Eek!. . . How do I introduce a new enrichment toy?

Ideas for introducing the Shooting Star Snuffle Puzzle

A tricky puzzle for experienced snufflers still needs careful introduction

Day 1 . . . initial introduction

It comes towards her in my hands and she’s immediately excited and frisky.

I pop it down on the floor and sit down beside it with her. There’s no food involved at this stage,

I just want her to sniff, feel and explore the puzzle.

This takes around 15 seconds and she’s done. “No food? Then I’m off.”

The puzzle goes away until next time 👍👍

Day 2 . . .

Puzzle comes out, Betsy’s ears go up and she’s interested. I put it down on the ground and ask her to wait.

Today, a small handful of food is sprinkled on top of the frondy bits around the yellow bowl and some inside the bowl too. I leave the lid off.

I give her the “find it” cue and off she goes.

I praise her because she’s being calm and gentle and give her time to come back several times just to check she’s found everything.

Day 3 . . .

“Ooo it’s here again, I like this. What’s going on this time?”

This time, subtle differences. Food in the same places as yesterday, in the fronds and in the yellow bowl. But now the bowl has its lid on to hide the food and she has to work out how to deal with that. (She knows food’s there because she can smell it and it was in there yesterday. We’re building on previous experience here.)

Also, I flip some of the legs of the flower/star over so she gets used to having to open it out.

I don’t use the yellow ties at this stage...too tricky.

This slow progression gives her experience and confidence with this new puzzle.

 It’s ALWAYS best to go slowly, but this is quite an involved one, so it’s even more important here.

Day 4 . . .

Slow steps. Food hidden within the frondy bits of the star, rather than simply sprinkled on top. Lid pushed right to the bottom of the yellow bowl, hiding the buried food, so she has to use the knotted handle to lift it off. Today, all the legs of the star are folded loosely over.

She negotiates all this really well and I think she’s getting interested in the yellow pockets, so that’ll be tomorrow’s challenge. Building slowly, not changing too much each time so we encourage success and prevent frustration.

Way to go Betsy 🐾👏👏🐾

Day 5 . . .

Today, food in yellow bowl with lid pushed right down on top, food hidden under the frondy bits and a few pieces of food under the open edge of the pockets (we’ll push them further in another time), then all the legs of the star are folded over loosely.

Again, encouragement and praise 🐾🐾

Day 6 . . .

Moving up a gear today by using treats as yesterday, but this time flipping over some of the legs of the star and fastening them loosely.

I can see that this is confusing for Betsy and she tries to grab and shake the puzzle to release it.

She’s never done this before, so I know she needs help. I hold the puzzle down gently to dissuade that behaviour and this suggests to her that she needs to try a different approach. She lays down on the puzzle and gets her nose in there. I’m hoping that she may use a paw to open the puzzle next time...we’ll see.

I suspected that this could be a stumbling block, which is why this is a puzzle for experienced puzzlers.

Because we’ve been introducing it slowly and she’s succeeded so far, this shouldn’t be too much of a setback for her 🐶🤞🤞🤞🐶

Day 7 . . .

Well, day 8 actually, as we had a day with no Shooting Star puzzle yesterday.

I think she needed a time to process what she’d learnt so far.

So today, I gave her the puzzle “loaded” exactly as before but with only one of the flaps secured loosely, the others were simply flipped over each other so she could open them up by shoving her nose inside the whole thing.

Make it easy, we don’t want frustration. And this is exactly what she did and it worked 👍👍

She laid down on the star again as she’s worked out that it helps to keep the thing still.

Good thinking, but it means she’s at the wrong angle for one of the pockets.

Something for her to figure out in the future.

Can you see how something that looks fairly straightforward can, in fact, be quite involved for the dog and really encourages her to use not only her nose but her brain too?

This is good. This is what we want.

What food?

Food from her daily meal allowance.

The puzzle is big enough to accommodate a full meal when she’s got used to all its elements. You can use training treats, or homemade jerky made by cooking thin strips or chunks of raw meat on your lowest oven setting for 4 hours or so, then cut up small.

You can use raw food if she’s raw fed, but you’ll need to wash the puzzle more often.

Laundering

Machine wash at 30° with soft toys or towels, no conditioner (harmful chemicals for little noses). Air dry.

After each session, it’ll be a little soggy with snuffle wetness, so spread out to dry.

Please, always supervise when using the snuffle puzzles and check often for damage.

Find the Shooting Star snuffle puzzle here