# Toys/Puzzles/Mental Games for GSDs



## sarauscher1 (Jan 1, 2015)

Hi all!

I have three GSDs, 10yo, 7yo, and 9 weeks old. I am looking for some mental games to play with them. I am also looking for some puzzle toys and food/treat dispensing toys. I am specifically looking for durable ones that won't be chewed up quickly.

Thanks for any ideas!
Sheryl


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## RiverDan (Mar 22, 2013)

I am of the opinion that there isn't a mental game that GSDs can't figure out. I've bought at least four different 'toys' for Baron. He had them all figured out in seconds. It's crazy. The game we play is 'find it'. I hide small treats around the house and say "find it.". He seems to like it.


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## Cobe914 (Sep 29, 2014)

Every morning my boy gets his frozen Kong toy with his breakfast in it. I fill it halfway up with just kibble (since he can't get that far in, and anything else will just sit in there until I clean it out) then the rest with kibble mixed with something wet.. plain yogurt, can of tuna, mashed banana, natural peanut butter, canned foot... whatever I feel like. Then I toss it in the freezer for the morning. He takes a while to work at it and get it out.
I do this with all sorts of things... beef trachea, beef hooves, any toy that can be stuffed. In the summer I have a little kiddie pool outside that I toss freeze dried beef liver and other floating treats in.. keeps him busy trying to "bob for treats". You could also do this in water dishes, if you have a really good mop.
The hiding game is really good too.. though I prefer to use a toy over treats. After we've played with the toy and it's slobbery and scented I hide it after placing him in a stay. It practices obedience too. I've done this with multiple dogs at the same time... as long as they don't get overly competitive and start snapping at each other it's fun to watch the "who finds it first" race. Start out easy.. if he doesn't have a "get it" or "fetch" command, start with teaching him that, then graduate to placing the toy on the floor in another room.. then slowly start hiding it with gradually increasing difficulty.
There are large treat dispensing balls that drop out treats as they're rolled around... I used to just give my dog his kibble in that. He doesn't get to eat out of bowls.. Everything's an exercise 
But there's not a lot of sense in bothering with puzzle toys for these dogs. They figure them out almost immediately and/or break them. There's no challenge.


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

I just bought a couple new toys for Troy. 

-Squirrel dude
-Planet Orbee-Tuff Snoop Dog Toy
-Busy Buddy Twist n Treat Large
-Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball Large
Nina Ottoson has a lot of different puzzles for dogs too, they are a little expensive but it's good quality.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

they figure out all treat puzzles and then it's no fun and you wasted your money. filling a kong and freezing will keep them mentally stimulated. or put treats in closed boxes or water bottles.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Practicing/teaching commands is good mental exercise for Newlie. He knows sit, down, wait, come, drop it, leave it, backup, shake hands, touch, pick it up, bring it, drop it in the box (toys), off, etc. I just taught him to open a door yesterday. It took him about 5 minutes to figure it out. I may start with teaching him to turn off a light switch next.

I also use a Kong for treats, they are very durable. He has a wooden puzzle, too, where he has to push the buttons back to get his treats. He also has a rubber cage that I stuff toys in and he has to get them out. Also, a "shell game" type of thing where I put a treat under one of three boxes and he has to figure out which box and turn the box over to get the treat.

We play "find it" with either treats or me. We do both tug and a flirt pole with commands and his impulse control has really improved.

I play so much ball with him that I have to figure out variations or go out of my skull with boredom. I pitch the call and I bounce the ball for him to catch. I roll the ball and he stops it like a hockey player. On rainy days, we play "fridge ball" where I bounce a ball off the refrigerator for him to catch. I also made up a game called "fastball" where I throw a ball to him, one after another, as fast as I can and he has to catch and drop it before the next one comes.

Newlie has gone swimming, done agility and practiced pulling a cart. He hasn't won any ribbons or awards or anything like that, he just plays.

You can get lots of good ideas from this forum, but the nice thing is you can just make up things. I'll post more as I think about them.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

I just remembered two other commands: heel which is still a work in progress, and "no teeth" where he has to take a treat without me feeling his teeth. He has become so reliable with this that I can put a small treat between my lips and he will take it out without me feeling his teeth. (You need to be very sure of your dog before doing this, lol)


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

newlie said:


> Practicing/teaching commands is good mental exercise for Newlie. He knows sit, down, wait, come, drop it, leave it, backup, shake hands, touch, pick it up, bring it, drop it in the box (toys), off, etc. I just taught him to open a door yesterday. It took him about 5 minutes to figure it out. I may start with teaching him to turn off a light switch next.
> 
> I also use a Kong for treats, they are very durable. He has a wooden puzzle, too, where he has to push the buttons back to get his treats. He also has a rubber cage that I stuff toys in and he has to get them out. Also, a "shell game" type of thing where I put a treat under one of three boxes and he has to figure out which box and turn the box over to get the treat.
> 
> ...


Ha! That should read soccer player, not hockey player


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## Findlay (Jan 8, 2015)

scarfish said:


> they figure out all treat puzzles and then it's no fun and you wasted your money. filling a kong and freezing will keep them mentally stimulated. or put treats in closed boxes or water bottles.


Just wondering: Before you freeze a Kong with treats in it, do you put water in it too?
And if you do put water in before freezing, do you fill it to the top? Thanks.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

Findlay said:


> Just wondering: Before you freeze a Kong with treats in it, do you put water in it too?
> And if you do put water in before freezing, do you fill it to the top? Thanks.


no water.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

i don't see why you couldn't. i just don't. it's always completely packed with peanut butter, little kibble pieces and little cut up pieces of cheese. prolly water tight anyways.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Another few: I put a toy in the center of the hall, he is at one end and I am at the other. I start counting and he has to stay until I say "3," then we race for the ball. (I'll give you three guesses who always wins.)

I practice sometimes with getting Newlie to recognize the names of his toys so that he can go pick the right one out when I say it's name. I thought I was really making progress until I realized he thought every toy was named "ball." Oh well, we're still trying.

Here is like a 5 second clip of another game I made up where I tie a toy with a ribbon and put it up high and he has to figure out to pull the ribbon to get it down.

https://youtu.be/LrBOz-xeh7c


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

A Rubik's cube will keep them busy for hours......


SuperG


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

SuperG said:


> A Rubik's cube will keep them busy for hours......
> 
> 
> SuperG


He probably would do better than me with those things, lol.


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## jackiej (Apr 1, 2015)

we do his kong, fill it with anything really. He likes peanut butter, we freeze pumpkin or sweet potato in there. He likes find it. He will sniff around for a while. 

We bought him a toy from Nina Ottoson called Dog Bricks, was around $25, and he had it figured out within minutes. It takes him under a minute to do it lol 

Atlas has a ball that he has to roll around in order to get his kibble out , we are thinking about getting him a bob-a-lot so he has 2 things to occupy his time with his food.


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