Reddit reviews PetSafe Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom Dog Toy - Slow Feeder - Treat Dispenser

Dog puzzle feeders.
My dog gets his dinner from toys everyday. I rotate between OurPets IQ Puzzle Ball, Kong Wobbler, Magic Mushroom, and Tug a Jug, since those are the slowest dispensing as well as easiest to fill. I also have a load of other ones but found them to be too easy for him (One minute to empty Buster Cube on "hardest" difficulty vs average 20 minutes from the toys I mentioned). I used them everyday for about 5 to 6 years and never had to replace them.( Then again, my dog is not much of a chewer of hard plastic.) My dog LOVES getting his food from toys to the point of actually almost refusing to eat while giving me a very sad disappointed face when I just put it in his bowl. He has fun and they tire him out (he is panting after every meal). Win for me.

My lab/pit Ella can't go to dog parks either as she's leash reactive (so like, actually getting her to the dog park is the issue) but she's young so she has craaaazy energy! We feed her both of her meals in either her kong wobbler or her "magic mushroom", we switch it up on her a lot so she doesn't get bored of the same puzzle feeder over and over. She's a pretty heavy chewer and hasn't been able to destroy either one!

We also freeze kongs for her pretty much every day, we'll put cottage cheese (her favorite) or broth with some cut up apples in it. Like I said earlier, she's a power chewer! So this keeps her mouth busy. She also gets beef trachea, nylabones, Himalayan chews and bully sticks. Chewing wears her out because she stays so focused.

The other thing we do is looooots of mental stimulation. We play hide and seek in the house, we'll hide her toys for her to find them, we do lots and lots of training, and we just try our hardest to make her use her brain! Our trainer once said 15 minutes of training is equal to 45 minutes of running in terms of exhaustion, so we've taken that and rolled with it lol.

ETA: here's a link to the magic mushroom on amazon! https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Buddy-Mushroom-Dispensing-Medium/dp/B00520EJXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506283184&sr=8-1&keywords=magic+mushroom+dog+toy

Here's a great comment with an overview some food toys.

I like to rotate through several different toys. She gets a quieter toy in the morning so as not to annoy our downstairs neighbor - usually her Omega Ball, Orbee-Tuff Snoop, or homemade snuffle mat. In the afternoon she might get the Bob-a-Lot, Magic Mushroom, Tug-a-Jug, or IQ Ball.

they're really great. Scout KILLS antlers, I won't even buy them anymore, they're not worth the cost to chew time ratio. And she turns up her nose at the wood chew toys.... Also if you haven't tried kong wobblers, and/or mushroom dog toys, I would recommend them!

Sure!

My partner built him something like this.

I also got him these two puzzles that I only give him when I'm home, just for safety reasons: this "level 2" one that he solved in 30 seconds and this "level 3" one that he hasn't quite gotten the opening drawer part down yet.

He also has this treat ball that he LOVES, but I don't recommend if you live in an apartment/condo with hard floors.

His favorite that he carries around and chucks down our stairs to open is this mushroom.

He also gets kongs with peanut butter in them.

Amazon gets a lot of my money. Lol.

• Labs are notoriously fast eaters, so maybe a puzzle toy? Here are some good ones: 1, 2, 3. You can also never have enough Kongs, and they're sold at big box pet stores.
  
• A cool fetch toy might be fun too, like a Chuckit or a Ball-on-a-Rope. You can find Chuckit products at the big box pet stores. I like the ball-on-a-rope for training...I can throw it, tug with it, dangle it like a flirt pole, and it fits in my pocket. This Frisbee is good for training too because I can fold it up and put it in my pocket. Plus it glows in the dark and floats!

This is all great. I think you have a good chance at success with some tips here and some hard work. One thing you didn't mention in this update post is food toys. Freezing in a kong takes extra time but isn't tiring for their brain or body. You could invest in a couple feeder toys that will work his brain and make him move around during mealtimes, and lots of them are actually less work than freezing a kong. For example:

Kong wobbler
Mushroom toy

If you can supervise him outside, you can also just scatter his kibble and make him sniff it out to eat. Using his nose to find food will wear out his brain really, really fast!

Hmm..Make sure it's something yummy - maybe try something you haven't before ie - peanut butter if you use wet dog food, my dog loves plain cream cheese and yogurt in his (low fat/fat free). Some dogs also just might not enjoy the kong for one reason or another, there's plenty of other food puzzles. My pup's favorite non-kong food dispenser is the magic mushroom

I feed out of a wobbler or a mushroom, i would highly suggest these over a slow feeder, unless maybe your dog is really senior. There are a variety of slow feeders, ranging from ones with a simple ball placed in the middle to ones that are quite tight and like puzzle map, you will only know what your dog can do by trial and error. Mine definitely can get in to small creases, but she has a very short tongue and so anything long (like a PB jar) she really can't get through. And yes, my dogs face would be flat against it.

I would agree that settling into a routine seemed to help the most with our grey. It took about 3 months for her to settle and for the separation anxiety to fade. We also got her some puzzle toys that we give her only when we leave. She now knows that we give her a toy before we leave and we always come home. The best one I've found is this one but we also have this one and this one.

I use this one, which has stood up to a TON of abuse and holds more food than the ball-shaped ones (though probably less than the large kong wobbler). It's great and very engaging since they have to both turn it upside down and then right side up to dispense the food.

If he's decently food motivated, there are toys where the dog has to work to get the food out. Some examples-

IQ Ball

Starmark Bob a Lot

Magic Mushroom

Nina Ottosson has a line of puzzle toys. (These are more on the expensive side though, but there's a range of difficulty)

These are just a few off the top of my head... If you do a search for puzzle toys, there should be other posts with more suggestions.

If you leave the rawhides out all the time, he might just be bored or just used to them, so they're no longer a treat. If he has access to them at any time, there's nothing really special about them anymore which maybe why he ignores them.

Can't answer anything area specific but I'll link some toys/beds/products my dogs like.

Food Dispensing Toys

• IQ ball. My dogs eat all their meals out of this one. It is quite loud on hard floors.
  
  
• Bob-a-lot.
  
  
• Magic mushroom
  
  
• Tricky treat ball
  
  
• Kong Wobbler
  
  Puzzles
  
  
• Twister
  
  
• Tornado. This one is fairly easy.
  
  
• Chess 3
  
  
• Move to pull
  
  
• Brick. Very easy but good starter puzzle.
  
  This is a nice bed for dogs who like to burrow/get under covers. They also like beds similar to this one.
  
  Food is up to you. Do some research online and read through ingredients to find a good one. One of my dogs gets Orijen and the other gets Wellness.
  
  I definitely recommend you seek out some training classes. They are also good for socialization in a controlled environment. It's a great way to bond with your dog and really fun to advance through different classes and class types.
  
  The toys my dogs like are beanie babies and kleenex. If your dog is a chewer then don't waste money on stuffed toys.
  

I'm a dog walker and it can be a fantastic service if you find the right one. It depends on what you want for your dog, so have a look around if you just want a lead walk there are plenty who do that. I do social outings (~4 dogs at a time) and we go to off leash parks/beaches. If you want a social group do some research, look online, also asking people at your local dog park. They will often pick up which walkers are engaged with the dogs and really play with them as opposed to those who just stand around talking/playing with their phone.

Puzzle toys are also a great option, if my dog isn't with me at work she generally has a raw meaty bone or chicken carcass and a puzzle toy. Our favourites include the Bob a lot, the Magic Mushroom, the Kibble Nibble and the Buster Cube. A lot of the other types became too easy after she figured out the tricks, these consistently take a while to empty.

I don’t use those in particular, my current go tos are the tug a jug, Magic mushroom, and game changer.

I usually show him that kibble comes out and let him go to town. If he seems to be having trouble, I’ll usually show him every couple of minutes what to do but he usually picks it up pretty quick.

I introduced him to them pretty much as soon as I brought him home at 9 weeks. He very rarely gets a meal in a bowl. It’s pretty much training and puzzle toys when I’m feeling lazy.

I have a Shepherd and a Lab! Here are some of the hits at our house:

TREATS

• Honestly anything you'd feed to a small dog works for a big dog too. Dogs find several small treats more valuable than one big one.
  
• Plato Wild Caught Baltic Sprat is one of my go-to high value rewards right now. They're dehydrated fish, about 3" long, so they can be fed whole or broken into pieces. They have a less visually offputting product called Hundur's Crunch but it's out of stock indefinitely while they fix a supply chain problem.
  
• Anything flavored like green tripe is also popular at our house. It's stinky and gross and packed with nutrients!
  
• Bully sticks are the primary natural chew around here. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You may have to take the last little bit away so he doesn't swallow it whole.
  
  TOYS
  
  
• The #1 toy right now is the Puller...it's a rubbery ring that can be used for fetching, tug, or frisbee-type tricks. Really versatile toy. I wouldn't let a dog play with it unsupervised though, because the rubber wouldn't stand up to sustained chewing.
  
• Flirt poles are a lot of fun! Here is a really nice premade one, but you can make your own pretty cheap with a horse lunge whip and a stuffy toy tied on the end. Dogs that like to chase birds/squirrels will generally love playing with a flirt pole.
  
• This is a food/toy hybrid, but there are tons of puzzle toys out there to make mealtimes a little more enriching if his dog eats from a bowl. We really like the Bob-a-Lot, Magic Mushroom, and Soda Pup Can Toy (filled with wet food and frozen).
  
• For non-edible chews, my dogs are working on this block of tree root.

Second vote for the Tug a jug, Buster Maze also the Mushroom are also good the Bobs A lot Also works great as it has variable settings for difficulty. Puzzles like this are great but they tend to be useless once the dog figures it out.

I think the good medium is to reserve soft toys for interactive one-on-one play with you, and put them away when you're done playing. Ropes and fleeces are good for that purpose. If it feels soft then it's also chewable.

If he likes the squeaky noise the plush toys make, you could look for rubber toys that squeak.

• This sort of thing might work: https://www.indestructibledog.com/collections/squeaky-toys/products/good-cuz?variant=209859133
  
• Since you mentioned tennis balls lasting, there are squeaky tennis balls. Kong makes them in both fuzzy and rubbery varieties.
  
  If he likes dismantling toys, he may appreciate toys that have things inside for him to tease out and remove, like these. I use these ones with squeaky tennis balls to get my dogs' interest in them.
  
  
• ball within larger ball
  
• ball within rubber tube
  
• ball inside cage
  
  If he likes chasing things, he may enjoy a jolly egg
  
  Food is always a hit. You've already got a kong (stuff that with food for him!) so maybe a puzzle ball?
  
  
• buster cube is a classic for feeding kibble.
  
• kong wobbler and magic mushroom are both good tumblers for kibble.
  
  Dunno what your position is on feeding raw, but, raw meaty bones are great for dogs like this. The plush toy shredding/eating behaviors are almost exactly the same as the behaviors exercised pulling shreds of meat off of raw bones.

My dog would do the same thing. He is supper sound oriented with his food. The one I found he liked was this one. He could see the food and he could hear the food and I could dial up the difficulty when needed. Might be worth a shot.

This is the one I use most often.
https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Buddy-Mushroom-Dispensing-Medium/dp/B00520EJXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491934265&sr=8-1&keywords=busy+buddy+mushroom
You can adjust the difficulty. It's hard plastic though, so if you don't have carpet it makes some noise when they toss it around.

This - make eating fun, engaging, and mentally stimulating!

My guy eats every single meal out of either a Kong or one of these. I do a lot of work and mental development with him, and if I could only do one thing, it would be the practice of active feeding.

I very seriously cannot recommend it enough. The mental exercise every meal seems like nothing, but the dog is not only doing it a few times a day, every day, but also getting rewarded for problem solving. If you want a smarter, more resourceful, calmer, and happier dog, practice active feeding!

Our husky ... and I suppose most huskies ... is very odd with her eating habits.

• She will sometimes choose NOT to eat from a certain bowl. Put the food in a different bowl - No problem. Eats it up.
  
  
• Sometimes she wont eat her kibble from a bowl at all but will eat it from the floor or a plate.
  
  
• Sometimes she will only eat kibble from her food puzzle.
  
  
• She is picky with her food and sometimes will choose not to eat at all unless we change her food.
  
  Etc, etc, etc.

How about a treat dispensing toy?

IQ Ball

Omega Tricky Treat Ball

Planet Dog Mazee

Busy Buddy Magic Mushroom

Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble

Busy Buddy Tug a Jug

Kong Wobbler

Bob-a-Lot

sorry - totally spaced on this!!

this is my personal favorite, but we also rotate between the following:

kibble nibble

tug a jug - but we removed the rope

buster cube - this one is pretty tricky and may frustrate pups new to feeding from a meal dispensing toy