Skippy's Puzzle

We finally found a toy that Skippy will actually play with. In my November 4th post, "No Cue How to Play," I lamented over having a dog that didn't understand the concept of "play". Well, nothing has changed, although now she sort of plays with new puzzle we got her called "Linkables".

It's quite simple; a treat goes in this rubber tube-thing and she has to try to get it out. So we are bribing her to play and tricking her into playing by disguising it as work. It's strange, but Jack Russells like to work and this seems to really utilize her severely lacking problem solving skills (remember how easy she gets stuck outside).

I love this video, because you can really see her determination to figure it out. I've shortened it to lapse some of the time it took her, which was about two minutes. Since then (about two weeks ago), she can get the treat in about 30-45 seconds, depending on how well gravity is cooperating that day. The neat thing about the puzzle is that you can get extensions for it to keep the challenge new. I think I'll hold off on the extras for now. This one sort gives me the feeling that my dog is really smart and since this feeling is new for me, I'm going to hold on to it for just a little longer.