All puzzles can be made both easier and harder, below are tips & tricks for each individual puzzle by image.
Nina Ottosson puzzle games by Outward Hound are developed for and have focus on challenging the dog’s brain. Since the puzzles contain food or treats, it´s important to supervise the dog closely and show the dog how the puzzle works.
Puzzles for dogs are like cross-word and Sudoku for us, we need to understand the rules of the game, how to solve it, or get help, especially if we try a more difficult version, if we don't understand, we get frustrated and give up, dogs instead start to chew and come up with their own solutions to find the treats, which is natural then for a dog, so we need to show and teach the dog how to play so the dog understands the concept and how to play to find the treats.
General puzzle game tips that can be used on almost all of our puzzles.
Tie a string/rope through the holes in the blocks and around the pegs to make it easier for dogs and for cats to lift the blocks/pegs away.
Tie strings/rope in drawers and handles to make them easier to pull out.
Use puzzle games to serve the dog's food in, as a fun active puzzle feeder.
Make a puzzle race with several puzzles in a row. Hide puzzles in different rooms or places - hide n seek with puzzles.
Make a frozen puzzle with water or natural yogurt with some tasty treats or food in it.
Set the puzzle on a chair or stool so that the dog can only work with the nose, which can be much more difficult than working with the paws. This is also excellent if the dog is injured and not able to move around.
Rough pawing dogs: Place the puzzle in a dog bed. Frozen puzzles is great for rough pawing dogs, licking has a calming effect on dogs.
Cleaning the games:
- We recommend cleaning assembled games by hand with warm water and soap. Soak the game in water for a while before cleaning, rinse well and set the puzzle on its side to drain and dry.
- Games that can be taken apart such as Lickin' Layers can be washed in the dishwasher at the lowest temperature in the top rack.
Tips & Tricks by puzzle
Always supervise your dog closely when using these tips and tricks.
- Dog Smart - difficulty level 1
- Tie strings in the blocks to make it easier to lift them up.
- Use it as a feeder.
- Cover treats/food with cut-out pieces of cardboard and then cover with the blocks.
- Turn the blocks upside down and put in treats.
- Use the blocks for a Magic Trick: place out three blocks on the floor and put a treat underneath one of them while the dog is looking. Move the blocks around and let the dog show you where the treat is, if he is correct he gets the treat, if not – try again.
- Wobble Bowl - difficulty level 1.
- Perfect to use as a Slow Feeder
- Make it more difficult by placing scotch tape on the inside over a couple of the openings, so it takes longer for the food and treats to come out.
- Treat Tumble – difficulty level 1
- Perfect as a Slow Feeder
- Adding a piece of paper in the Treat Tumble makes it harder to get the food/treats out, remove the paper easy by filling the Treat Tumble with water and pour the paper out.
- Topsy Treat Ball – difficulty level 1
- Perfect as a Slow Feeder
- Leave the orange ring open to get the treat ball out more easily
- Twist the orange interior ring to block the opening to make it more challenging to remove the treat ball.
- Can also be used with a standard 2.5" tennis ball.
- Lickin' Layers & Puppy Lickin' Layers - Difficulty level 2
- Perfect as a slow feeder for dry food, wet food and raw food.
- Make a frozen puzzle with water or natural yogurt with some tasty treats or food in it.
- Easy to take apart for filling and cleaning.
- Clean in the dishwasher at the lowest temperature on the top rack.
- Dog Tornado - Difficulty level 2
- Perfect as a slow feeder for dry food, wet food and raw food.
- Easier without bone covers, more challenging with the bone covers added in the compartments.
- Tie strings/ropes in bone covers for easier lift up.
- Make a frozen puzzle with water or natural yogurt with some tasty treats or food in it.
- Cover treats/food with cut-out pieces of cardboard and then cover with the bone covers.
- Clean with warm water and soap, for easier cleaning, soak for a while before washing, rinse well, let it drain and dry on its side.