Donna Dog’s first wood IQ toy – Review

Thanks to Mr P’s lovely colleague, Donna now has her very first IQ toy!

Before this, I have not done much research on IQ toys. But I like the raw, minimalist look of this puzzle toy. Shaped like a disc, it is made of some form of compressed wood so it is rather heavy.

This demo video shows you the two different trap door puzzles that hide treats or food from the dog – (1) two sliding disc covers and (2) two flapping trapdoors that can be lifted by pushing a knob.

More about how Donna finds it after the jump! 

 

Round 1 with IQ Toy

Obviously, any IQ toy should help to exercise Donna’s intellect and pave her path to become the most awesome mental ninja-dog alive. XD

What we did not anticipate was its incipient ability to stimulate copious amounts of drool…

The first night Donna is exposed to the drool-worthy IQ toy

 

Round 2 with IQ toy

Donna pretty much got it easy her first time using the IQ toy. She had a lot of help from the humans.

Her subsequent exposure to the IQ toy prove to be more bewildering, and she gave up quite easily.

At first glance, it would seem like the round disc covers that slide in an arc around the toy is easier to fathom, compared to the trapdoors that require the dog to push a rotating knob to lift.

But these covers do have not any holes for the dog to “discover” food hidden beneath them. That means, the dog must actively slide the pieces around to see if there is food hidden underneath.

A dog new to the toy would not know that.

All she would know is that she could smell food underneath the trap doors that lift up.

There is definitely a learning curve for both puzzles.

If the dog were left alone to figure it out, it could become too frustrating. That is why Donna gave up pretty quickly sometimes.

This toy definitely needs human supervision and guidance for the dog to learn to play with it successfully.

 

Round 3 with IQ toy

Although she experienced some frustration with the toy, Donna was still eager to solve the puzzles and get the food rewards when the toy appeared. This time, she retrieved the food hidden under the sliding cover with less difficulty.

Perhaps she felt some amount of frustration or mental exertion. Whatever she was feeling, she had the need to turn around and nibble at her side for stress relief at the end of the video.

 

Round 4 with IQ toy

You can see she has become pretty efficient at sliding the covers away from the ends of the arc to reveal the hidden food by the 4th session with the toy.

The sliding discs are easy enough for her to navigate by now, but the flapping trapdoors still befuddle her. She doesn’t get the concept that the rotatable knobs to the side of the trap doors are the key to opening the flaps.

Most of the time, she nosed the trapdoors and clawed at them. Sometimes, she got lucky and manage to claw it open by coincidence.

At first, I thought to let her continue to try to figure it out by herself. But that just caused her too much frustration.

So I intervened and lured her  to paw at the knob. My intention was for her to start to associate that when she paws on the knob and rotates it, the trapdoor opens.

Wood disc Dog IQ toy reviewed

Donna was given the toy to play with once a day on three consecutive days. We then skipped a day or two before giving it to her to play with the fourth time.

I like that unlike her Kong Genius Leo interactive treat toy, this toy is cleaner to use. The dog still has to do some work to get her kibble, but it’s all stored in hidden pockets rather than spilling randomly onto the floor.

On days when I have less time to supervise, I would give Donna the Kong Genius Leo toy to play with. It’s a very safe toy for her now that she knows exactly how to work it. But on days I have the time to supervise, I like that I now have the option to give her the more challenging wooden puzzle toy reviewed in this post.

The complex gameplay makes this a great toy for the “positively trained ‘thinking dog’. ”

 

Human Supervision Required

Pros:

• This is a toy that needs human supervision. And that can mean quality bonding time with dog.

Many of your dog’s toys should be interactive. Interactive play is very important for your dog because he needs active “people time”—and such play also enhances the bond between you and your pet. – humanesociety.org

Cons: 

• The flapping doors can probably be easily chewed and destroyed by dogs more destructive than Donna, if the dog is left alone with the toy. And if the supervising human does not distract the dog everytime the dog starts to bite/chew on the toy.

 

Complex Gameplay gives variable levels of Playability, dependent on the dog

Pros:

• This is not an easy toy because it does have a learning curve. This means that it is a game that the dog can play over and over again, and still find challenging and rewarding.
• The two-in-one puzzle also provides variety making it a very playable toy that you can come back to time and time again.
• To further extend the life of the toy, it could be used as a training tool to teach the dog to push the knobs/doors with the nose and/or the paw on command.

Cons:

• Some dogs may have difficulty learning how to play with this toy. It can be a challenge balancing their level of frustration and helping them to find the game rewarding. If the dog does not find it fun or rewarding, he may not want to play with it any more.

 

Solid Construction, should stand up to some wear and tear

Pros:

• Playability
  The flip doors are particularly difficult to maneuver so this is definitely not a toy for beginners. That said, it would make a great toy for a dog that needs something more challenging.
• Minimal disturbance
  This is a very solid toy that slides quietly across the floor when pushed. I like that it doesn’t get as noisy as other lightweight plastic toys that can get thrown around.
• Durability
  There are no detachble pieces that can be lost or stealthily removed and hidden by a playful dog.

Cons:

• Hygiene
  Moving pieces cannot be detached, which can make cleaning and drying less efficient. For us, the toy comes with minimal packaging so I have no idea how pet safe the materials used are or what the best way to clean it might be
• Safety
  The toy does have edges that are not sanded in a smooth, rounded finish but Donna does not appear to be cut or hurt by them.
• Durability
  After four sessions of use, some edges have become somewhat frayed. Bite and claw marks are evident across the surface of the toy that sees the most action.

Cost

• Economically priced compared to brand name toys on Amazon. Well worth it considering the amount of play we’re getting out of it.

This IQ toy can be bought from the following online stores:

Amazon – Flip ‘N Flap Dog Puzzle	Qoo10.sg – WOOFY IQ DOG TOY

Disclosure: Purchasing anything from these affiliate links will not increase the cost to you. It will help support weliveinaflat.com in some small way from small commissions we may get from the online stores.

 

Dogs need physical and mental exercise every day, or they may grow bored and get destructive. Interactive dog toys give smart, bored dogs an outlet to channel their energies to.  Interactive IQ toys, in particular, also help to challenge and exercise the dog’s memory and recall skills.

Donna’s tail is nice and relaxed playing the game.

 

Has your dog tried this toy or other interactive dog toys and IQ puzzle games? Did you guys get a lot of fun out of it? What great toys do you think Donna should challenge next?

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