Puzzle Toy Review: Puppies R Us Adjustable Treat Spinner

I found this Puppies 'R Us Adjustable Treat Spinner on uber-clearance at PetSmart, and for $2 I couldn't say no. It's part of the ultra-cute "make puppy toys look like baby toys" concept that capitalizes on our desire to humanize our dogs as much as possible. This toy looks like an adorable spinning top. It is intended for kibble and kibble-sized treats, and can be adjusted to make it drop more or less food as it moves.

Photo by Erin Koski

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 1/5

It's really quite difficult to load more than ~10 pieces of food into this toy without it all spilling out.

Loading Speed: 3/5

We learned from the included instruction sheet that the clear part on top can be unscrewed, but it took an enormous amount of effort accomplish that. Doesn't make it much easier, though.

Photo by Erin Koski

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 3/5

Most of the food just sort of falls out of it as soon as you touch it, even with the aperture set quite small.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 2/5

It took Brisbane slightly longer to empty this toy than it does for him to eat a bowl of kibble.

Size: 2/5

This to is marketed for puppies, but would work well for small dogs too. Ru could certainly use it with ease. It's a bit small for anyone bigger than Brisbane, though.

Durability: 1/5

It turns out all that soft plastic is super fun to rip off, according to Sisci. I had originally taken this to be a fairly durable toy that could be left unattended with normally non-destructive dogs, but Sisci spent about ten minutes shredding the rubbery coating off the bone-shaped top bit. The bottom is

It only looks like a chew toy.

covered in blue rubbery stuff which also took some damage. Structurally the toy is fine, but aesthetically it's not quite as cute now.

Noise: 4/5

All that soft rubber makes this a fairly quiet toy on hard floors. At least before they shred it off.

Locatability: 3/5

The fact that it's a top means it tends to stop rolling before it ends up under the furniture. However, the convenient bone/handle on top makes it very easy for the dogs to carry around and drag away to their lairs.

Washability: 5/5

Comes all the way apart for easy cleaning. Not dishwasher safe, though.

Versatiliy: 4/5

The size of this toy makes it usable for rats, bunnies, and other small animals. The complexity makes it usable by ravens and crows, and we will be passing it along to our friend Xhuuya the raven now that Sisci is done demolishing the pretty bits.

Photo by Erin Koski

Total: 28/50