Get Your Dog Hooked on Puzzle Toys!

by BetteYip, CPDT

A little extra dog training work when you first present your dog with a new puzzle toy can really help you to get your dog “hooked.” When you introduce a new puzzle toy to your dog, first bait the toy. Most puzzle toys are designed to hold food in one manner or another. For the first few trials, be sure to add in a better than average treat to the mix.

Now choose a small space in which to work and pick up all other items from the ground. Have a treat pouch of extra goodies available, but hidden out of sight. Set down the puzzle toy and ignore your dog. Most dogs automatically have the impulse to check out the unfamiliar object. Reward the dog with an extra treat, then pretend the dog is invisible again. Only acknowledge the dog and reward with extra goodies and attention when the dog is investigating the toy.

Some dogs may become focused on you each time you reward in the beginning of this process. It’s particularly important to ignore the dog unless it is interacting with the toy. If the dog gives up on the activity, just pick up the toy and try another session later, stuffing the toy with even better temptations. In this case, you may want to use lower value food rewards for interactions with the toy, as well. Keep in mind that we’re shaping for canine self-entertainment with puzzle toys. Eventually, playing with the toy IS the reward AND the target behavior all at once!

Gradually require the dog to show more interest in the puzzle toy to earn a reward. Especially notice and reward any experimentation with the toy! Nose bump—reward. Paw thwack—reward. Push the toy—reward. Toss the toy—jackpot!

Do not leave the toy out in between sessions. If you’re dog has unlimited access to the toy, it won’t hold it’s value as well! Once your dog knows how to have fun playing with the toy on its own, you can begin to use the puzzle toy to keep your dog busy and entertained when you need a moment to yourself.
In preparation for keeping your dog self-entertained when visitors are over, have friends over NOW to practice! Keep in mind that with the new distractions around, you may need to repeat the early steps of this training process and build back up. Since dogs don’t generalize most behaviors as easily as we humans do, it’s important to repeat these exercises in various settings around various distractions until your dog learns that the behavior “works” under all circumstances. Lots of short sessions frequently throughout the day will get you to your training goal faster than a longer block fewer times per day.

Once the dog has a strong interest in the puzzle toy, try leaving a forbidden item in
harm’s way, along with the puzzle toy. A shoe, a remote control or a kid’s toy might be good items to add to your list of forbidden items to practice with. You may wish to treat the forbidden items with a chew deterrent such as Bitter Apple for best results. Since the dog already knows that playing with the puzzle toy is enjoyable and sometimes causes extra rewards to appear, and since the forbidden item is particularly unappealing due to the chew deterrent, the lesson should be an easy one for your dog. Gradually add more and more temptations to the mix, graduating to ones that are not treated with chew deterrent.

Your final step to proofing your dog against picking up items that don’t belong to it will be to cause a startling (but not terrifying) noise that the dog doesn’t associate with you anytime the dog shows interest in a forbidden item. This is a version of the sting operation technique our entry level dog training students learn about.

Continue to reward the dog for all interest in puzzle toys during this phase. Repeat this activity with various puzzle toys and forbidden items in various locations until your dog gets the idea that its own toys always “work” and nothing else does. Even then, keep in mind that a dog will make a mistake from time to time, despite our best efforts. Use household management and supervision to minimize chances for mistakes to be made when you won’t be prepared to give well-timed feedback.

Also keep in mind that regressions are a part of life, and that they are a very big part of life during adolescence! For dogs, adolescence often lasts for about a year starting between six and eight months of age. Until your dog is an adult, plan to be especially diligent about management, supervision and reinforcing desired behaviors!

In this video, Bette Yip's adopted borzoi, Skylar, eats his "dessert" of a few extra kibbles from the Kong Wobbler.