My Review of the Dog Brick

This is me posing with the "Dog Brick". The Brick is one of several new puzzles created by Nina Ottosson. She calls them dog activating toys but they are used with cats, pocket pets, birds, pot bellied pigs and zoo animals. Jenn thought they would be a great mental toy for me, so she got the Brick and another puzzle the "Dog Tornado" at the APDT conference for me to try out. These toys are designed for dogs and people to play together. It is not a toy that you would leave your dog alone with. I will now commence my review of the Brick.The brick has sliding black blocks and small chambers under the blocks where treats hide. I must slide the block with my nose or foot to reveal the treats. Jenn helps me at first, teaching me to move the blocks myself. This is a learning process and it takes some time for me to understand. But the treats keep me interested that's for sure.
Soon, here I am sliding the black block with my foot uncovering the treat. Cool. This is something that really makes me think and I so want to understand it. We only play a few minutes at a time at first, so I'm always wanting to do more. Jenn says the main drawback of the Brick is the cost (about $50 retail plus shipping). Woof! All the dog activating toys are very well made and solid wood, much like handmade Swedish children's toys. The very good news is that there are plastic versions soon to be available that will be much less expensive. So my overall opinion of the Brick is a Paws Up and a higher Paws Up for the less expensive plastic versions.

Click here to read more about Nina Ottosson and her dog activating toys.

Watch a video of a dog working with the plastic Brick on YouTube.