertained and they can actually help develop your dog’s learning skills. Interactive toys that require you to assist, such as some of the toys made by Nina Ottosson, are excellent for building your bond with your dog. Once your dog figures out how these toys work, he will likely enjoy them much more than routine toys. Try an interactive dog toy with your dog and see how he likes it. Make sure you give him time to figure it out. Provide plenty of encouragement because he will be using problem solving abilities and it may take a little extra time in some cases. Interactive dog toys are likely to become your dog’s favorite games.

The Kong

Today interactive dog toys are quite sophisticated, but the original interactive toys were fairly simple. Perhaps the first was the Kong. Most dog owners are familiar with the hard rubber Kong. It’s often used as a chew toy for power chewers. Most ordinary dogs can’t tear it apart when they chew it. It is also of limited interest to some dogs because, well, if you can’t chew it up, then it’s not too exciting. But some smart owner figured out that they could keep their dog entertained for hours by stuffing the Kong with treats, peanut butter, or freezing it with something delicious inside. Once you put food inside the Kong and turn it into something that your dog needs to puzzle over so he can get the food out of it, you have made the Kong into an interactive toy.

Snuffle Mats for Dogs

These machine washable mats will keep your dog entertained for hours. They function as the perfect challenge for high energy dogs since they provide mental stimulation and encourage foraging and hunting skills. The concept behind these snuffle mat toys is very simple: it keeps dogs busy, focusing on finding treats.

Buster Cubes

Another early interactive dog toy, and one which is still quite popular, is the Buster Cube. The Buster Cube is a rounded cube which you can fill with treats. As your dog plays with the cube and pushes it along, treats are dispensed. You can control the opening in the Buster Cube so it’s up to you how easy or hard it is for your dog to get treats. The Buster Cube is a lot of fun for some dogs, as long as they don’t get frustrated with it.

Nina Ottosson Puzzle Toys

After these toys became popular, the idea of interactive dog toys seemed to catch on and more and more of them began appearing for sale. The queen of interactive dog toys is Nina Ottosson. Starting in 1990, Ms. Ottosson began crating interactive dog toys to stimulate the dog’s mental abilities. But the toys also challenged a dog’s physical dexterity as well. Her toys have different levels to them and owners can set how easy or difficult the challenge is for the dog. The dog receives hidden food rewards along the way. It doesn’t matter how smart your dog is, you can set the games and puzzles to a level that he can enjoy. The toys are fun for dogs because they encourage them to use their problem solving skills — something that dogs are very good at doing.

Another great feature of Nina Ottosson’s games is that you can enjoy them with your dog. Your dog needs you to play the game with him for many of the games. For instance, with the Dog Trigger game, you hold the game for your dog on your lap, or hold it between your knees, while your dog pushes different blocks to find the treat.

Other Interactive Toys

Of course, there are lots of other interactive games made today, too, such as stuffies with hidden compartments, so your dog can find other hidden things inside them. These are great for dogs that like to pull things out of their toys. There are also some fun interactive toys that have a voice recording to encourage your dog to find them when they are hidden. Toys with squeakers, bells, and other sounds are also fun for your dog, but they may require you to hide them and play along. If you have a dog who routinely tears toys apart, some of these toys may not last very long.