14 Great DIY Dog Puzzles That Your Dog Will Love!

Are you looking for a quick and cheap way to entertain your pup? Look no further – we’ve got the perfect solution for you! This guide will cover the benefits of puzzles for your dog, how to make various DIY dog puzzles, and our advice on what works best with our dogs.

For our puzzle recommendations, we’ll include an estimated cost and any required supplies, and try to give alternatives where possible, just in case you like an idea but don’t feel like trying to make it. We’ll also detail how to scale the difficulty or make it easier if your pup isn’t catching on as quickly as you would want.

If you’re ready to engage your dog’s brain and provide them with some fun, keep reading for our collection of DIY dog puzzles! We’ve personally tried or actively use all of them and our goal here is to make these enrichment ideas as accessible to everyone as possible.

Benefits of DIY dog puzzles for your dog

Before we get into how to create your DIY dog puzzles, let’s touch on why dog puzzles are a great option to provide your pup with mental enrichment.

Mental stimulation

Most of us have likely heard someone say “I ran my dog for 5 miles and he’s still crazy!” Just like us, dogs can be physically tired, but not mentally tired. That’s why puzzles and brain games are great for your furry friend! By giving your pup mental stimulation, you can tire out their brain and have fun at the same time!

We specifically love DIY dog puzzles for this because of the variety of options to give to your pup. Just like with humans, playing the same game every day will get boring after you master how it works. With DIY dog enrichment, we can mix up the puzzles or modify the difficulty so that your dog doesn’t get too used to any one puzzle.

If you want more physical activity than brain games, check out our favorite indoor games for dogs! We use these with our pups anytime the weather isn’t enjoyable and typically use at least a few a day.

Always available for use

You may have heard the expression that the best ability is availability, and that applies here! One of the reasons we (and our pups) love using DIY dog puzzles over some other activities is simply the availability of them. Whether it’s rainy, cold, or your dog has a mobility restriction from the vet, there will be some DIY dog brain games that work for you and your dog’s situation.

One of our pups, Goomba, had multiple knee surgeries over a few years. Recovery from CCL surgery was quite involved, and he had varying degrees of mobility restrictions for a few months after the first surgery, and then had his second surgery! Goomba is very play-driven, so being restricted from his normal playtime was rough on him. Since we couldn’t tire him out physically during this period, we turned to mental enrichment. Mental enrichment is the primary way we could keep him entertained leading up to and recovering from surgery.

Most of the DIY dog puzzles we cover are inexpensive, as well! We wanted to focus on affordable DIY dog puzzles to help keep enrichment accessible to as many pups as possible.

Redirects boredom & anxiety-based behaviors

Another benefit of DIY dog puzzles is that they can help reduce negative behaviors from your pup. I’m sure you’ve heard the adage “A tired dog is a good dog”, but it’s close to the truth. A dog that has his or her body and mind tired out is less likely to engage in negative behaviors. If your dog is bored, they will most likely find something to entertain themselves with, whether it is chewing your shoes or furniture, or barking out the window.

According to VCA Hospitals, our go-to resource for medical information on dogs, foraging activities (like food activity balls, snuffle mats, licking, or other nose work) can decrease the frequency of unwanted or nuisance behaviors. This allows you to help encourage positive behavior and entertain your pup at the same time!

In our own experiences, we’ve been actively able to decrease Goomba’s reactivity by utilizing sniff work, typically with a snuffle mat. He has a great time while doing it and barks less from closer distances at people! Prim typically tags along, too, but she’s just there because she loves sniffing out kibble and other treats.

If you’re looking for something more active than most DIY dog puzzles to tire out your dog, check out our guide on how to make a DIY flirt pole! While not really a puzzle, our pups love it, it costs less than $15 and is great for smaller spaces.

Improves your bond with your pup

Any positive experiences, like DIY dog puzzles, with your pup will help you and your dog improve your bond. Having positive experiences doesn’t need to be some elaborate 4-hour hike through the woods (although some dogs would love that!) Bonding with your dog can be something as simple as a game of tug, belly rubs, or anything else that’s fun for you and your dog.

Giving your pup their first puzzle and then becoming frustrated because they couldn’t figure out an intermediate or advanced puzzle to start won’t help. Take it slow and start with the beginner DIY dog puzzles or with a behavior that you’re confident your pup already knows and some great treats. As your dog gets more confident with using their brain to problem solve, they’ll start to pick up on the puzzles faster and be able to handle the intermediate and advanced ones.

It’s important to shape the environment so your pup can succeed, especially at the beginning, to help your pup understand what you’re asking them to do.

Some notes on safety

Before we get started with our DIY dog puzzles, we wanted to call a few things out to make sure you and your pup have a fun and safe time. First, your pup should be supervised with any toy, not just puzzles. Almost any material is chewable if your dog tries hard enough and no one wants to deal with impaction or other similar issues.

As a general rule, we recommend trying to keep your toys or the pieces larger than your pup’s mouth to help prevent any accidental swallowing. Finally, if you want to know if a specific activity is safe for your dog, get in touch with your veterinarian or another relevant professional. They’re the experts, we’re just sharing what worked with our dogs.

Types of DIY dog puzzles

There are an almost infinite number of DIY dog puzzles for your dog to interact with, but they generally fall into one of three categories. The primary types are puzzles that use your dog’s nose, treat dispensing toys and problem-solving puzzles. Let’s get into each category a little more!

Sniffing based puzzles

Our favorite category of DIY dog puzzles (and Prim’s) is sniffing-based puzzles. For those of us with high food drive dogs, this is the easiest option and typically requires the least supplies. This category can range from something as simple as hiding kibble among toys to formal sniff work training. Our main objective here is fun, so we hang out somewhere in the middle.

A wide variety of choices are available for sniffing-based puzzles, so your pup can have an almost endless amount of options. Our most frequently used sniffing puzzles are our DIY snuffle mats. Depending on your dog’s level of motivation, you can use anything from regular kibble to Stewart beef liver, which is one of our pups’ favorite treats.

Some of our favorite ways to mix up puzzles involve changing the sniffing location. For example, we use the Best Friends by Sheri cuddler dog bed (Amazon, Chewy) as a “snuffle bed” to hide kibble and treats in. The bed is a little expensive, but it’s one of our pups’ two favorite beds and it’s washable. Both of our pups love hunting kibble or treats from it as well as napping in it. We highly recommend it and we’ll probably be acquiring another one in the future.

Treat dispensing toys

Treat dispensing toys are another great option to keep your dog’s mind active. Generally, these toys will require your pup to figure out how to get the treats out of them while moving around. If you buy treat dispensing toys premade, many will have adjustable difficulty levels, which is great since you can get a few different puzzle difficulties from the same toy. You can also easily change the level of reward in the toy, which makes motivating less food-driven dogs possible.

Some of our favorite options in this category are the Kong Extreme (Amazon) and the West Paw Toppl (Amazon). We’ve had ours for years and they hold up great, even with Goomba’s occasionally frustrated biting.

These are also easy to make, making them a great entry into DIY dog puzzles. All you’ll need is an item to hold treats or kibble and some kibble or treats.

Puzzle boards

Puzzle boards are perfect for dogs who love a challenge or if your pup is mobility-limited. These DIY dog puzzles have various compartments, sliders, or other hidden areas that will require your dog to use their brain to figure out how to get to the rewards. They come in a variety of different styles, sizes, and difficulty levels, allowing you to choose the one that suits your dog’s abilities. We consider anything that doesn’t involve movement in this category, even if it isn’t technically a board.

The first dog puzzle we ever purchased was this Outward Hound brick puzzle (Amazon). It was a great puzzle to start with as it isn’t too difficult. Goomba was particularly entertaining to watch until he decided that he didn’t want to use his brain anymore and would just remove the tops with his paws or mouth. Even with that, the puzzle has held up well. Prim’s a little more gentle with this one and generally interacts with it as intended.

Tips for getting started with DIY dog puzzles

Introducing your dog to puzzles should be a positive experience for both you and your dog. Here are a few of our favorite training tips to help make sure it’s fun for you and your pup:

Start with Easy Puzzles: Even if you have a smart pup, begin with simple puzzles that are easy for your dog to solve. This will build their confidence and help them understand the concept of puzzles.

Use High-Value Treats: Use higher-value treats that your dog loves to motivate them to solve the puzzles. This will make the experience more enjoyable for them. Some of our pups’ favorites are jerky, chicken, beef liver, and cheese! We usually mix in kibble with the higher-value treats to limit calories and provide additional rewards for them.

Reward Progress: When your dog makes progress or solves a puzzle, reward them with praise and treats. This will reinforce the positive behavior and encourage them to continue working on the puzzles. This is especially important in the learning phase of the behavior but helps throughout using puzzles.

Increase Difficulty Gradually: As your dog becomes more experienced, gradually increase the difficulty level of the puzzles. Don’t just jump from a beginner to an advanced puzzle because your dog solved it quickly one time. All pups are different and some are better at certain puzzles than others.

Remember, training should always be fun and stress-free for your dog. If your pup seems frustrated or overwhelmed, take a step back and try a simpler puzzle or one they’ve previously had success with before. We don’t get bonus points for our dogs solving the most complicated puzzles.

Our favorite DIY dog puzzles by difficulty

These simple DIY dog puzzles can provide hours of entertainment for your furry friend without breaking the bank! We’ll group these into relative difficulty levels and try to provide cost estimates and similar items, if you don’t want to make the DIY version. Most of these puzzles are easy to modify the difficulty, and we’ll mention how to modify the puzzle if it’s easy to do. Let’s get started!

Beginner DIY dog puzzles

For the beginner group of DIY dog puzzles, the goal is to introduce your dog to problem-solving.  None of these puzzles should be too difficult for your pup, but most have easy ways to scale the difficulty level.

The “find it” command

• DIY cost: free!
• Required products: kibble or treats
• Similar products: N/A

This is our recommended place to get started and about as basic as it gets for DIY dog puzzles. We use our “find it” command to indicate to our dogs that there is a food-based reward around them. To start, we recommend using higher-value treats and a relatively open area that will make it easier for them to find the treat. As your dog understands the behavior better, you can transition to less desirable rewards, if required, and make the rewards harder to find.

For our dogs, we typically scatter some assorted kibble or lower-value treats around the room they are in. We usually do this as a reward for training, after we end playtime, or when we ask them to come inside. Both of our pups love it and enjoy doing the behavior. Prim checks all of the common spots we throw kibble when she’s wandering around the house to find any Goomba may have missed. If your pup still needs some motivation, try using Stewart freeze-dried beef liver (Amazon) initially.

Her favorite spot is our “find-it pile” which is a pile of mostly destroyed toys that we use as a spot to make a low-cost foraging spot for her. We like it because we get some additional use out of the toys that our pups have lost interest in.

For more information about our find-it pile, check out our guide on how to make your find-it pile!

Muffin tin puzzle

• DIY cost: less than $20
• Required products: Tennis balls (Amazon) (up to 12) or similarly sized ball
• Similar product: Outward Hound interactive treat puzzle (Chewy, Amazon)

As far as DIY dog puzzles go, the muffin tin puzzle is a great spot to start for a beginner dog. It’s easy for you, cheap, and basic for your dog, as well. To set up the muffin tin puzzle, grab a muffin tin and place your dog’s favorite treats in most of the bottom of the muffin spots. After you place a tennis ball on top of the muffin slots, you’re done!

This is a fun one because you get a lot of different behavior from your dog when they are trying to move the tennis balls. We’ve seen them picking up and relocating, pushing with their nose, pawing, and even flipping! Ideally, we don’t want the flipping, but it’s still fun to watch the first time.

As for the supplies, you can generally find a bag of tennis balls somewhere for cheaper at a local discount store. The quality of the ball doesn’t matter at all, as long as they sit in the tin. If you want to modify the difficulty, this is one of the puzzles that is not as easy. Heavier balls, like lacrosse balls, can make this more challenging, but we generally recommend moving to a different puzzle instead.

If you’re looking for a pre-made option, check out the Outward Hound puzzle from Amazon. It’s essentially the same as the muffin tin puzzle, the same price, and is much easier to store than 12 tennis balls! The cons of this puzzle is that it isn’t easy to increase the difficulty level.

Frozen Kongs

• DIY cost: $15 for the Kong & less than $1 for each refill
• Required products: Kong Extreme (Chewy, Amazon)
• Similar products: West Paw’s Toppl (Amazon, Chewy)

This is another of the easier options for DIY dog puzzles for your pup since all they’ll have to do is figure out how to hold the Kong and lick until it melts, but it’s one of our favorites. We wrote a guide on both our favorite frozen Kong recipes and our favorite frozen Toppl recipes, which is a great place to get started, but you don’t have to freeze it if you don’t want to.

Kong extremes tend to stay around $15, but any similar hollow toy that is relatively durable will work, such as West Paw’s Toppl (Amazon). We find that the Kong extreme holds up best to frustrated chewing (looking at you, Goomba) better than anything else. We don’t use the Kong spray for this since we have other cheaper and healthier options to give your dog, but it’s also an option.

For what treats to put in the Kong, we generally use whatever dog-safe foods we have, blend them, and pour them into the Kong to freeze. Some of our favorites are cooked chicken, chicken broth, blueberries, and sweet potato or pumpkin with cream cheese. Our guide on frozen lick-mat recipes works even better for Kongs since you can use unblended foods.

Our dogs go crazy for Kongs or Toppls for about a half hour nonstop. We recommend using water to dilute the flavor, especially if you blend it, to help keep the calories down on these. They can get calorie-dense in a hurry!

Plastic bottle treat dispenser

• DIY cost: free, if you have an old water bottle
• Required products: Cleaned empty water bottle
• Similar products: Bob-a-lot dog toy (Chewy, Amazon)

Another great option for beginner DIY dog puzzles, plastic bottle treat dispensers are an easy way to start with interactive toys for free! All you’ll need for this one is a clean empty bottle. We recommend the thicker-walled plastic, but it’s possible with a thin-walled water bottle, too. The thicker plastic will allow the bottle to have some resistance to the inevitable biting or rough pawing from your pup. After you have your bottle, put some smelly treats in the bottle (leave off the lid) and let your dog figure out how to get them out by rolling or shaking the bottle.

If your pup doesn’t seem to have much interest initially, we have two different options. The first option is to try a higher-value treat. We’ve had good luck with Stewart freeze-dried beef liver (Amazon) if your pup isn’t interested initially. If you have a calorie-restricted pup, you can cut them up into small pieces easily to make them go further or leave the cap off the bottle. This allows your pup to smell the treats a lot better but can be a bit more challenging until your pup figures out how to pick the bottle up so they all drop off.

The second option is to poke holes in the water bottle to allow your dog to smell the treats better. Thicker plastic is much easier for this, but it’s possible with thin plastic, too. Any device that can go through plastic is fine, but make sure you’re careful when using it. We recommend combining these two methods initially for the best chance of success.

If you’re looking for a more durable & premade puzzle, check out the Bob-A-Lot (Amazon). It’s effectively the same thing, but much more durable and gives you a lot of different ways to mix up the puzzle difficulty. It’s particularly great for vigorous players & pups who like to use their mouths on puzzles.

DIY snuffle mat

• DIY cost: under $15
• Required products: Heavy-duty dish mat & fabric (<$10)
• Similar products: Pet Parents forager mat (Chewy, Amazon)

Our dogs love their snuffle mats! These are essentially a more contained version of the find-it behavior mentioned previously. Snuffle mats are great for mobility-restricted or older dogs and we used them consistently during Goomba’s CCL surgery recovery.

We find that sniffing helps them calm down and both our pups use them with regular kibble, which is great if your dog has calorie restrictions. After you make the mat, all you have to do is stuff kibble or treats in the fabric, making it an easy and low-cost enrichment activity.

This was our first real DIY for anything dog-related we tried and it’s easy to do, but does take a little bit of time. All you’ll need is something to tie fabric on, like a dish mat, and a few old blankets or other pieces of fabric. Here’s our guide on how to make your DIY snuffle mat!

If making a snuffle mat isn’t your style, no worries! The Pet Parents forager mat (Amazon) is affordable and works great, too. They even make a version that fits in a dog bowl (link to Chewy), if you want to slow your pup down when they are eating. We use it with a stainless steel dog bowl and it works great!

If you want to learn why we use stainless steel bowls, check out our guide to the best materials for dog bowls!

Towel roll puzzle

• DIY cost: free, if you have an old towel
• Required products: 1 hand towel
• Similar products: Treat puzzle roll (Amazon)

We love this DIY option because it’s easy to modify and extremely cheap. All you’ll need is an old clean towel that you don’t mind your dog using. Roll out the towel and place your treats of choice in the towel. Roll it back up and let your dog unroll it to find the hidden goodies. You can secure the ends with fabric or knots to make it more challenging if that would be more fun for your dog.

A modification we love is to get the towel wet and then freeze it! This extends the duration quite a bit by making the towel much harder to unroll and more challenging to get the treats. You don’t need to get it soaking wet, just damp enough that it’ll freeze. Prim loves any sort of sniffing puzzle and this one is no exception.

We have not tried it, but if you want a pre-made option, this Chewffon interactive toy from Amazon is our recommendation. We’ve heard good things about it and it’s on our list of supplies to buy for our dogs. We recommend trying the towel option before ordering it since the towel is extremely easy to set up and free. We like that the Chewffon option has pockets for treats to go into as well as velcro to help hold the toy closed.

Intermediate DIY dog puzzles using toys and treats

If your dog has mastered most of the beginner puzzles and is ready for a greater challenge, it’s time to level up with intermediate DIY dog puzzles. These puzzles require more thinking and problem-solving skills than the beginner options. Here are some of our favorite ideas to get you started:

Tennis ball activity ball

• DIY cost: $3 or less, free if you have a tennis ball around!
• Required products: 1 tennis ball
• Similar products: SodaPup treat dispenser (Amazon)

This simple DIY is a great way to use old tennis balls. Carefully cut the tennis ball with a slit around less than half of it and then place treats in it! The wider you cut it around the ball, the easier the puzzle will be. Your pup must figure out how to manipulate the ball and where to chew to make the opening “move” and drop the treats. You may need to use higher quality or smellier treats to entice your pup to keep interacting with the ball. Something like our preferred option of Stewart freeze-dried beef liver (Chewy) works great for this!

We like the SodaPup treat dispenser (Amazon) a lot for an alternative product. It’s much more durable and resistant to chewing than the average tennis ball but still is an intermediate puzzle for your pup to solve to get to the treats. Due to the larger & permanently open holes, your pup may have more motivation for the SodaPup toy than the tennis ball. If it’s too easy, you can seal off one of the holes with painter’s tape or something similar.

If you use tennis balls, you can also put multiple balls out at the same time. We like to stuff some and leave others normal to increase the difficulty!

Cardboard Activity Box

• DIY cost: free!
• Required products: only toilet paper or paper towel rolls and a box!
• Similar products: Pet Parents forager mat (Chewy, Amazon) 

Another great, low-cost option for DIY dog puzzles, a puzzle box is an excellent choice to start before purchasing more advanced foraging products.  All you’ll need to do is save up some used toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls and place them in a box.  Any box will work, but you’ll need fewer rolls with a smaller box.  Our box was around 8 inches by 8 inches in the image.

The idea for your pup here is a contained “find it” pile, but the items they are searching around stay in the box, making the difficulty higher.  If you don’t want to wait for rolls from used paper products, many other items can replace the rolls.  Bones or other chew toys make a great place to start depending on how many of those you have lying around.  

We generally get a lot of pawing, nosing, and sniffing with this one, but your mileage may vary.  Despite Goomba driving his nose into the center of the puzzle, it lasted much longer than we thought initially. If you have a pup who likes to wreck puzzles because it’s faster, we recommend placing in it an enclosed space like the corner of a room where that is a bit more difficult.

If you don’t feel like saving up toilet paper rolls, check out the Pet Parents forager mat (Amazon). It’s a snuffle mat and is our recommendation for a similar activity to the cardboard activity box.

Stuffed hollow bones

• DIY cost: $15 or less for bone and $1 or less per refill
• Required products: Red Barn Naturals (Chewy, Amazon)
• Similar products: WestPaw’s Toppl (Amazon, Chewy)

This was one of the first food-based enrichment puzzles we tried & stuffed hollow bones were an instant hit with our pups! All you’ll need is some hollow bones (we like Red Barn Naturals (Chewy, Amazon), and some food or treats to stuff in them. Our pups’ favorite options are chicken, sweet potato, or carrots. If your pup isn’t quite as motivated as Prim is for us, combing a little flavor from something like peanut butter or the Kong easy sprays (it doesn’t take much) can help get them motivated.

We like this puzzle since we get a nice tasty treat that our pups like and then get to reuse the same bone for additional enrichment options for a low price! You’ll want to make sure you get a bone your pup can’t choke on and supervise them during this activity.

If you want some additional ideas, check out our guide on using stuffed dog bones! The carrots with peanut butter work great if your pup needs low-calorie enrichment ideas.

The Toppl by West Paw (Amazon) is a great alternative to hollow bones if your pup can’t be trusted with bones. They take a little while to freeze but are easy to prepare, cheap, and our dogs love them! We usually get a half hour or more out of each one. We recommend checking out our article on frozen Kong recipes, as all of them can be used in Toppls, too.

Hide-and-seek

• DIY cost: free!
• Required products: N/A
• Similar products: N/A

Hide-and-seek games are not only a fun way to burn energy but also provide mental stimulation for your dog. We find this easiest if you have a good stay/recall command inside (check out Puppr if you need some help with this).

All you need to do is ask your dog to stay & then recall them to you after you get a chance to hide somewhere in your home. Using really good rewards or their favorite toy will help make this more exciting when you start. We also recommend starting with easy hiding spots and gradually making it more challenging as your dog becomes better at the game.

We love seeing the videos of someone’s pup trying to find their human! It’s typically a good time for everyone involved and works great if you have kids, too!

Advanced DIY dog puzzles

After your dog has mastered the beginner and intermediate puzzles, advanced DIY puzzles are the way to go. These puzzles require your dog to work at unlocking the rewards and use more of their problem-solving abilities. Here are a few ideas to challenge your pup:

Spinning bottle game

• DIY cost: $15
• Required products: a 1x4x8 & a dowel rod
• Similar products: Trixie mad scientist game (Amazon, Chewy)

This is one of the DIY dog puzzles we made out of some scrap supplies from around our home. We used a 2×4 (because it’s what we had), but a 1×4 would be more than enough and lighter. For our design, we cut 6 boards to be 16 inches each and then screwed them together as shown in the image.

For the rod in the center, we cut a 24-inch section so it would be easy to install and remove. For the hole for the dowel rod, we drilled through with a slightly larger bit than the dowl rod. It was a pretty quick DIY and was a great use for some scrap wood for us!

If you want a pre-made alternative, check out Trixie’s Mad Scientist Game (Amazon). It’s the same concept, just less work for you! Our only real complaint is that it is light enough that it’s easy to knock over. That’s an easy problem to fix, just put something heavy on the white plate and the problem is solved!

This game was surprisingly challenging for our dogs. Lots of pawing & nosing of the bottles happened, but not a lot of kibble came out at one time. We had to guide our pups with some paw and touch commands at the bottle to get them started. We’d recommend high-value treats initially to keep motivation high.

As an additional note, the shorter bottles worked better for us, but you can swap them out easily if you have a different experience.

Shell game

• DIY cost: free!
• Required products: 3 cups you can’t see through
• Similar products: N/A

For those of you with smart pups, we’d like to introduce the shell game. Most of us are familiar with this in some capacity and the concept is the same for dogs. The idea is you have a few different cups or similar shaped containers and then put a treat under one of them and your pup has to guess which one it’s under! It takes a little bit of getting used to, but most dogs will pick up the concept after a handful of attempts.

If your dog is having issues initially, you can get a few slightly transparent cups, get a real stinky treat, or leave the correct cup cracked slightly so your pup can smell the treat. We like to have our dogs touch or paw at the cup as our marking behavior, but whatever you want works fine. We find that nosing or pawing are two relatively natural movements for your dog in this situation so there are fewer behaviors to teach.

Puzzle box

• DIY cost: free!
• Required products: a small cardboard box
• Similar products: N/A

If you’re looking for entertaining DIY dog puzzles that you’ll enjoy, too, try out a puzzle box. You can take two different routes here. The first option is to throw a bunch of stuff your dog won’t eat along with a bunch of treats into a box and tuck the flaps in. When you give it to your pup, a lot of stuff will be moving around which will be more exciting than just a handful of kibble. Your pup will have to figure out how to open the flaps and then dig through the items to find the rewards.

The second option is to seal the box and cut holes in various locations and then load the box up with treats. We taped one set of the flaps down and left the other open to prevent some of the treats from getting stuck under one of the flaps. Your dog will have to figure out how to manipulate the box to get the rewards out. This is more advanced than the activity ball puzzles since there isn’t a good way to roll the box or a funnel to slide the treats into one of the holes.

You’ll typically get a lot of different behaviors with this one as your pup works through different ways to try to get the treats. We were very pleasantly surprised with how much Prim enjoys this activity, especially with how basic the supplies are. She loved it! It’s a great use for all those old Amazon boxes you may have hanging around!

Behavior shaping

• DIY cost: free!
• Similar products: N/A

This is admittedly a wide-open category, but we still think it’s worth mentioning. Behavior shaping is using a series of steps to teach your dog a typically more complex behavior. This is especially helpful with more complex commands or ones your pup is having difficulty with. In addition to this, you can teach your dog all kinds of weird and more complex behaviors like walking on their back legs or opening & closing doors behind them. The possibilities are endless here and it gives you a bunch of free upgrades to traditional obedience training.

Two of our favorites, although they aren’t particularly complex, are crawl and leg weave! Goomba’s great at crawling and Prim’s very quick with leg weave. Two of the more useful sets of behaviors we’ve used are the “go to” command with room names and the “other side” command. These both make shuffling your pup around the house much easier when it’s required.

We wrote a guide on how to teach your dog the “other side” command! It’s relatively easy and great fun for your dog if you have the space for it. Prim loves doing “other side” for cheese and we use it on bad weather days to help burn some energy!

Conclusion

DIY dog puzzles are a fantastic way to keep your furry friend entertained and mentally stimulated. From treat-dispensing toys to hide-and-seek games, there are plenty of options to choose from. Get creative, have fun, and watch your canine companion’s intelligence shine as they tackle these brain games with wagging tails! Your pup will thank you for the fun and mental exercise.

What are your favorite DIY dog puzzles? Share your experience with your favorite DIY dog puzzles with us on Instagram @TheRulyBully. We love hearing your stories and experiences!

Happy puzzling!