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The Nina Ottosson dog brick is an excellent dog puzzle to help your dog to use his brain, paws and nose! The Dog Brick is a puzzle that you can hide your dogs treats in and encourage him to ‘find it!’ Our Patterdale terrier Blake loves these activities.
Introducing the Nina Ottosson Dog Puzzles
Nina Ottosson designed a range of dog puzzles to help dogs engage their brain by finding their food. This would have happened naturally in the wild, but now that dogs are domesticated, we still need to satisfy those ‘hunting’ and foraging’ instincts. So making our dogs work for their food is good for them both mentally and physically.
The dog puzzles that Nina Ottosson designed come in a range of difficulty levels from 1-3n with Level one being the easiest and level 3 being the hardest. The idea is to start them on the simple level 1 toys and as they get used to it and improve their skills move them up to the next level.
Th Nina Ottosson Dog Brick
The dog brick is a puzzle that is a level 2 game and so it works well for terriers and dogs that are very food motivated and who have some experience of level 1. However, some terriers are very intelligent can in my experience skip straight to level 2 puzzles!
There are four rows of treats that your dog has to get from the puzzle. First your pooch has to take out the bone shaped ‘pegs’ to discover treats underneath – and make way for the next step! The second step is for your pooch to move the sliders across with his nose or paw to reveal more treats underneath.
- This Level 2 Intermediate dog puzzle is our most versatile game yet, and a great way to introduce dog puzzles to your pet; perfect for pets with little to no puzzle experience; involves multiple one-step actions
- Provides mental stimulation for dogs; 15 minutes of mental stimulation is equal to 30 minutes of physical activity
- Helps reduce dog anxiety and redirect unwanted behaviors like excessive barking, chewing, and digging in a fun and exciting way
We find that the dog brick is great for giving Blake something to do while we pop to the shops. Finding his chicken or ham gives him something else to focus on – other than the fact that Mom and Dad are out!
However, don’t leave your dog unsupervised with a toy unless you know that he will be fine with it. Some dogs can be aggressive chewers and may end up with pieces of plastic stuck in their intestines which can be dangerous. If this is the case, monitor your dog with it the first few times and even consider getting a dog camera so that you can watch him or her when you go out.
- Level 2 Intermediate dog puzzle great for pets with little to no puzzle experience; involves multiple one-step actions
- Provides mental stimulation for dogs; 15 minutes of mental stimulation is equal to 30 minutes of physical activity
- Helps reduce dog anxiety and redirect unwanted behaviors like excessive barking, chewing, and digging in a fun and exciting way
If you love the dog brick, another one that you might like is the Dog Tornado, also designed by Nina Ottosson. This is Blake’s favourite!
