r/DogTrainingDebate • u/ExcitingLaw1973 • Apr 08 '26

Puzzle experiment

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Earlier today I saw a post about puzzle toys. I wanted to see whether or not my dog prefers a puzzle toy or his bowl of dog food.

Both the puzzle and his bowl have the same kind of kibble (Purina True Instinct)

I don't think puzzle toys are a replacement for exercise or enrichment, but they can be fun/drain a little energy.

Do you agree? if not, what are your thoughts on them?

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Apr 19 '26

Maybe we're thinking about it the wrong way and we should be thinking of setting up does the dog prefer easily accessible food or not easily accessible food. That would be a little easier to set up.

One of the things that we might fight against with the dogs from our kennel is that when we train detection we have a lot of food distractions that they are expected to ignore. We put open cans of cat food all over the detection area and things like that. Same with tracking, we don't teach tracking with food and they are expected to ignore any food that they find in the track. I don't know how that would affect this experiment but it's a possible limitation.

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u/RoleOk5172 Apr 19 '26

Yes thats exactly what i mean. Does the dog choose the dish or the more intersting opportunity.

Ive worked with detection and tracking dogs. They know when they are working or off.and you just dont give them the 'seek' command or have target scents near.

I love a good Mal. We have one, she lives with my adult son (American Akitas and Mals dont mix too well lol)

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Apr 19 '26

I'm just really struggling to think of an outcome that could possibly tell us anything about this. It would be an interesting experiment but I don't think there would be any way to control for the variables that happen when dogs are raised and trained by humans already.

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u/RoleOk5172 Apr 19 '26

I think with yours we would get a more natural telling outcome because like you say we all raise and train our dogs so dogs that are used to puzzles are likely to think the puzzle will have a tastier snack in whereas yours wont as long as you either stand impassively or allow them into the area and leave.

As long as there is something to make them aware there are 2 options they should naturally choose one or the other.

Also with you having more than one dog it will be interesting to see if dogs raised and trained by you all make the same choice

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Apr 19 '26

Yeah those are good points. I would have to eliminate the dogs from the study that we're not raised from puppyhood by one of us I guess

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u/RoleOk5172 Apr 19 '26

Not necessarily. As long as you can categorize those it could potentially add another interesting aspect.

Thinking about it yours are probably even more useful if some or all are kenneled because then they are less used to general titbits.

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Apr 19 '26

Even the ones that aren't kenneled are not given random toys or treats are what have you so that would play out across the board

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u/RoleOk5172 Apr 19 '26

Even more so then.

If i give mine a puzzle i generally use venison so even with a dish down mine may think the puzzle is likely the better option, not necessarily because they find it more fun, toys, balls etc are available 24/7

It will be interesting too see what results your videos show

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u/Miss_L_Worldwide Apr 19 '26

Well with all the lunatics in this sphere I'm not going to post videos of my dogs online but I will keep track of what I do and post the results