Puzzle Toy: Starmark Treat Dispensing Chew Ball

The Starmark Treat Dispensing Chew Ball is a hollow, flexible ball with two holes for shoving treats inside. It is also made to be used with the Starmark Interlocking Treats. It bounces and floats, and smells nice at first.

Photo by Erin Koski

Way back in 2005, I was working at a pet store when the Starmark products first came out. Originally there was the Everlasting Treat Ball, made to be used with hard chewable treats called Everlasting Treats, along with Every Flavor Treats and this ball. At the time it was called the Everlasting Fun Ball, and I don't think the interlocking treats hit the stores until later. Our Treat Dispensing Chew Ball is almost 9 years old and gets used at least once a week, so far it hasn't shown any signs of wear in all that time.

The Treat Dispensing Chew Ball feels really flimsy, but it's actually pretty tough. It's not indestructible though, and I'm certain a real power chewer would destroy it quickly. The ball is very flexible and hollow, it's surprisingly thin-walled. On each side there is a four-lobed opening that stretches very wide. This makes it useful both for dispensing small treats and larger biscuits. The video on the product website shows that the opening can be cut larger for dogs who have trouble getting treats out. (It also shows the Every Flavor Treats before Starmark got all serious and renamed them Pro Training Treats.)

Brisbane usually gets small treats and kibble out of this thing by biting down on it and shaking it. This opens the hole on the opposite side and the treats fall out easily. I don't usually use this to feed kibble, though. Normally I grab a couple of hard dog biscuits and shove them in there. These will not fall out, and to get them Briz has to break them up by biting the ball, and then shake it until the pieces fall out. He empties it pretty quickly, but it's a nice little project for him to focus on while we're leaving.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 3/5

We have the Medium ball, 2.75" in diameter, and I can fit about half a cup of kibble in here. The Large ball is 4" in diameter and would fit a lot more, but Briz would have trouble picking it up.

Loading Speed: 4/5

This would have been a 2/5 because I am used to loading this thing up one kibble at a time, but the helpful video on the product page shows how a funnel made from a soda or water bottle can be used to fill the ball very quickly. I do have issues with kibble just falling out the other side. It's also super fast to just shove a couple of big low-calorie biscuits in there on my way out the door. 

Unloading Speed(standard dog): 4/5

This took Josie a while to empty out, and she enjoyed nosing it around even when she didn't feel like standing up.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 2/5

Brisbane can empty the ball in under 10 minutes no matter what I put in there. Kibble just falls out the openings anyway. Crunching up big biscuits takes a few more minutes, but this isn't a huge project for Briz.

Durability: 5/5

I've heard that some power chewers have destroyed these things, but ours has lasted almost a decade and still looks brand new. Brisbane bites it very hard to break the treats inside, but the ball shows no signs of wear.

Size: 5/5

The Medium ball we have is great even for Ru the chihuahua to nose around in search of treats. The ball is flexible enough that I don't have to worry about someone getting their lower jaw caught inside. The Large ball is big enough that it shouldn't present a choking hazard even for gigantic dogs. 

Noise: 5/5

Totally quiet, even when bouncing around the house. Heavy enough to be thrown pretty far, light enough not to do serious damage if it hits anyone. 

Locatability: 1/5

The only reason I don't use this toy more is because it has a tendency to roll under the furniture and get lost every time. I should try the Large, it looks too big to fit under the couch.

Washability: 4/5

Dishwasher safe for those who have a dishwasher. It's also pretty trivial to scrub this thing out with a baby bottle brush, but getting the brush back out always sprays soapy water everywhere.

Hoardability: 4/5

The first place I look for the Chew Ball is in one of Brisbane's lairs. If it's not there it has probably rolled somewhere obnoxious.

Total: 47/50

I love this little ball, it would get daily use if I could find it more often. I plan to buy a large one, and I will definitely be replacing this one if it ever gets damaged or (more likely) lost.

Product Review: RC Pets Step-In Harness

The RC Pets Step-In Harness is a back clip harness made from nylon, with a colorful tape pattern overlay. The harness is durable, washable, and looks great.

Photo by Erin Koski

I love RC Pet products because of their tape patterns. They make flat buckle collars, martingale collars with and without chain sections, big fat buckle collars, wide martingale sighthound collars, leashes in three lengths,harnesses, and also collars, harnesses, and leashes for cats. There are also treat bags, a collapsible water bowl, and a bear bell. All of these products come in matching RC tape patterns, so you can make just about everything match. I absolutely love the Maltese Cross pattern, and we have a martingale collar and a flat buckle collar in the same pattern.

I love the way this harness looks on Brisbane. The center strap between his front legs is adjustable, so it fits him very well. However, the rings for the leash are not set right beside the buckle. Instead, they are on 2" long straps that make the leash rings ride high above his back. This makes the buckle assembly very heavy. With the leash attached it is relatively easy to keep the buckle on top. I don't use this harness on occasions when I plan to take off the leash but leave the harness attached, because the heavy buckle assembly rotates the whole harness around and end up beside his elbow.

Pros: Durable, bright design does not fade or stain even after lots of abuse. Comfortable step-in design is easy to use. Tons of options for dogs with 10-40" chests. Lots of matching accessories and gear. I see a lot of RC Pets collars on dogs at work, and I yet to see one that showed signs of wear.

Cons: Long leash ring straps make the buckle heavy and prone to sliding to the side. Whoever designed the step-in harness has never actually tried to get a dog (or toddler) to deliberately step into anything.

Bottom Line: I use this harness when I'm feeling stylish, but I like the design of the Lupine step-in more because the buckle generally stays put. This was Brisbane's regular walking harness for several years, but now we're both in love with Norway harnesses. I think they're the wave of the future. If RC Pets comes out with one I will definitely buy it.

My Dog Growls at Me When I Sit on the Couch

Way back when he was under a year old, Brisbane began to growl at people when they sat on the couch beside him. I was part of an online dog training community, and the consensus was that I needed to immediately revoke all of his furniture privileges and put him on a strict regiment of earning everything he found rewarding. No more casually hanging out with my dog, I needed to be ready to correct and guide him at every moment, and when he fully respected me as a leader he would no longer believe he owned the couch.

The thing was, Brisbane didn't feel very secure laying on the floor when we lived with my parents because there weren't a lot of places for him that were free from foot traffic. I could tell that Brisbane was very worried about being stepped on, and that he preferred sitting on the couch because it got him away from feet.

Around the same time the couch growling started, I had a behaviorist evaluate Brisbane. She told me that his behaviors were very respectful and that he always yielded space to people. He wasn't growling because he believed the couch was his to control. As we were discussing this, Brisbane was snoozing beside me on the couch. I leaned over to kiss the top of his head and he growled at me and then jumped off the couch and retreated to the floor without any move from either me or the behaviorist.

"He's hurting and he doesn't want to be touched." The behaviorist told me that Brisbane was being avoidant rather than possessive. This wasn't a dominance issue, it was a dog in pain with no appropriate way to communicate his fears. Growling isn't a sign of disrespect, it's a dog's way of communicating that he is not comfortable with the situation. We knew that Brisbane had some sort of back problem, though we hadn't yet identified it. When he was sore, people sitting on the couch often jostled him. He learned to be afraid of people sitting next to him, and he was growling to communicate that.

The solution for Brisbane's "couch guarding" was to teach him an alternate behavior. He needed to know that he could remove himself from the situation instead of growling. I taught him to hop onto the couch on cue, and to hop off on cue. "Sofa!" "Off!" "Sofa!" "Off!" In this case, 'off' was just another trick in his impressive repertoire. When someone sat next to him on the couch, they could order him off the couch without making it a negative experience. The cycle became (human sits on couch)->(human asks Briz to do his 'off' trick)->(Briz gets praised for doing his trick). At the end of the cycle, Brisbane is no longer in a situation so stressful he feels the need to growl, and nothing bad happened so he doesn't need to worry as much next time it happens. Had I addressed the issue by attempting to reclaim the couch by forcing him off, it would have gotten worse as he learned to anticipate a negative confrontation along with the stress of having someone sit next to him.

From practicing this routine over and over, Brisbane learned that he could remove himself from the situation when someone makes him feel stressed by sitting near him. He has not growled at people over furniture for years because he knows he can just get up and leave. He does tend to leave in a big huff sometimes, but he's confident because he has a way to de-escalate what he feels is a stressful situation.

I once saw Victoria Stillwell address this issue on "It's Me or the Dog" in a way that I also liked. In her case, the dog in question was a toy breed that would snarl and lunge at people sitting on the couch. Victoria Stillwell explained that approaching the dog head-on was threatening, and the dog was afraid. She had the dog owner's husband walk slowly backwards and sit on the couch, keeping his back to the dog at all times. Sure enough, the little yorkie found this much less confrontational and hopped off to avoid being sat on. This might not work for every dog, but it certainly worked in their case.

I had a somewhat similar experience getting a ride with a friend of a friend. She had just arrived in town and we were all going to ride to town in her car. The only problem was that her dachshund was buckled up in the backseat, and he was barking and lunging as soon as I opened the door. He felt trapped, with no way to escape, and here was a strange person invading his space. As we were in a hurry, I just kept my back to the dog while I climbed into the other side of the backseat. With no pressure to greet or interact with me, the dachshund quickly got comfortable with my proximity and decided I wasn't so bad after all.

Would any of these tactics work on a dog that truly felt possessive of the couch or car? I don't know. I've never met a dog with that issue. I do know that many times behaviors that are based in fear are labeled "dominance", with an entire lifestyle change prescribed in an attempt to alter the dog's attitude. To be honest, it doesn't even really matter why the dog is growling at people on the couch, to me the fix is still the same. Teach an alternate behavior, move the dog in a non-threatening manner, de-escalate the situation, and address the specific issue at hand rather than seeing it as a lifestyle or attitude problem.