Today was the day that Jessy got her flea and tick treatment and her six month worm dose. So, Jessy was on my mind when I was in town looking for Velcro, €20 for the stuff btw. But next door to the big box crap store is the BIG pet shop.
In I went and cruised about looking at things and leaving them. Frankly, I wanted to scare the bejapers out of myself looking at snakes behind glass, but they had none. What they had was something I've had in my head for a while now.
Puzzles. More exactly toys for the dog to keep her sharp. She has some toys but she mostly gets real sick of them real quickly. Ergo, the puzzles idea.
Well, I was looking at the 'offers' section -big shock there eh- trying to fathom out one of the puzzles when an assistant seeing my consternation arrived over to help. Now, I consider myself fairly sharp and assuming that the girl knew her stuff you'd think the solving of the puzzle would've been child's play, or in this case dogs play. Well not a bit of it. It took the two of us a good five trying to work it out.
Remember this is a toy for a dog.
If anyone remembers those toys where you moved the numbers about. This. Well then THIS is the toy/puzzle for a dog. They have to remove all the bone shaped things from the outside and move the corresponding segment in order to move the segments sideways until they get to the one with the treat.
Frankly I was really teed off. And I'm still a bit bemused. And a little bit intrigued to see if Jessy could manage it.
In I went and cruised about looking at things and leaving them. Frankly, I wanted to scare the bejapers out of myself looking at snakes behind glass, but they had none. What they had was something I've had in my head for a while now.
Puzzles. More exactly toys for the dog to keep her sharp. She has some toys but she mostly gets real sick of them real quickly. Ergo, the puzzles idea.
Well, I was looking at the 'offers' section -big shock there eh- trying to fathom out one of the puzzles when an assistant seeing my consternation arrived over to help. Now, I consider myself fairly sharp and assuming that the girl knew her stuff you'd think the solving of the puzzle would've been child's play, or in this case dogs play. Well not a bit of it. It took the two of us a good five trying to work it out.
Remember this is a toy for a dog.
If anyone remembers those toys where you moved the numbers about. This. Well then THIS is the toy/puzzle for a dog. They have to remove all the bone shaped things from the outside and move the corresponding segment in order to move the segments sideways until they get to the one with the treat.
Frankly I was really teed off. And I'm still a bit bemused. And a little bit intrigued to see if Jessy could manage it.
Ha ha! I love it! Did you buy it for her? I'm curious if she's working on it. The video on your link shows the dog starting simple and moving to harder. Does this one allow that? I've never bought Rigby a puzzle. She's used the Kong before (stuff food inside and it's rolled around the house to get the food out), but there isn't much thinking once the one move is understood. This kind of thing isn't a bad idea, especially now that they are getting older. Is Jessy food motivated? Is it something that she will work for? Rigby is, so I think it would be a lot of fun to try. I look forward to the outcome. :)
ReplyDelete20 Euro for velcro? That sounds like you're getting A LOT!
I had to change the template for I couldn't get the reply to nest below the comment.
DeleteThe game she loves is the 'find it' game. I launch a ball from one of those ball launcher things about 100 yards away and off she goes hunting for it. By now she knows if I sent er it's out there and only once in a while do I need to walk to where it is. And then only if for some reason she misses it. At first I'd have to do this 1 in 10, now it's 1 in 300 launches. The dogs don't get duplicity, well they do, but they learn it. Like if I fake launched and sent her looking for nothing.
I think on the whole this would be useful if she wasn't getting all the outside stimulation. And I do change thing up quite a bit on our walks.
You see my issue with this is once she has figured it out she'll have the treat out quicker than I can put it in. A bit like the Kong rubber things. And really I put treats under my pillow and then put my head on it. Or put it under my back.
Velcro. I thought about €3 for about 3 feet of it. And even then I was thinking that was on the high side. I was shocked when I saw the price.
Yah, she's definitely not starved for activity. It might be fun to see how she reacts to it, but I agree, it sounds like you keep her very busy.
DeleteI'd love one of those ball launchers, but my yard isn't large enough for its coverage. Rigby would let me throw that ball all day long - I get tired of the bending over and picking it up way before she tires out.
I think, as with Rigby, if we've chosen sharp sparky animals, that have only us to react to, we really need to find ways to keep them sharp. It would be somewhat different with Kelly's lot, they have each other and the interplay between themselves. But you could easily go a bit nuts too. There are so many bright shinny things in those gigantic pet shops that will have you convinced you're not doing it correct and even doing it wrong that if you weren't careful you'd have a room full of unused toys.
DeleteIsn't that the truth!?!? Guilt is a powerful marketing tool.
DeleteMy dog really never took to toys (and we certainly brought him enough). Tennis balls are his favorite and there are always enough dead ones around for him to enjoy. (for some reason, you're posts are not showing up in my blogfeed)
ReplyDeleteI moved blog to blogger from Wordpress.
DeleteAh yes, the dead tennis ball. They are good toys, perhaps the very best.
Wow, that looks like quite a complicated dog toy! I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like that. Then again, I've rarely looked outside the section designated for "aggressive chewers".
ReplyDeleteIt's funny... we have a toybox filled with various Kong and other hard toys as well as Nylabones, balls, etc. Our Rottweilers always loved things like that and now that they're gone, Alice is our main "toy" dog and it always make me smile to watch her go to the box and select something. Still, I think it's more a "clean the teeth" thing for her and Mabel than actually playing. Betty, the beagle mix we had, loved to repeatedly fetch a ball and that was part of her morning constitutional each day (while Esther was outside taking care of hers, since she would steal the ball and ruin the game). I think Alice would enjoy playing fetch,too, but Mabel ruins it by taking the ball and keeping it.
As you mentioned above, our outside pack entertain each other. It all depends on who is in the mood, but normally anyone wanting to play can find at least one who will join in. Depending on the weather, it might be running, wrestling, treeing squirrels, or whatever. It's funny, too, to note when the game is over or it becomes more than play. We rarely have fights, but it's still pretty obvious when someone's had enough. Sadie's the only one I've really seen do much solo play. She can entertain herself in a variety of ways with the pears that have dropped from the trees. :)
Complicated doesn't come close to covering it. And still I feel it's not something that would inspire once they know it. What got me was that I, and the girl couldn't work it out for ages.
Delete