DIY Dog Food Puzzle

Day 12 of the Games and it’s also Foodie Friday!! Let me introduce you to the Pipe Pull Puzzle or Triple P. For this puzzle I used some 1/2 PVC pipe, T pieces and 90 degree bends. I made a frame that allowed me to slot in pieces of pipe loaded with fleece and pieces of kibble. To get the food Ziva has to pull out the fleece to release the kibble!! Food puzzles are great for building tolerance of frustration, resilience/grit, independence, thinking in arousal, confidence, optimism and even calmness!! You definitely need to get the balance right: too hard and a dog will give up or get too frustrated. Then the anticipation of getting the food can definitely increase a dogs arousal/excitement level and we all know if can be harder to think when we’re excited and dogs are no different. Get the balance right and you have a dog that what’s the food now but can work out how to get it without getting frustrated and have the grittiness needed to keep going to get it all. Now at the same time you are letting them problem solve and figure things out for themselves and that’s great for building independence!! The confidence and optimism happen because this will move about and make noise when they interact with it, they will make contact with it when they’re working out how to get the food and sometimes if they pull hard enough a food pipe may fall out unexpectedly. Being able to cope with all of these little things can help build, boost and maintain a dogs confidence and optimism levels. And finally there’s calmness: now I know this may seem a little strange but many food puzzles can help with calmness. It’s all linked back to being able to think when excited and make good choices. Sniffing, chewing, licking and similar activities can have a calming effect on dogs by reducing their stress levels. That’s why snuffle and lick mats are so popular!! Do you think your dog would like this puzzle? Do you already use food puzzles and if so what ones do you use? Go and have a wonderful Foodie Friday with your dog and I can’t wait to hear how you got on.