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If you’re reading this, you probably already know how great puzzle toys can be for dogs. If you’re like me, you can even have a high-energy dog that takes part in training games like duck meets water. So finding new challenges is both exciting and challenging. The Arf Pets Dog Food Dispenser is an internet-popular, engaging memory-training puzzle toy that gets your dog working on their treats — so we decided to take a look. and put it to the test.
How does Arf Pets treatment of Dispenser work?
The Arf Pets pet handling is a memory exercise jigsaw puzzle with two components: a foot-sized, battery-powered remote, and a small autoloader that releases a set amount of kibbles or treats before the button is pressed.
The goal is to teach your dog to push a button to receive a gift—a project that promises several levels of challenge, including training your dog with the toy from the start.
Because Pepper was recorded here at Rover as Prepare for training challengesA review of the Arf Pets treatment is right up her alley.
The Arf Pets Therapy Dispenser comes with the following:
- Button remote with two sound settings — you need three AAA batteries for it (not included)
- Button accessories: a suction cup for vertical mounting, a plastic pin for external fixation, and a rubber ring for stability and to make the button easier to see
- Dispenser handling
- Fact sheet with tips on how to train your dog with toys
- USB cord to plug into the dispenser
- Ladle to put kibble or snacks into dispenser
Training a dog to use the Arf . pet dispenser
About button
To train Pepper to play this game, I started with the push of a button. To increase power, I inserted three batteries and flipped the switch to test both sounds the button could make (we have no preference and tried both for training).
I started by getting Pepper to touch the button by holding a treat on top of it. It took us about 10 minutes to get the first button pressed, then the button pressed, with enough pressure to make a noise. We dropped out while leading, and I brought the button out again the next day to review the lesson.
By day two, Pepper had reliably pressed the button to be indulged. It requires more force than you think — so it might take your dog a minute to realize that tapping the button isn’t the same as putting pressure on it. It took a bit of trial and error — a few times I pushed the button myself to show her, or pressed a little while she was preparing her for an idea of the sound; then i gradually reduce the dishes until they only come out when the sound occurs.
Pepper uses both her nose and paws – but her paws are more frequent.
Introduction of Processing Dispenser
We brought out the treatment box on our third session. It works through a rotating plastic ball inside — you put your food or snacks in it, then adjust the opening to increase or decrease the amount of food coming out. Put the ball back into the plastic dispenser, press the “on” button so it connects to the remote control button and close the lid. Pull out the tray. Now, when your dog presses the button, the machine spins the ball and sends some treats into the attached tray.
The training recommendations that come with the toy (warning, it’s useful but very dense) suggest placing the treat in the dispenser tray manually when your pet presses the button so they start associating it. with button. You can also attach buttons (sans rubber discs) to the sides or back of the machine itself to make it more like a part.
We simply placed the button near the dispenser and quickly placed a dish in the tray as soon as Pepper pressed the button. Pepper realized this really quickly, so we switched to plugging in and filling it up.
I hope that hearing the button click, then hearing the dispenser’s spinning ball create a really clear association for her. That worked, and we were able to start moving the button away from the dispenser, all the way to another room.
We start with the node right next to the dispenser.
Sometimes she’ll linger on the dispenser and try to bang it around to drop the food – which makes perfect sense, since her other food dispenser puzzle toy, Kong and Bob-a-Lot, which basically works this way. After a while, though, she lingers less and instead goes for the button, or she’ll sit and look at me expectantly. To give her a hint, I would tell her to “find the button”.
Something happened in the split second before this scene.
If you want to reverse the challenge—say you have the button in front of your dog but want them to find the dispenser instead, you can do that, but you need to have some big batteries (four Cs) small) for the dispenser. make it work without cables.
Other ways to try Arf Pets Treat Dispenser puzzles
The fun part of this toy is the different ways you can increase the challenge, mainly by moving the button. The included suction cup can be attached to the button so you can stick it on vertical surfaces. There’s a latch that allows you to place the button outside — turn it into an all-outdoor play, or let your dog walk inside-out between the button and the dispenser.
Advantages:
- Flexible; After your dog has learned the basics, you can come up with ideas for node or dispenser placement.
- Works well for pups who love to eat and can be used as a slow food for meals
- It’s a bonding exercise between you and your dog
- Simple for pet parents to figure out and assemble out of the box
- Your dog gets mental and physical exercise as they run from node to dispenser
Defect:
- The dispenser is mainly mounted to the wall with an outlet
- You can’t control the dispensing so well, even when the food opening changes
- This only works for baby mice that like to eat food
- It’s not overkill — parents need to watch when it’s game over
Recommendations: Arf Pets Treat Dispenser Well suited for advanced puzzle solvers
The Arf Pets mix-and-treat toy gets our round of hearts if you have a pup that’s smart, challenged, and loves to eat — and if you love training your dog in tricks. new. It’s expensive enough that you want to make sure your dog can meet this kind of challenge, perhaps through Other jigsaw toys, before investing in this one. (That said, it beats the price of some less techier toys.)
We got a lot out of putting buttons in different rooms and asking Pepper to mine it, then going to the food dispenser to see what happened. I can see this as a novel way to be able to feed my dog a slow dinner, or do a 10-minute brain game session. It needs to be supervised, and the company’s tip on making sure you signal your dog when the game starts and when it’s over (followed by putting the toy away) is a good tip, so Your dog is not obsessed with more dishes to appear.
Before I started with this review, I wondered why I would bother with a toy like the Arf Pet food dispenser, when I could just hide the food around the house and play games.” go find it” to hone Pepper’s skills. But I can see this jigsaw puzzle as a completely different way of “find it,” relying less on ingenuity and more on memory and problem-solving.
Who is it for:
- Dogs who seem to enjoy complex puzzles or have some puzzle experience
- People who may like the bonding aspect of this training toy
- Food motivated dogs
It’s not for anyone:
- The dogs quickly get frustrated
- If you are looking for a puzzle toy that requires less pet parent time in the first place
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