Hagen BIONIC Treat Shaker - S

The Hagen BIONIC Treat Shaker is a puzzle toy for dogs that treat ordinary puzzle toys as snacks. The food pocket is deep enough to hold a real portion, and the shape is reinforced where a determined dog bites.

Key Features

• Deep Treat Pocket: Takes dry food, soft food, paste or a filling you have frozen in place
• Defensive Geometry: BIONIC's patented shaping absorbs bite and chew force rather than concentrating it on an edge
• Floats: Usable for water retrieves as well as indoor work
• Three Sizes: Small, medium and large, so the pocket suits the mouth using it
• Dishwasher Safe: Top rack of the dishwasher, or hot water and a brush. Rubber holds the smell of old food, so wash it after anything greasy has been inside

About The BIONIC Range

BIONIC toys are built around what the maker calls defensive geometry -- thick ribs and curves placed so that a bite lands on the strong part of the shape rather than on a thin edge. The material is a rubber-like polymer, harder than a latex squeaky toy and more forgiving than nylon, and the whole range comes in the same bright orange.

Getting The Size Right

Pick by the dog, not by the price. A toy small enough to sit behind the back teeth can be swallowed or can block the airway, so when a dog is between two sizes, take the larger one. A toy that is too big simply gets ignored, which is the safer mistake.

No Toy Is Indestructible

Hard rubber toys last far longer than soft ones, but every one of them has a limit. Check this over whenever you pick it up: a split along a seam, a chunk missing or a chewed-down edge means it goes in the bin, not back in the toy box. Swallowed rubber does not show up on an X-ray and is a common reason for emergency surgery. Dogs that destroy things in minutes should only have a chew toy while someone is watching.

If You Stuff It With Peanut Butter

Check the jar first. Some peanut butters are sweetened with xylitol, sometimes listed as birch sugar or E967. It is harmless to people and can kill a dog from a very small amount -- it causes a collapse in blood sugar and can damage the liver. Use a plain peanut butter whose only ingredients are peanuts and perhaps salt. Freezing a stuffed toy makes it last much longer, and whatever goes inside counts as part of the day's food, not as an extra.

Who Makes It

Rolf C. Hagen was founded in Montreal in 1955 and is one of the largest privately owned pet product companies in the world. Its brands include Catit for cats, Dogit and Zeus for dogs, Living World for small pets and birds, Exo Terra for reptiles and Fluval for aquariums.

Good To Know

• Start easy. A dog that cannot get anything out of a new puzzle toy in the first minute often walks away and will not try again -- load it loosely to begin with.
• Feed puzzle toys separately in a multi-dog house. Food toys are the commonest flashpoint between dogs that otherwise get along.
• Mental work tires a dog as much as physical exercise, which is useful on the days it is too hot outside to do anything else.