Like many canine enrichment games, the Hide N’Slide dog puzzle by Nina Ottosson is designed to hide treats or kibble and challenge your dog to “unlock” the rewards! Nina Ottosson’s philosophy is that dogs and cats have four legs and one head. All five need exercise in different ways, both physically and mentally. Puzzles like this are a wonderful way to exercise your dog’s mind!
With the Nina Ottosson Hide N’Slide food dispensing canine enrichment puzzle, you can build your dogs’ self-esteem and encourage their natural foraging instinct to hunt and work for their food.
Nina Ottosson puzzles come in four levels of difficulty. The Hide N’Slide is a Level 2 puzzle and suitable for all dogs. Although this is my first Nina Ottosson puzzle, I went straight to level 2. My dogs solve homemade puzzles (like my DIY busy boxes) all the time so I picked the Hide N’ Slide to give them a new challenge.
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My Dog Mom Review of the Nina Ottosson Hide N’Slide Puzzle
Working on this puzzle together builds trust and a stronger bond between me and my dogs. If you do fun things like this with your dog they will associate you with fun things and be even more in love with you! Plus, you’ll feel like a proud parent when your pup learns to get better at solving this puzzle.
The Hide N’Slide is best when you supervise and encourage your pup to solve it. The first few times you might need to show them how the flaps swivel and the caps slide.
If you have food-obsessed dogs, like my labradors, they might try to chew on the puzzle or use their teeth rip off the lids. This is not a chew toy. So, if that happens I encourage my dogs to take it easy and show them how they can gently slide the parts around.
What I love about the Nina Ottosson Hide N’Slide Level 2 Dog Puzzle:
- There are no removable parts which makes it safer for my dogs.
- This puzzle is made with a safe composite material that won’t splinter or crack.
- This puzzle has options! With the different compartments, you can experiment with where you hide food or what kind of food reward you use.
- I also love that it’s a pretty quick puzzle to solve so it’s easy to work mental enrichment time into our day.
- This puzzle works great as a slow feeder, so I’ll often use it to give my dog their dinner.
What Treats and Food Can You Use in the Hide N’Slide Puzzle?
For the Hide N’Slide you want to use kibble or treats that fit in the hole on top of the sliders. I feed my dogs Stella & Chewy’s Raw Coated Kibble. Those kibble pieces are a perfect fit! Click here to get a $5 off coupon on us! If you want another option, I think Zuke’s Mini soft training treats or PureBites Mini would also fit perfectly.
For the compartments under the swivel flippers, you can drop in a dollop of canned food, a smear of plain canned pumpkin or a little yogurt. But most of the time I just drop in more kibble pieces!
Can you use the Nina Ottosson Hide N’Slide as a frozen puzzle?
For an added challenge, the Nina Ottosson website suggests freezing canned food or a water/kibble mix in the puzzle compartments. So I tried that! But it made the puzzle so difficult that it was frustrating for my dogs.
They tried to pry and scrape out the frozen food with their teeth. The compartments are so small I was worried they would break the puzzle or possibly chip a tooth! I ended up taking the toy away because it was too difficult. Then it was hard to clean the frozen bits out!
Overall, I would not recommend freezing food or water inside this puzzle. Canine Enrichment should be challenging but not frustrating.
Try this instead: If you want a cool treat incorporated into the Hide N’Slide, you can freeze food in small silicone molds then place the frozen treats in the puzzle compartments so your dog can get them out.
Are Nina Ottosson Puzzles Easy to Clean?
I hand-wash this enrichment puzzle with warm soapy water after each play session and let it air dry. If you can submerge the puzzle in warm water that will help clean out any crumbs that end up in the nooks and crannies.
If you’re growing your collection of dog enrichment puzzles and toys, I recommend getting a set of small bristle brushes like this. They really help keep your dog toys clean! I also have some Kong cleaning tips on this blog post that you can check out.
Ready to try a Nina Ottosson puzzle for your dog? I’m really happy with theLevel 2 Hide N’Slide, but you can check out her website to get more advice on what puzzle is right for your dog. Check out the tips on that page to adjust the puzzles for puppies, small dogs, large dogs, flat nosed dogs, injured dogs and more!
>> You can find the Hide N’Slide on Chewy, Amazon and Petco. Make sure you grab some small treats that fit in this puzzle like Zuke’s Mini or PureBites Mini.
Love this post? Check out these canine enrichment ideas, too:
DIY Busy Box Toy
Make Your Own Snuffle Mat for Dogs
Kong Stuffing Hacks to Mix Up Your Routine
Canine Enrichment Doggy Cannoli Recipe
Where to Shop Local for Stella & Chewy’s
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This post contains affiliate links. I only link to products I believe in and I truly appreciate you supporting my blog by shopping with my links!
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