Nina Ottosson Interactive Games?

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I searched some of the other forums on different interactive games. It looks like the Hide-a-Squirrel is a hit among many of you. What about the interactive games by Nina Ottosson? Our trainer recommends them...they make the pup work for a treat. They are somewhat expensive, so I wanted to see if any of you have had success with them. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I can tell that Peri is always thinking. It is amazing how much exercise she gets, but still doesn't tire at all! However, when we train her, she gets zonked. I think using her brain makes her more tired than using her legs :) That is why I am interested in the interactive games.

Link: http://www.nina-ottosson.com/DogProducts.htm

[Leslie and Halas]

Those look pretty cool. But you're right, they are really expensive! Halas loves the puzzle toys that he has (hide-a-squirrel included), so he'd probably love these. Maybe they can be found on ebay or something like that. I'm curious to hear from others who may have used them. Halas' birthday is coming up, so if I could find a decent price, I'd probably try one.

[Adina P]

Do you have any link to her stuff?

[Leslie and Halas]

I googled Nina Ottosson and found a link to her website. There were also links to some on-line retailers, including amazon.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Sorry! Here is a link. I will also post it in the Discussion.

http://www.nina-ottosson.com/DogProducts.htm

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Do you think it would encourage them to chew rugs or wood? I am thinking also of my daughter's lab who is a strong, strong chewer? I also would love to hear if anyone has tried these because both Ned and the lab are really curious.

[Ellen]

Riley was one of several "testers" of these toys for a local dog store -- here's a review of the toys we tested:

(1) Dog Twister -- Riley really likes this toy. Once your dog understands the basic idea of moving around the panels, you can increase the level of difficulty by using a round block that the dog needs to pull out before being able to move the panels. The most difficult is to include small pegs -- Riley is an expert at Dog Twister, but I would just watch carefully to see that your dog doesn't chew on or try to eat the pegs.

(2) Dog Fighter -- This one is more difficult because the dog has to push the round block from the "closed" end to the "open" end, where the hole is bigger and the dog can pull out the block. It took Riley a while, but he knows how to work this toy now. He likes pushing around the blocks with his nose or paws....he's become quite adept at it. You can increase difficulty by inserting an additional round block at the closed end -- the dog has to left this first and then move the other block to the closed end.

(3) Dog Pyramid -- This isn't really a toy but a food dispenser. Riley eats his kibble too fast, so I use the Dog Pyramid to slow him down. I use it everyday. As the name indicates, the food dispenser is shaped like a pyramid. There's a hole at the top where you can insert food. To get the food out, Riley has to push the top of the pyramid to the ground, but he has to maneuver it so that kibble falls out of the hole. The bottom is weighted so that after each attempt to get food out, it will bob back upright. This means that only a few pieces of kibble will fall out at a time. And when there's only a few pieces of kibble left, it becomes more difficult to get the food. It's one of my favorite food dispensers to keep Riley occupied for a a while at home.

(4) Dog Brick -- Riley likes this one too, but it is a lot like Dog Twister (above) -- The dog is moving panels around with his paw or nose. This one is rectangular and Dog Twister is round.

Other Reviews:

(5) Dog Trigger and Dog Box -- Don't bother with these. The Dog Box fell apart several times. Dog Trigger wasn't really that much fun -- for the humans or the dogs. Everybody at the testing session agreed that these two toys were duds.

(6) Dog Spinny and Dog Tornado -- Both toys are based on the same principle: Spin around the discs to reveal hidden treats. Riley didn't much care for it, but some dogs really loved this toy and would spin it around several times. I would get Dog Tornado rather than Dog Spinny. Dog Tornado is like Dog Spinny except that it has 3 or 4 more levels of spinning discs.

(7) Dog Smart -- Riley liked this toy, but it wasn't as fun for me! It is a little hard setting this up because the hollow under the block was small and you have to get it just right so that block fits in the hole.

(8) New toys -- (a) Dog Casino: Riley tried this one out recently. It took him a while to understand how this works, but he seemed to like it. (b) Dog Trubble: This is like Dog Fighter, but harder. (c) Dog Domino: Skip this and get Dog Brick -- similar concept.

(9) Dog Turbo -- This one was really hard. None of the dogs got it after spending 15-20 minutes on it. They all gave up in frustration.

In addition to Dog Pyramid, I have Dog Fighter and Dog Twister at home. I have the wood versions -- at the time, the plastic versions were not available. Riley didn't chew on the wood, but I could see that as a problem for some dogs.

I'll try to post some videos of Riley playing with these toys. We're still trying out the new toys, so I'll try to post videos of those also. There should be You Tube videos of other dogs playing with Ottosson toys

It's fun watching your dog think and figure out how to get the food. The only thing is that after they've mastered a puzzle, it's not as much fun for me! But we still bring out the puzzles when friends and family visit so that they can be awed by our amazing doodle!

[Leslie and Halas]

He tests toys! He herds! Riley gets to do all the cool stuff! What a lucky dood! Thanks for the review. It sounds like you can make some of them a little harder as you go along, so that's good. I'd hate to spend this kind of money on something and then have Halas get bored with it really quickly. Although, he's not bored with other puzzle toys that he's figured out, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem.

If you were only going to get one of these toys, which one would it be?

Please do post videos when you have a chance.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Yes, Ellen thank you do much!!!!
I agree with Leslie - what is Riley's favorite?

[Ellen]

Riley's favorite is Dog Fighter, but it took him longer to figure it out. Otherwise, I would probably pick Dog Twister or Dog Brick -- These are easier for the dogs to figure out (vs. Dog Fighter) because they have to move the plates around. For both, you can increase the difficulty by adding a round block, but what I can't remember is whether the additional block is part of Dog Twister and Dog Brick -- the local dog store gave us extra blocks to take home. I'll see whether I still have any of the boxes and whether they indicate that the extra block is included.

I'll try to post some videos by tomorrow. I'll ask the local toy store whether we can borrow some of the other puzzles (I think that they have "open" items for dogs to test) so that I can video those as well.

Here are some videos on YouTube:

Dog Fighter -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V5X1DONHd0&feature=related
Dog Brick -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxNqwUy7RWQ&feature=related
Dog Twister -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap6ZCq4V1FM
Dog Smart -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGzQDsZkYRI
Dog Tornado -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB7o7XgUej8

I'm sure there are more, but this is what I found so far.

[Adina P]

How lucky is Riley to get to try all these toys! I would love it if you would add these reviews (individually when you have time...no hurry) to our Reviews page! =)

[Ellen]

Will do!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

What "dog's life" Riley has. He must have really increased his brain power by working with all of the interactive toys.