Tycho would rather work for his food from the ball than eat from his bowl!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Keeps him busy and out of our hair.
Amusing for both the dog and owner.

Cons: Can be annoying to fill with food.
Hard to get the last few kibble out.

The Bottom Line: 
One of the best purchases we have ever made for our dog. He loves it and we love it. We would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Author's Review
We have a very active and energetic mixed-breed dog. We're pretty sure he is at least half lab (and if you are reading this review you probably know that lab puppies have two speeds--fast forward and dead asleep). When he was a puppy we knew some people who had recommended the Buster Cube to keep him busy and give him some "mental stimulation" as he would have to figure out how to get the treats/kibble out of the cube.

Apparently our dog isn't very smart as he never figured out the Buster Cube. We saw this particular treat ball at PetSmart and thought, "what's another $15 on the dog at this point?" So, we brought it home, filled it with his food and let him go to town with it. Sure enough, he figured this one out instantly.

The ball itself is a medium-sized 5-6" diameter with spherical indents that allow my dog to pick it up quite easily. It might be too large for a very small pooch and I sometimes wish it were a little bigger for my rapidly growing dog, but it does work for what we need. It is made of a durable vinyl. My dog is one who can destroy a black Kong in a matter of a half hour, but for some reason he has never felt the need to chew on this particular toy, so I can't really say whether it would stand up to vigorous chewing. He does pick it up and carry it around and has never left a mark on it.

We really can't say enough good things about this treat ball. We leave it out and he bats it around every so often if he wants a snack and we always know if we are late with his dinner. We give him dinner in the ball almost every night.

The only con we could come up with is that it can be annoying to fill. It is easy at first, but all of the food has to go in through the hole at the top and as the ball fills up it starts to block the opening at the bottom. You really need to shake and bang it on the floor, even push the food in with a finger to get a full meal in. Tycho only gets about a cup and a half of food at dinner time, but I have to work to get the whole cup and a half in sometimes. My husband usually won't even bother, although Tycho will usually bat the ball around, almost in defiance if dad puts food in the bowl instead of the ball!

We loved this ball so much that we bought one for my Mom's golden retriever, Duke (who happens to be a serious couch potato). Duke usually won't eat off the floor, but when he was first introduced to this toy he happily rolled it around and ate food off of the floor!