3 Ways To Create Advanced Dog Puzzles
Throughout the week I always try to do fun dog enrichment activities with Diesel and Annie. I have many of the Nina Ottosson dog puzzles and my dogs always get excited when they get to play with them!
Annie is a hyper dog and can get bored easily, so I’m always looking for challenging dog toys or advanced dog puzzles to provide plenty of dog enrichment for her. One way that you can do this without going out any buying a brand new dog puzzle is to make your existing dog puzzles even more challenging.
In this post, I’ll be sharing 3 ways to make your dog puzzles more challenging, featuring the Nina Ottosson Challenge Dog Slider Dog Puzzle and the Nina Ottosson Dog Tornado dog puzzle.
P.S. Scroll down to the bottom to find even more dog enrichment ideas and boredom busters for dogs!
1. Place Challenge Dog Slider Puzzle On Table/Chair
The first way to create a challenging dog toy out of your dog puzzles is to place it on top of a table or chair. Now, I will note, in the photos below, the chair is a bit high. I was at my parents house for this shoot and they had pretty high chairs, ha!
When you place a dog puzzle on a table or chair, you immediately create a more advanced dog puzzle because your dog can’t use their paws to try to solve. They have to rely on their nose only to solve the dog puzzle, which is great brain training for dogs!
Featured here is the Challenge Dog Slider Puzzle by Nina Ottosson. This is one of her level 3 advanced dog puzzles.
2. Place Dog Puzzle In A Box
The second way to create a challenging dog toy out of your dog puzzles is to put it in a box. For this idea, make sure the box is the size of your dog puzzle. I actually kept the box that my Nina Ottosson advanced dog puzzles came in and used it since I knew it was already the same size as my Challenge Dog Slider Puzzle!
Similar to putting it on a chair or table, this also creates the added challenge of inviting your dog to use their nose to find the treats inside of the dog treat puzzle.
Bonus Tip 1: You can also combine step 1 and 2 together to give your dog a double challenge!
Bonus Tip 2: Use your dog puzzle as the base of your busy box dog toy! If you’ve never heard of a busy box toy for dogs, this is a great DIY puzzle toy for dogs that’s made of your dog’s favorite toys and more. I love using my dog snuffle mats or Nina Ottosson dog puzzles as the base of a busy box dog toy because it leaves an extra surprise at the bottom and it makes them spend more time trying to solve, creating an awesome homemade dog toy to keep them busy!
3. Create A Frozen Dog Toy
Last but not least is to create a frozen dog toy out of your Nina Ottosson dog puzzles! What better way to add more fun to your dog puzzles in warm weather than to create a tasty frozen dog treat for summer! Featured here is the dog tornado puzzle. I chose this Nina Ottosson dog puzzle because it has multiple layers that you can swivel around and add treats to, making it a super long lasting boredom buster for dogs.
Plus, if you’ve been following me for quite some time now, you know I love sharing dog popsicle recipes! Any of my tasty dog popsicle recipes would be perfect for this frozen dog toy and I’ve linked some below:
Sparkles and Sunshine Blog dog popsicle recipes:
- Creamsicle Dog Popsicle Recipe: Frozen Carrot, Pumpkin & Yogurt Dog Treat
- 3 Ingredient Homemade Pupsicle Recipe (Super refreshing! One of my faves!)
- Peanut Butter, Yogurt & Banana Homemade Dog Popsicle Recipe
- 3 Ingredient Dog Treat: Tropical Dog Popsicle Recipe
- Frozen Yogurt Fruit Dog Popsicle Recipe (Perfect patriotic/Fourth of July dog treat!)
In the photos below I added chopped strawberries, whole blueberries and water and froze. That same recipe would also be tasty with coconut water instead of regular water! Another idea that I recently did was added chopped strawberries and filled it with blended watermelon and froze that. My dogs LOVED that and as you can tell, my parents dog Remi loved that we did this photoshoot at her house because she got to enjoy the frozen dog toy too, ha!
What did you think of these 3 ways to make your dog puzzles more challenging? If I had to pick my dog’s favorite, I’d definitely have to go with the frozen dog toy, ha! Every day I’m always trying to add brain training for my dogs through fun dog enrichment ideas and activities. It’s a great way to prevent destructive behavior in dogs and if you have a dog that gets bored easily, these are great ideas if you’re looking for things to do with your dog.
If you loved this post about dog enrichment ideas, make sure to check out my other posts below featuring more dog enrichment activities like my favorite DIY puzzle toys for dogs, snuffle mats for dogs and more boredom busters for dogs :
- DIY Snuffle Mat Ball: JW Pet Holee Roller Ball Dog Toy Idea
- 3 DIY Dog Enrichment Ideas To Combat Dog Cabin Fever
- How To Use A Snuffle Mat For Dogs
- 3 Snuffle Toys For Dogs
- Nina Ottosson Dog Puzzles Level 1: Beginner Puzzles For Dogs
- Nina Ottosson Dog Puzzles Level 2: Intermediate Dog Treat Puzzles
- 3 Ingredient Yogurt Dog Treat Recipe With Lickimat Soother
P.S. Don’t forget check out some of my most recent posts below:
Photography: Kate Kelley Collection