If you are looking for ways to entertain and stimulate your pet, an interactive toy may be the way to go. From rolling a ball that disperses treats to opening secret doors, to finding hidden toys within other toys, there are many different interactive toys available on the market with varying levels of difficulty.
Many interactive toys challenge your pup to find the hidden treats but they can also be beneficial for feeding your pet (to slow them down if they like to quickly gobble up their meals) as well as challenge your pet. Other interactive toys are available that are more for playtime, for example toys that are hidden inside of other toys, that can also be fun and stimulating for your dog.
(Treats are not included with any of these toys).
We looked at the reviews of many different interactive toys currently available to find options that people and their pets seemed to like the best.
(Always supervise your pet when using interactive toys).
Read on!
Table of Contents:
Interactive Toys - Easiest
The Outward Hound Topsy Treat Ball is a fun beginner toy that can be help your dog learn quickly if they are new to interactive toys.
You can set this toy up you will need to load the blue ball with treats or dry food.
To begin, your pet can just push the blue treat ball around to retrieve the treats that will fall out of it. Next, you can place the blue treat ball in the outer plastic ball and then teach your pet they will have to remove it from the outer ball to retrieve the treats. Lastly, you can add the orange top that will then have to be removed by your pet before the blue treat ball can be removed from the outer ball.
You can add a different challenge to this toy by replacing the blue treat ball with a squeaky tennis ball (2.5″) or another toy inside of the outer ball for a new fun game.
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
The Outward Hound Treat Tumble Interactive Puzzle Ball is a level 1 toy. Treats or dry dog food can be dispensed to your pup by nudging and rolling the ball.
This puzzle ball is a great beginner toy for your pet. It can be used to feed your dog or just for some fun and mental stimulation. It is a popular choice for dog owners.
This toy has no removable parts; is easy to clean; BPA, PVC, lead, and phthalate free.
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
The Kong Wobbler is a fun, durable interactive toy that is designed in a cone shape with a weighted bottom and open hole.Treats/dry food can be added through the hole or toy can be unscrewed into 2 parts to add your treats.
The way this toy works is your pet knocks over the Wobbler and knocks it around to try and have the treats or dry food fall out of the hole.
You may have to show your dog how it works the first time but they will probably catch on pretty quickly.
This toy comes in 2 sizes (Sm, Lg) and is dishwasher safe.
Looking at reviews, many people were amazed at how durable this interactive toy is and how long it has lasted.
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
Interactive Toys - Intermediate
The Outward Hound Dog Brick Toy is a little challenging and a lot of fun. There are 8 doors to open and 4 ‘bones’ to lift off to find the treats.
When you start teaching your pup to find the treats, you may want to initially leave the plastic bones out and just put treats in the compartments with a lid. You can flip the lid up for them at first so they understand how it works. Once they have that down, you can show them how to lift the bones to find the treats (which is the more difficult part of this toy). To add even more challenge to this toy – you can place treats underneath the compartments and your pet can retrieve them by sliding the compartments out of the way.
The plastic lids can come off but will snap right back on. Be careful to not allow your pet to chew on the plastic lids and bones. (This toy may not be suitable for a very tiny dog).
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
There is a reason this toy gets so many good reviews – it is sturdy, mentally challenging and fun for your pet.
Trixie Activity Flip Board X-Large Level 2 Strategy Game:
The Trixie Activity Flip Board game is an intermediate level game that can be mentally challenging (especially initially). It has 9 compartments where treats can be hidden. There are 3 cones that have to be lifted to retrieve the treats, 3 lids that slide back and forth to cover the 4 compartments and 2 flip up compartments that can be accessed by moving the bones.
You will probably want to show your pet how each compartment works on this toy when starting out. Most dogs learn to move the sliders first, the bone levers next and then the cones last.The cones seem to be the most challenging part of this toy because your dog will need to lift them up with their mouth to reach the compartments underneath (trying to knock them over will not usually work).
Once they figure it all out they can have a lot of fun getting their treats or food with this toy.
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
This toy is BPA and lead-free and top-rack dishwasher safe.
Interactive Toys - Most Challenging
ZippyPaws Burrow - Interactive Dog Toy:
The ZippyPaws Burrow Milk & Cookies Interactive Toy can provide lots of fun, challenge and entertainment for your pet.
The way this toy works is the cookies are placed inside the ‘milk carton’ and your dog then digs and burrows in the holes to pull the cookies out. You can toss the milk carton first to add even more excitement to this challenge.
Many reviewers mentioned that their dogs like to play with the cookies individually (but don’t recommend this if your dog is a chewer).
Replacement cookies can be purchased separately.
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
The Outward Hound Multipuzzle treat puzzle is a very challenging puzzle for your pup. There are 2 main activities with this puzzle.
The outer square has sliders that need to be moved 1 at a time, in order, to retrieve the treats in each compartment. This is probably the 1st activity you should teach your pet with this toy. (You can add to the difficulty of the outer sliders by moving the 4 orange locks down which will then require your dog to slide the locks back up in order to unlock and move the outer sliders).
After the outer sliders are mastered, you can move on to the wheel in the middle. The wheel is more difficult because there are multiple actions required for your pup to be able to retrieve the treats or food.
To master this part of the activity, your pup will first need to move the slider into the open notch on the wheel to reveal the hidden compartment and retrieve the treat. They will then have to move the slider back into it’s original position. Next they can spin the wheel so the opening on the wheel is next to another slider. They would then slide this slider into the open notch on the wheel, retrieve the treat, move the slider back and then spin the wheel again.
You will generally have to show your pet how everything works (possibly multiple times) before they will be able to catch on.
(As with all toys, this interactive toy should always be inspected for damage or loose parts before being offered to your pet and your dog should always be supervised while using or playing with this toy).
In conclusion:
Every dog is different so what may be easy for 1 dog may be too challenging for another. Time and patience will probably be required for each of these toys as they are learning but the payoff is the mental stimulation that they will receive. Another benefit to these toys is that they can be used to feed your pet so they can eat slower and be mentally stimulated at the same time.
We always suggest that you closely watch your pets when they are using these interactive toys and remove them as soon as they are finished to avoid them chewing up the parts (especially if you have a puppy or aggressive chewer).
We hope the recommendations of other buyers will help you decide if one of these interactive toys would be a good addition to your pet’s fun and mental stimulation.