Huddlepaw Puzzle Board — Treat-Dispensing Slow Feeder for Dogs & Cats

A bored dog is a busy dog, and rarely in a way you enjoy. The chewing, the digging, the barking at nothing, the skirting board that used to be straight — most of it is a brain with nothing to do. Twenty minutes of real problem-solving does more for that than an hour of walking.

This is a flat board with 16 treat wells hidden under sliding covers. Your pet has to work out which ones have food in them, then move the right piece to get at it. That's it. No batteries, no assembly, no app.

Three ways to play

• Seek & Hide — drop treats into the wells and slide the covers shut. They have to sniff out which ones are loaded.
• Spin & Slide — the centre disc turns, so treats shift position. The puzzle is never quite the same twice.
• Slow feeder — tip a whole meal in. A bowl that normally disappears in thirty seconds becomes twenty minutes of work, which is easier on the stomach of a dog who inhales dinner.

Start on the easiest setting. Move up when they solve it too quickly — and they will.

The details

• 10" × 10" × 1.3" — it lies flat on the floor, about the footprint of a large dinner plate
• Nothing comes off. No removable pieces to swallow. The sliders are built in and fold flat.
• Four anti-slip pads so it doesn't skate across the floor while they push at it
• Dishwasher safe, top rack — and you'll want that, because kibble dust gets everywhere
• Works for cats as well as dogs. Cats tend to prefer the sliding covers to the spinner.

One thing we won't pretend about

This is a puzzle, not a chew toy. It's moulded plastic. If your dog's approach to any new object is to destroy it, this is the wrong product and we'd rather tell you now than take the order. Supervise the first few sessions with a strong chewer.

For everyone else — the dog who follows you room to room, the one who starts pacing at 4pm, the one who eats like the bowl might be taken away — this is twenty quiet minutes and a tired brain.