You Don't Always Need To Buy Dog Toys
It turns out you don't need to spend any money at all to have play time with your pup. Just use a towel and some treats to keep your corgi entertained.
Monty loves play time almost as much as he enjoys barking at nothing. In the past, we've bought him everything from elaborate puzzles to cheap nylon tuggie toys (the fox is his favorite). As it turns out, however, the best toy was sitting right in our bathroom cabinet. Wait for it...a towel!
That's right. This household item, that most people already have handy, is one of the greatest dog puzzles ever. As a lover of all things frugal, this really speaks to my soul. The concept is simple. You lay it out, put treats in it, roll it up, tie it into a knot, and give it to your pup. Then you sit back and watch them go to town trying to untie the towel and extract the treats.
At first, when my partner showed me this trick, I was skeptical that Monty would be able to untie the knot – it was really tight! But I underestimated Monty's love of treats. He's figured out how to untie even the mightiest of towel knots in less than fifteen minutes.
This wasn't always the case, though. When we first presented him with the towel knot puzzle, it took him about thirty minutes. At times, he would have to take breaks and recoup his stamina to get it undone.
With practice he has developed an interesting two-pronged technique. First, he seems to start at the ends and bury his snout between the loose ends of the towel. He'll repeatedly dig with his snout at the knot from within. Maybe this loosens it? Then, he'll grab it by the loose end and flip it up in the air repeatedly. I'm not sure if this is just out of frustration or actually a sound method of unknotting. Maybe I'll try it sometime.
Once the knot is loosened through these maneuvers, he'll simply grab at the knot and tug. He's rewarded with a bounty of small treats, and he couldn't be happier.
What do you think? Can your pup untie knots, or is Monty really just that smart? I've included a step by step on how I lay out the puzzle so you can join in on the fun.
If you try this out, let me know how your pup enjoys it.