DIY brain games

November 8, 2020

Brain games are a great way to provide mental stimulation and enrichment to your dog’s daily life. If your dog will work for his daily food you can use part of his daily ration for the brain games. Below are some ideas for games that can be made from common household items.

Get an empty roll and a piece of fabric, for example a cloth. Your pup might choose to destroy the roll to get to the food or slide the roll off the cloth. It’s all up to your dog but remember to avoid frustration. We don’t want to have a destroyed roll because we made it too difficult. Easy level is with the roll at the end of the cloth. Difficult is with the roll in the middle.


We’re building on the idea of the one roll towel puzzle. This time it’s a long cloth, a towel, and more rolls. How to start it depends on how familiar your dog is with each part of this game.

Beginners: If your dog is completely new to the concept of rolling out a towel for treats you might want to start with that one. So, start this game without the rolls on.

Intermediate: Your dog knows the towel game and possibly 1 roll around a small rolled up cloth. Start the game with 1 or a few rolls around the towel.

Advanced: Your dog is familiar with the towel game, also with 1 roll or more around. Start the game as depicted, fully loaded with rolls. As always, when doing food puzzles with your dog remember to help them if they get stuck in order to avoid frustration.
For this one you can use fabric pieces or paper, anything really to wrap up treats and stuff the rolls with.
Leave small bits of material outside of the roll to make it easier for your pup. You can also make it harder by completely packing the rolls.

Make the game easy and leave one roll out or difficult by completely filling the box.
Leave it up to your dog how they want to solve the food puzzle but help them if they get frustrated.
Get enough toilet paper rolls and stack them in a box.
Then, scatter the box with your dog’s food or tasty treats.

Have fun!