After I rescinded my top dog toy pick for the 2009 holiday season because the plastic was too hard and noisy, I went with the Busy Buddy Twist ‘n Treat from Premier instead, as Lilly’s main gift. It came last week, and I’m sad to say it is WAY too easy, even at the hardest setting. The kibble literally pours out. Help?!
{photos missing due to massive blog glitch. sorry}
When the toy is entirely screwed together, the opening looks a bit like the plant (Audrey) from Little Shop of Horrors (above). I may try tightening it even more so that the opening is offset some … to make it harder, but I fear that the kibble won’t come out at all, which makes the whole thing an exercise in utter frustration.
I feel like the Goldilocks of dog gifts. Too hard. Too easy. Too this. Too that.
I actually interviewed the toy designer at Premier for that history of dog toys article. I may dig out her email or phone number and ask, “What the heck?”
Still, I love that the two-piece toy comes completely apart for cleaning. I’m way overdue to soak and scrub the other food-delivery toys. Sure, I’ve been off-the-charts consumed with other things, but it’s also a major pain.
Thanks, Miriam, for the idea. I appreciate it.
Sam gave me hope, but then KB bummed me out. I guess we’ll keep it and give it a try with just kibble, but as soon as Tom saw the design he immediately thought it was stupid. He is smart about those things.
I also got them some dried-lamb-wrapped sweet potato treats, so that’s something I guess.
The truth is that Lilly thought the toy was pretty fun, when I showed it to her briefly. Maybe it’ll work out for us.
I’m with Dog Geek with regard to the dog only load!
I’ve hated my twist’n’treat. It’s good for nothing… too easy for kibble, too hard for frozen canned dog food. And then, after freezing it a few times, the threads got stripped. It seemed like such a great idea when I first saw it but, sadly, I agree with you about it.
I have this thing too, Roxanne, and honestly, it had to grow on me. I didn’t like it at first at all.
However, now I use it pretty often for Marge’s meals. The kibble does come out pretty quickly if the holes are lined up like in the first picture, but if I screw it on the way you did in the second picture and that makes it harder. It does still come out, though.
Sometimes I align it somewhere in between the two. This isn’t going to make any sense with me explaining it, but I SORT OF line up the holes but make it so that they don’t perfectly overlap. That seems to be the best way to do it.
I just ordered: kibble nibbles, treatstiks, amazeaballs and dog pyramids which I intend to write a big post about comparing all the above and including molecule balls (my dogs’ fave), tugajugs, home made kibble dispensers (Jellybean has been enjoying an empty plastic cranberry juice bottle w/ kibble) and now Miram has reminded me that I need to pick up a Tricky Treat Ball 😉
After the holidays though!
Okay, obviously that should read “kongs” and not “kings” We generally don’t let our dogs chew on kings, honest…
I usually soak all the kings and goodie ships in the sink to get any big chunks out, and then run them all through the dishwasher. (Dog-only load? Um… Erm… sure… yeah, that’s what I do…. dog only load, definitely…)
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751743
this is an awesome product. I have to get the name of another one. keeps all dogs busy and I have several ages all of whom love it.