Product Review - Canine Genius' Leo

I got another comment on our myspace page the other day celebrating how great these toys are, and I happen to agree, so I thought I would "officially" review the products on our blog.

To start off with, treat dispensing toys are not necessarily new. They have been around for awhile. I have tried them before, and have watched the dog go from frustrated, to mastery in a very small amount of time, and then it takes me longer to put the treats in them then to take them back out again. So, I would say they were fun for awhile, but then, not so much.

I was a bit skeptical when these came out. First, what would be the challenge. What treats do you put inside of them? How long would it take them to go from frustrated to treat-foo master? I was very surprised.

I bought Hannah one of these for Christmas. She didn't get it very quickly. I had always taken her for the smarter of the two, but just was not interested. Sam, however, got the game almost instantaneously. I stepped on the toy and squeezed a treat out, and he was off and running. He enjoyed about two weeks of uninterrupted play, because Hannah is the boss, and if she wants the toy, she usually just takes it. But, since she didn't "get it", she left him to play, and would occasionally snatch a treat that it dropped that he missed.

Two weeks passed, and after carefully watching him, and finally having the persistence to play with it to get her own treat, she finally "got it" as well, and then wouldn't share it any longer. I suppose thats fair, it was her present, but since Sam enjoyed it so much, we got him one soon after.

Now is where the real fun comes into play. They have both mastered their "treat-foo" getting the toys to dispense the treats, but what makes these toys so unique, is that they can be combined into numerous different shapes, in any amount of numbers, and each time it makes a new, unique toy, that they then have to work to figure out. It might flop in different directions, more complex patterns, giving them a new challenge so that they don't empty it before you even make it back to the couch.

I am sold. I would rate these with two thumbs up as one of the best toys I have seen, and definitely the winner that came out in 2007. Our Bark-B-Q trainer chips work great as treats you insert into the slots - better than the treats that the website sent us as samples with them in my opinion. Our chips are a little more consistent in their thickness, making them easier to get into the toy without breaking. This toy is worlds of fun, and I have seen our dogs play with them for hours and hours, giving a nice, quiet, relaxing break from them tearing around the house like banshees!

Rating: ***** (Five Stars)