I got Maya and Pierson a new dog toy last week. They’ve never used a puzzle dog toy before so I was curious about how it would go. Kyjen has a lot of great dog toys, so I selected the one called the Kibble Drop. After seeing how it went, see if you can tell me which dog is the most intelligent:
Pierson
After about 8 demonstrations helped along with verbal cues, Pierson figured out how to use his nose to open the flaps on the puzzle dog toy to retrieve the treats. Overall, it took him less than three minutes to figure it out. And when we tried it again later that day, it took less than a minute for him to remember how it worked.
Hmmm. How do I get all these yummy treats out of this dog toy? It’s a puzzle. Can I solve it?
One-by-one, each flap is opened, and all the treats from the kibble drop are eaten.
Maya
Maya did things her own way. Rather than use her nose to lift the flaps, she picked up the entire puzzle toy and dropped it on the floor. The flaps flew open and all the treats spilled out.
Rather than open the treat flaps on the kibble drop puzzle dog toy, Maya will either flip it upside down or pick it up… or both.
Now that the puzzle toy is flipped upside down, the treats spill out, making it easy to get them all.
All the treats are gone. Now what? Perhaps this will make a good chew toy.
.
Now, which dog do you think is the smartest?
.
I bought this toy and was not prompted by Kyjen or anyone else to tell you about it. Any opinions in this post are strictly my own. You should know, the link for this dog toy is to my Amazon affiliate link.
For more posts and photos of cute doggies, kitties, and other beloved pals, check out the link to the Wordless Wednesday blog hop below:
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Tags: kibble drop, Kyjen, puzzle dog toy, wordless wednesday
American Dog Blog 
December 4, 2013 at 8:05 am |
I just wanted to pop across and say hello. I am so excited to ‘exchange’ with you (yep that sounds weird) and look forward to exploring your blog more.
I love Maya’s technique, my collie did something similar when we bought him a wheel spinning treat toy. He flipped it upside down, while my cairn barked at the toy and we finally relented and spinned the wheel, revealing the treats which he ate. I don’t know if I could chose the smartest?!
December 4, 2013 at 8:11 am |
Hi Lauranne! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂 I really couldn’t decide who was smarter either. They’re both pretty clever. Sounds like yours are too.
I’ve been meaning to pop over to your blog ever since I got the gift exchange email from Pam. I signed up to get email alerts but I’m sorry I’ve been so crazily busy these past couple of days. The rest of this week should be slower and I will definitely stop by today.
December 5, 2013 at 7:37 am
No worries, I must admit I feel like you’ve been stuck with a bit of a turkey. Sorry!! Really looking forward to getting to know you better!
December 4, 2013 at 9:51 am |
I’m always amazed at the different way my dogs and other dogs learn to solve puzzle pieces. The Poodles are very systematic about it and once they learn they do it the same way.My generic dog is like Maya. I think it shows they are all smart in their own way.
December 4, 2013 at 10:01 am |
I think Torrey would flip it over too. Roxy would try for a second, then walk away.
December 4, 2013 at 10:42 am |
😀 My Sephi would have been just like Roxy. She knew she’d get fed no matter what, so why work for it?
December 4, 2013 at 10:27 am |
I have a feeling my dogs would be like Maya. They’d probably destroy the toy first.
December 4, 2013 at 11:45 am |
That looks like fun but Mollie would eat the whole thing LOL xxoxx
Mollie and Alfie
December 4, 2013 at 12:22 pm |
I think Maya wins paws down. Pierson does what Dakota does (using his nose)…Maya got “more bang for her buck” with less effort. Try the Nina Ottosson toys too…they are fabulous!
December 4, 2013 at 3:34 pm |
Hey we have that same exact toy, although I haven’t seen it in months now… hmmm.. I have a video of Shiner using it. It was her first puzzle toy too and she also decided it needed to be picked up and carried to a new spot. I don’t think she liked it too much lol.
December 4, 2013 at 3:47 pm |
Thanks for sharing that video with me 😀 So cute!!! Shiner acted like Pierson did in the beginning by licking the toy where the treats were hidden. Then she acted like Maya when she picked it up and carried it away.
That stick Shiner had in the video looks more fun.
December 4, 2013 at 5:50 pm |
They’re both smart. My dog LOVES puzzles.
My blogpaws ww entry is #110. Come by and vote for us 1 last time?
December 5, 2013 at 10:33 am |
Kyjen makes some great puzzle toys. I have several. I like to switch them up, so the dogs don’t get too bored. It’s funny to see how different dogs approach things. One of my dogs (Roxy) is very “nosey” and can figure out the flipping puzzles pretty quickly. The other dog (Jedi) is very “pawsy” and will bat the puzzles around until they surrender the cookies.
Puzzle toys can be expensive. A friend of mine suggested that we swap toys around (after disinfecting, of course) to give our dogs new challenges but not challenge the budget.
December 5, 2013 at 1:32 pm |
Maya is brilliant. 🙂 I read a story yesterday about an engineering student who thought outside the box. The key was to remove matches from stacks (two opponents with the same number of matches, removing matches from their own stacks), and have matches left when your opponent runs out. The students removed two of his own and used one to light his opponents stack on fire. Win. Maya is a winner.
December 5, 2013 at 2:09 pm |
😀
December 5, 2013 at 4:48 pm |
I think both dogs are smart in their own way, but Maya was very clever! No messing about with flaps, just slam that thing on the floor and get it to give up its goodies! Well done!
December 6, 2013 at 1:27 pm |
It made me laugh – I’d probably go for Maya’s method!
December 6, 2013 at 2:16 pm |
BOL!! OMD, you know what I would do?? I would furst do it the ‘right’ way, then I would think…’there’s gotta be a faster way to gets those kibbles…’ and do it ‘Maya’s’ way!! Which is ‘smarter’ ? Wells, I thinks they are both GENIUSES!! They both gots the kibbles right?!
Now, if one of them could gets me a margarita…..
Kisses,
Ruby ♥
December 6, 2013 at 11:47 pm |
Neither is smarter than the other, they just use their smarts differently. I have a couple of those puzzle toys, but Callie would rather play with a stuffy. Shadow would be like Pierson; and Ducky would do like Maya — pick up the toy and drop it until all the treats fall out.
December 8, 2013 at 11:39 am |
If you want to determine intelligence, I’d suggest testing it with this intelligence test here: http://www.abc.net.au/animals/dog_test/
I don’t believe this is a good indication of their intelligence, as one is using a tool (you) to help figure out the toy, and one is using a different tool (Brute strength) to achieve the same results. Both got the treats in the end. 🙂
December 8, 2013 at 12:54 pm |
Thanks Andrea. 🙂 I didn’t intend this post to be an actual determination of my dogs’ intelligence. It was merely an amusing observation.
December 9, 2013 at 9:01 pm |
I think you’re both very smart doggies! I think I’d like one of those too, I’m gonna tell Santa! 🙂
I hope you’re having a fun day,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
December 18, 2013 at 6:36 pm |
LOL Thunder would do it exactly as Maya did. I can’t buy him puzzle toys because he gets the treats out in no time. 🙂