- Brain games can be a great way to teach
your dog some problem solving skills,
and in today's video I'm gonna show you
how to take this simple plastic container
and turn it into a really fun game for a dog
of any breed, of any size, of any age,
and any physical ability.
I'm Ken Steepe. This is Grand Slam.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
(puppy barking)
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Now the brain game toy that we're gonna make this week
is a really simple one to make,
and if you saw the brain game video we posted recently
you're probably gonna have a few of these lying around.
The brain game the food puzzle that we posted last week
or something included a bunch of tennis balls.
So if you have put that together
then you're gonna have these,
and if you haven't seen that video yet
then I'll post a link above me.
You can, you can check that one out,
but what you're gonna need for this DIY toy build
is an empty tennis ball container, a pair of scissors,
a sharp knife, and now I'm using a utility knife,
but if you have a really sharp kitchen knife
that's probably gonna work just as well,
and a few pieces of your dog's kibble,
and these are just gonna be for size reference.
Now the thing about this DIY brain game
isn't so much how you make it.
It's more how you introduce it to your dog,
and I'll show you in a minute just what I mean,
But let's get started.
First we're gonna cut a few little holes
into this tennis ball container
so that the kibble can fall out.
First things first, I'm gonna make a couple of cuts
into this tennis ball container.
Try and keep in mind how big that kibbles gonna be
so that it don't make a huge mess
when we do give it to one of the dogs.
Exercise caution when you're using these sharp knives,
'cause this container's a little bit flimsy,
and the last thing you'd want to do
is sustain any kind of injury
while you're trying to make one of these brain games.
Now while you're doing this
try to keep the majority of your holes
that we're putting in this tennis ball container
near the middle.
The likelihood is that your dog,
when your dog flicks it that this is gonna spin,
and we're really not looking for an easy payout.
If the container spins it's going to eject all
of the treats out everywhere,
and your dog's gonna be running around like a maniac.
What we want them to do is work a little bit
and figure out that rolling this container
is really what gets them that great treat payout.
So keep most of your holes,
and I hope you guys can see this okay,
keep most of your holes towards the middle,
you know, two thirds of this tennis ball container.
So there we go.
I've got four holes in the center of the container.
I'm not sure how well you guys can see that.
Hopefully you can kind of see it.
Maybe I'll put it, show the overhead camera,
but I think that there's enough holes in here
that the treats aren't gonna just go flying out
once I'm gonna maybe play this with Grand Slam
who you guys may remember from our last brain game video.
But the treats aren't gonna just, just gonna go flying out,
but they'll fall out if he figures out the right way
to make the toy work.
Pretty good. I'm pretty confident of that.
Okay, now the important part.
Let's show Grand Slam how to play this game.
I cleared a little bit of a space in the living room
so that Slam play with this brain game toy,
and I have brought up the handheld camera
so that I can you guys in and right on top of the action.
There are two little hacks that I can mention with this,
so in my short, the short amount of time
that I played tennis, the more expensive tennis balls
come with a much nicer container.
A little bit thicker,
it's just a nicer container in general.
So if you have a dog who will be crunching this,
or you find that the first one you made
it didn't last very long,
then you can buy a little bit more expensive tennis balls,
and you'll probably get a nicer container.
The other thing is if you have a dog who's crunching
and really working hard to get the food out of this
and it's actually taking them a lot longer
and they're damaging the toy, put more treats in it.
The more the toy pays out
the less likely they are to crunch it
and really knock it around like crazy.
So the less interaction they have to do,
the smaller the rolls, the more treats come out.
So keep that in mind.
More food equals less you know, destructive behavior
with a brain game like this.
Okay so I've plopped a couple
of Slam's kibble treats in there.
Some of his dinner we've portioned out,
and we're going to put the lid on,
and then we'll let Slam see if he can figure out
how to get these treats out of this brain game for him.
(anticipation drumming music)
(orchestral jazz)
Actually over the course of filming this video for you guys
Slam actually ate his entire dinner out of this brain game,
and he was able to have some fun while doing it.
So I hope you guys enjoyed,
and let us know in the comments below
if you have any other ideas for really great brain games
that you do with your dog.
Now if this is your first time on the channel
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
We publish new videos every single week to help you
spend some quality time with your four legged family member.
You see that video over there,
those are actually videos of other DIY dog things
that we've created for a YouTube channel
that you guys might enjoy watching.
On that note, I'm Ken, this is Grand Slam, happy training.
(orchestral jazz)