Product Review: Starmark Treat Dispensing Looper

Starmark's Treat Dispensing Looper is a new take on their amazing food toys. The Looper is a large ring that bounces, floats, and can be filled with kibble or small treats for added fun. It is available in two sizes, ours is the larger one.

Photo by Erin Koski

We've had one of our Treat Dispensing Chew Balls for well over a decade now, but Starmark has recently decided to think outside the ball. They've expanded the flexible, chewable, treat-dispensing toy concept into other shapes. We have their dumbell-shaped Treat Dispensing Squeakee, and now we have the Looper as well. They're all made with the same durable material that is easy on teeth, walls, and furniture.

I can easily see that the Chew Ball, Squeakee, and Looper are all variations on a theme, but they each have their unique qualities. The ball rolls and is fun to chomp and squish. The Squeakee squeaks, and never rolls under the couch. The Looper can be tossed like a frisbee, used as a tug toy, and rolled like a wheel. It's a lot of fun to chase when it's rolling, but it doesn't get lost like a ball. It can dispense treats, but they don't come out nearly as easily as they do in the chew ball.

Photo by Erin Koski

Pros: Durable enough for a large amount of biting and chomping, though not intended for a serious chewing project. More challenging to get treats out than most of our other Starmark chew toys. Floats, bounces, and can be rolled and tugged for lots of versatile play.

Cons: Probably easier to demolish than the Treat Dispensing Chew Ball just because of the smaller diameter. May be too difficult for some dogs to get the treats out consistently.

Bottom Line: When I first saw the Looper I thought it was just a variation on an already good toy, but it turned out to be surprisingly unique.

Puzzle Toy Review: Cycle Dog 3 Play Hippo

The 3 Play Hippo toy by Cycle Dog is a remarkably appealing toy that can be used in several different ways. It doesn't just float, it floats high in the water so it's easier to spot from dog-paddling height. The head squeaks. and the belly has a slit for hiding treats. This toy is made from post-consumer recycled material. It comes in two colors and two sizes, the one pictured is the mini hippo.

Photo by Erin Koski

I don't know what it is about this pink hippo, but everybody loves it. Whether they are squeaking it, nose-punching it, or lovingly carrying it around the house, all three dogs thoroughly enjoy the happy hippo. Even after the nose cracked and the squeak diminished, they still love it.

I love this toy too. It's adorable! It also comes in blue, and there is a larger size that we probably need to acquire.

Photo by Erin Koski

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 3/5

I can fit Brisbane's entire meal of 1/4-cup kibble in here, the bigger one probably fits closer to a cup. The slit is also big enough to jam a larger biscuit or two inside.

Loading Speed: 2/5

I can cram a small handful of kibble in here at a time.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 5/5

It usually still has a kibble or two in it when I find it around the house.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 4/5

Brisbane isn't a huge fan of flexible rubber flap puzzles, but this one is just the right size to be challenging without him finding it unpleasant for whatever reason.

Size: 5/5

The small one is small enough for Ru to play with, the bigger one is big enough for a giant dog.

Durability: 3/5

Most of our flexible rubber puzzles have held up very well, but the nose of our hippo split open pretty quickly and now it doesn't squeak like it used to.

Noise: 5/5

It's soft and it doesn't roll, so it's dead quiet on my hardwood floors.

Locatability: 3/5

Our mini hippo is a prized possession and is almost always being hoarded in a crate or bed somewhere, but at least it doesn't roll under the couch.

Washability: 3/5

I should be able to jam a bottle brush into the belly slit if it needs a good scrub. I subtracted a star though because our cracked toy tend to take on water and there's no cleaning the inside of the head.

Photo by Erin Koski

Versatility: 4/5

Our happy hippo was borrowed from Xhuuya the raven, who enjoys prying nuts out of the belly and pretending she's disemboweling the riverbeast. The size and type of puzzle makes it usable by a variety of critters.

Total: 37/50

Product Review: Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball

The Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball is made out of their proprietary Orbee-Tuff material. It measures 3" in diameter and has an opening for inserting treats. This is basically the toughest toy they make. It is made in the USA, and is recyclable when your dog is finally done with it.

This shiny silver ball arrived in our space-themed June Allergy-Friendly BarkBox. We already have a Diamond Plate Double Tuff toy, and this ball matches it nicely.

My favorite thing about Planet Dog toys is that they are made with peppermint oil so they always smell nice. So nice. The ball has a hole in it for hiding treats, but Sisci thinks it's pretty cool empty, too. She's a big fan of balls, and a lot less picky than Brisbane.

Pros: Super durable. Recyclable. Works as a ball and a simple food puzzle. Smells delightful. Made in the USA.

Cons: Will not stand up to a power chewer, especially not a large dog on a mission of destruction.

Bottom Line: This ball definitely gets some love. It's fun to squish, and works well for dogs who are tough on their toys, but not super-destructive chewers.

Product Review: Kyjen Slo-Bowl Fun Feeder

Kyjen's Slo-Bowls are designed to make dogs eat as slowly as possible. These Fun Feeders each have a raised pattern that basically turns them into a maze. Dogs can't really inhale their kibble using one of these bowls, instead they have to carefully work individual pieces out with their tongues, pushing them through the maze until they get each piece to a spot where they can pick it up. The bowls come in multiple colors and patterns, and two different sizes for large and small dogs.

Photo by Erin Koski

Eating too fast can be a huge problems for a lot of dogs. At worst, they eat so fast they just barf their food back up right away. At worst, they can develop bloat. This is a condition where a gas-filled stomach twists, cutting off the blood supply to all sorts of body systems. Bloat is a medical emergency, and even recognizing it and getting help immediately may not be enough to save the animal. It is most common in large dogs, particularly deep-chested ones like Great Danes. Preventing the dog's stomach from getting too full of food, air, or water seems to help a lot.

Slowing down a fast eater can also help prevent bloat, dogs that inhale their food also inhale a lot of air at the same time. Spending time and effort to eat a meal also helps a dog expend some mental energy. That is the purpose of our many puzzle toys, and it's also the purpose of the Slo-Bowl.

As a side note, Outward Hound was formerly a sub-brand of Kyjen. The company has apparently decided to rebrand everything as Outward Hound only. This is unfortunate, as I had long associated Kyjen with high-quality puzzle toys and games, and Outward Hound with low-quality pet carriers, travel bowls, and other products that often seemed like they were designed by people who would never use them. A lot of their stuff reminds me of Ruffwear gear, only cheaper and without the quality or guarantee. Outward Hound's current "About Us" page has a lot to say about them being a new company designed to improve the lives of dogs and their people. In reality the brand has been around since the 1990's, and their products have dominated the travel section of big box pet stores for a good chunk of that time. Outward Houd/Kyjen was acquired by the Riverside Company in 2013. They also acquired the Bionic company in January of this year, and Nina Ottoson's puzzle toys last month.

So the Kyjen Slo-Bowl has been rebranded as the Outward Hound Fun Feeder. This seemed to coincide with them changing all the brightly-colored bowls to be the same weird greenish-gray hue for a while. Happily they've changed them back. Unhappily, the Hills bowl shape doesn't seem to have been included in the Outward Hound line. Ours is the bright pink flower shape.

Pros: Brightly-colored and highly durable. Has a no-slip rubber bottom and is top-rack dishwasher safe. Really seriously slows down rushed eaters, even with tiny amounts of food. When I had a total of five dogs here for a week, the Slo-Bowl turned my fastest eater into the slowest. Works with kibble, canned, raw, freeze-dried, and basically any kind of food.

Cons: Is exactly as obnoxious to clean as it looks. If the dog doesn't clean every last molecule of wet food out of the bowl, I have to use three different-shaped scrubbing tools to get it clean. Really-determined food-inhalers at work have been known to flip the bowl over, or even throw it against a wall the reduce the challenge.

Bottom Line: My dogs mostly only eat things like pumpkin and salmon oil out of bowls, but when I'm feeding kibble I sometimes put Brisbane's in this instead of one of our many puzzle toys. He doesn't seem to mind it, but he doesn't get all excited about it, either. They call it the Fun Feeder, but it's still a dog-thwarting device and the dogs know it.

Does your dog attempt to inhale their food?

Product Review: Busy Buddy Biscuit Bouncer

The Busy Buddy Biscuit Bouncer is a durable chew toy that can hold some types of treats. It comes in two sizes for medium and large dogs.

Photo by Erin Koski

This is an interesting food toy, we don't have anything like it. This is a very solid, heavy rubber ball with a slot all the way through it. The packaging indicates that I should shove a standard bone-shaped dog biscuit into the toy. I do not have any standard bone-shaped dog biscuits.

This seems like it could be a great food toy for a serious power chewer. Convincing a less determined chewer to use it requires a little creativity.

Photo by Erin Koski

A dog with powerful jaws could bite down hard and crunch a biscuit inside the Biscuit Bouncer. Brisbane doesn't bite down on his toys like that though, and he doesn't find dry dog biscuits to be terribly motivating.

I've been putting jerky treats inside the Biscuit Bouncer. The Bixbi Daily Essentials and Fruitables Real Jerky both work great. This makes a worthwhile challenge for Briz.

Photo by Erin Koski

Pros: Super durable! I have yet to hear of a dog destroying this toy. Works as a ball without food, too.

Cons: It's really quite difficult to mash any kind of treat in there.

Bottom Line: This is a different sort of puzzle than most of our toys, and presents a unique challenge. It's not a toy that we use a lot, but it is certainly a way to keep Brisbane busy and thinking for ten minutes or more.

"My Dog Doesn't Like Everlasting Treats"

I am a big fan of Starmark dog toys, but sometimes it's hard to get my dogs on board. I know there are more natural, healthier things for them to gnaw, like raw bones, but I can't beat Everlasting Treats for their ability to remain ungross while spending weeks lost under the furniture. We do raw bones pretty frequently, but outdoors or in bare crates. I'm not about to give anyone the opportunity to gnaw a beef rib on the couch.

Everlasting Treat Ball with treat inserted upside down.

As far as raw bones versus Everlasting Treats go, the dogs are strongly in favor of the bones. They're all willing to gnaw an Everlasting Treat on its own, but put it in an Everlasting Treat Ball or Bento Ball and it suddenly ceases to be worth the effort. I tell them "Look, you and I both know that you would be happier spending the day blissfully gnawing this thing than just staring at the wall in your crate." But they refuse to touch them, sometimes for weeks. Putting smelly, exciting treats and peanut butter in the middle does not spur them to start chewing. I tried dribbling fish oil into an Everlasting Treat Ball once, which inspired Briz to gnaw for hours but also got smelly, impossible-to-clean fish oil all over the crate, bed, floor, and Uly.

When I watched Starmark's Everlasting Treat video recently, I noticed that they sometimes had the Everlasting Treats inserted into the toys upside down. The treats are dome-shaped, and normally go in the toy with the domed side facing out to provide a nice chewing surface. An upside down treat leaves very little to grip and also leaves a handy little bowl.

Upside down treat filled with peanut butter.

I filled that bowl with peanut butter and froze the whole thing. By the time Uly had slurped off all the frozen peanut butter, the treat had gotten to that slobbery, smelly state where it apparently become irresistible. He spent several hours working on this project, ate one of the Everlasting Treats and started working on the second when he had to take a nap to recover from all that effort. The Treat Ball is quite scratched up and no longer looks brand new, but that just means it is finally being used as intended.

Most of my local stores only carry chicken-flavored Everlasting Treats, which Brisbane can't have and Uly and Ru won't eat. Lemos carries liver flavored treats, and Petco carries the interlocking nut-and-bolt Everlasting Treats in chicken flavor, but nobody has non-chicken Everlocking Treats. I ordered this one from Amazon. These are easier for the dogs to get a grip on, and aren't as good a value as the original Everlasting Treats, but sometimes I buy them just for the cool factor. This time around I put one of the treat "nuts" inside the Bento Ball dome-side down, screwed the bolt through it, and then wound the second "nut" on the outside. Brisbane might find this setup worth chewing, but I made it even more exciting by squirting some canned cheese in the bowl and through the bottom before sticking it in the freezer.

I am beginning to wish I had gotten a large Treat Dispensing Jack instead of the medium, since the holes in the medium are small enough to make funnel-filling it ineffective. Brisbane and Uly don't like getting anything bigger than kibble out of it. I bet they'll enjoy getting the Cheeze-Wiz out. Not sure I'm going to enjoy washing it when they're done, though.

Cheapass Dog Fun: Fill Food Toys Fast

This isn't actually my idea, I got it from the Starmark website. They demonstrated how to make a funnel out of the top of a soda bottle, and then use it to fill their Treat Dispensing Chew Ball.

Different-sized bottles, same size lids.

Soda bottles have standard-sized openings, and some brands have nice funnel-shaped tops. Cut the top off and the result is a funnel big enough to pour kibble through, with an end that will fit into most toys. As an added bonus, the funnels can be tossed and replaced as needed, and are easier to clean than most store-bought funnels. This has seriously changed my life as far as loading toys with goodies, now I can just scoop kibble into them instead of shoving it piece by piece.

Everlasting Bento Ball

Planet Dog Orbee Ball

Kong Marathon

Kong Quest Wishbone

Starmark Everlasting Treat Ball

Busy Buddy Squirrel Dude

Puzzle Toy: Kong Wishbone

The Kong Quest Wishbone is a rubber toy with grooves on either side for stuffing with kibble, dry biscuits, or pastes like peanut butter. It comes in five colors and two sizes. Unlike Kong's classic toys, the Wishbone is not made to be gnawed.

Photo by Erin Koski

We have a large pink Kong Wishbone. I originally bought it with Josie in mind, and she enjoyed it very much. Putting kibble in it was a great way to entertain an elderly dog with limited mobility, but it was basically the same as putting it in a bowl for Brisbane.

These days I sometimes put large dog biscuits inside the Wishbone. Briz had to bite the thing and break them order to get them out, much like his strategy for the Starmark Treat Ball. More often the Wishbone is part of our endless collection of freezer toys. I usually stuff it with a combination of peanut butter, cooked sweet potato, and banana, freeze it, and then give it to Briz before I leave the house.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 2/5 

We have the large Wishbone, and it doesn't hold very much kibble. I could fit perhaps half a cup in here, but a lot would fall out. This isn't really a meal-feeding toy, it's a treat-feeding toy.

Loading Speed: 3/5

I can sort of bend the Wishbone open and pour kibble into it, but only on one side, and not very much kibble. I haven't found an efficient way of getting squishy stuff into this thing, I always end up mooshing it in with my fingers and getting peanut butter everywhere.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 4/5

It took Josie a good ten minutes to get kibble out of this thing, and she could spend a long time licking peanut butter out of it.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 2/5

I'm always amazed how fast Briz can empty the Wishbone, even when the contents are frozen solid. It takes longer than a bowl, but not that much longer.

Size: 3/5

I can fit a decent amount of peanut butter and sweet potato in here, there's a ton of surface area but very little depth.

Durability: 4/5

I wouldn't give this to a dog that really enjoys chewing, and I would supervise any new dogs until I knew their chewing style very well. That said, ours looks brand new even after quite a bit of use. I expect it to be around for many years.

Noise: 5/5

This is another silent licking toy, it basically guarantees peace and quiet.

Locatability: 5/5

Brightly colored and does not roll at all. It stays where I put it, or where Brisbane feels like licking it. Either way, we've never lost it.

Washability: 4/5

The Wishbone can go in the top rack of the dishwasher, for those who have a dishwasher (grumble grumble), I haven't had any issue scrubbing it out with a baby bottle brush either. The grooves make it annoying, but not difficult.

Hoardability: 5/5

When the Wishbone isn't in the freezer, it's in one of Brisbane's lairs. He prefers a little privacy while he licks all the goodies out of it.

Total: 37/50

It's not the easiest or most efficient toy, and it doesn't keep Brisbane occupied for all that long, but it's still a regular part of the freezer toy collection. 

Puzzle Toy: Kong Quest Starpod

In my ongoing quest to keep Brisbane occupied, I own, have owned, or plan to own pretty much every food-dispensing toy on the market. It's worth mentioning that the number of toys I haven't tried is definitely the minority even as manufacturers introduce new products.

Admittedly the bright colors are mostly for my own benefit.

The Kong company is much-loved by dog owners everywhere. Their products are a staple of basic
dog behavior management, and Kong is a household name. Their product line is forever growing, and they recently introduced a couple of new toys that look like a lot of fun. The Kong Quest Starpod comes in two sizes and several colors, I have a large purple one.

The Starpod features a large central well and eight smaller satellite wells. The central well only has one opening, but the smaller circles are open on both sides. When I first spotted this toy at the store, I pondered what exactly one would cram into it. The smaller holes are way too big to contain kibble, and the big one would be emptied as soon as the toy flipped over. The Kong video shows Kong-brand treats, both soft chewy treats and the stuff that comes in the spray can. I've considered getting some Cheez-Wiz for rapidly stuffing dog toys, but my husband would probably eat it instead.

Stuffed with love. And sweet potatoes.

Stuffing all the little wells in the Starpod is actually kind of annoying. I usually end up using my fingers to smear stuff around the walls of the small wells and hoping it sticks. Microwaves sweet potato is a food toy staple around here because pretty much everything in the house will eat them (dogs, birds, turtles...) but Brisbane isn't madly in love with them. Our food toys usually end up stuffed with sweet potato, peanut butter, and occasionally leftovers.

I did find that I could stuff a very specific size of biscuit into the wells of the Starpod. It has to be small enough to fit in there, and big enough not to fall out immediately. The California Natural biscuits worked pretty good when I broke them in half, but that's an awful lot of effort for something Brisbane is going to pop out nearly as fast. It may have taken Brisbane a full five minutes to figure out how to get the first one out, and maybe 15 minutes total to get them all.

Doesn't everyone have a drawer of stuffed toys in their freezer?

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 2/5 

I can probably fit half a cup of squishy stuff in the big well.

Loading Speed: 1/5

It takes as long to smear each little circle with peanut butter as it takes Brisbane to lick it all off if the toy is frozen first.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 3/5

Josie spent quite a while slurping each individual circle clean.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 1/5

Sometimes I am too lazy to fill this toy.

Durability: 3/5

It's not hard rubber, and I wouldn't give it to a recreational chewer. 

Size: 4/5

Comes in two sizes, and wouldn't be a choking hazard for a nondestructive large dog.

Noise: 5/5

Blissful silence, except for all the slurping.

Locatability: 4/5

Might get nosed under the furniture, but it's not the type of toy that encourages nosing so it's pretty safe. I usually find it in Brisbane's livingroom lair. 

Washability: 3/5

It would probably go through the dishwasher just fine, but I don't have a dishwasher and scrubbing all those nooks and crannies is annoying.

Hoardability: 4/5

Brisbane typically drags it away to empty it, but then ignores it.

Total: 30/50

It's pretty novel, and I'm sure it amuses Brisbane to forage for peanut butter in all those little circles, but this toy sort of annoys me. Good thing it's cute. I'm pretty sure Kong designed these things to be attractive to humans more than anything else.

Cheapass Dog Fun: Food Packaging

There are lots of fun dog toys and dog activities out there, but unfortunately most of them cost money. They also tend to involve time and effort, and sometimes I am feeling sick, or lazy, or it's raining and my dogs refuse to go outside because they might melt. (We live in Southern California and they can easily go 8 or 9 months without seeing rain, so Brisbane and Ru always find it disconcerting.)

One of Brisbane's favorite, totally free, hobbies is shredding stuff. Josie enjoys shredding paper towels and toilet paper. Brisbane is only interested in shredding things that once contained food. He is also very good about not eating things that aren't food, so I never have to worry about him swallowing bits of potato chip bag or candy wrapper. This means that the vast majority of our food packaging takes a trip to Brisbane's lair before it reaches the trash can or recycling bin.

Empty cereal box? Hand him the entire thing and let him pull the bag out, rip it open, and lick the crumbs out. Restaurant takeout containers? Close them up tight and let him figure out how to open them to lick them clean. Empty peanut butter jar? Biggest Kong ever.

I wouldn't do this if Briz had a tendency to snarf down garbage along with his food. I am also careful to read labels and avoid giving him anything that might have traces of his allergens, or artificial sweeteners. Ru also occasionally enjoys a bit of shredding fun, but I am a bit more careful about traces of chocolate and other no-no foods because he is ridiculously tiny and therefore more susceptible.

Plastic bags can present a suffocation risk, so happy fun shredding time is a supervision-only activity. It also makes a mess and requires sweeping and/or vacuuming, depending on the type of floor. Still, it can add a few minutes of fun and problem-solving to Brisbane's day with minimal effort on my part.

Puzzle Toy! Treat Jack

Brisbane didn't eat out of a bowl for the first few years of his life. I firmly believe that just handing a dog a bowl of food is a waste of a perfectly good opportunity for enrichment. Briz is incredibly intelligent, and defeats most food toys in a matter of minutes. I like to keep him busy by trying new and different toys whenever I find them.

This is the Grriggles FUNdamentals Treat Jack. It is made from sturdy nylon (or maybe plastic, not totally sure there
is actually a difference) and is not tooth-cracking hard. It kind of reminds me of a Nylabone. Each side has triangular flaps forming a half sphere. The flaps are somewhat flexible, but didn't bend enough for me to shove a California Naturals biscuit through them. I could wedge the cookie halfway in. I could also drop pieces of kibble through the flaps without needing to bend them. I'm not entirely certain I could stuff this thing with peanut butter without getting it everywhere.

I originally shoved a couple of biscuits in the thing so they were sticking out. Brisbane rolled the toy around for a few minutes before picking it up by one of its arms and taking it to his livingroom lair. He had it emptied in maybe a minute. Next I tried a few pieces of kibble, he rolled it around and found that they fell out with minimal effort. Again, emptied in minutes. This is a nice quiet toy, we have some hard plastic kibble-dropping toys that are incredibly noisy so this was a nice change.

The Treat Jack doesn't have much capacity, it might take a quarter cup of kibble at most, dropped in one piece at a time. Capacity and loading versus unloading time are my biggest considerations for puzzle toys. Can I fit an entire meal in it? Does it take more time for me to fill then it does for the dog to empty it? This partly depends on the dog.

Josie was my next product tester, she spent several minutes sniffing and licking the toy before she experimented with nosing it around the floor. Once she discovered that it dropped food, she spent ten minutes carefully rolling the jack and eating the kibble one piece at a time. Josie has a very thoughtful and logical approach to food toys, and if getting the food out is too difficult she is likely to give up. I kind of assume this is what life is like with a normal dog. Brisbane is more of a frantic dog-genius who can empty anything in mere moments and quickly gets frustrated if he can't figure it out instantly. Obviously different toys get different results for these two. Meanwhile, Ru will barely eat enough to survive when coaxed, bribed, and forced. If he had to work for it he'd probably just starve.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 1/5
This is about a small as it gets.

Loading Speed: 1/5
One. Kibble. At. A. Time.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 3/5
Not bad.

Unloading Speed: (superdog): 1/5
Took longer to stuff than it did for him to empty.

Durability: 4/5
Ru the chihuahua is my only recreational chewer so this is really just a guess. I suspect a really powerful chewer would have those little arms off in a few minutes, but otherwise is seems pretty sturdy.

Size: 4/5
If Ru cared about puzzle toys he could probably manage to enjoy this one, and it didn't seem undersized for Josie either. I wouldn't give it to a power-chewing bulldog or a Great Dane.

Noise: 5/5
Brisbane brought it out to join us while we were watching a movie and the toy was totally silent while he rolled it around.

Locatability: 5/5
Briz carried it around a bit, but it isn't going to roll under the furniture and disappear forever.

Total: 24/40
I'm not going to be feeding meals out of this thing, or expecting it to hold their attention in a stressful situation, but it's a novely that can keep them quietly occupied for a few minutes at least.