If you spend much time on Facebook (or read Sophia Yin’s blog) you might have already heard about the Foobler. The Foobler is an innovative new interactive puzzle feeder for dogs.
I have many clients with young, active dogs. These clients are often interested in training or consultations because their dogs are spending too much time getting into trouble – they chew things up, dig holes in the yard, bark at everything that passes by, or engage in other unwanted behaviors. Often these dogs are very bored and do not have enough physical activity or mental stimulation. For these types of dogs, I often recommend that the owner feeds the dog in some sort of interactive food-dispensing toy, such as a Buster Cube or Tricky Treat Ball. Letting a dog forage for his food is a great way to keep him physically and mentally busy!
The Foobler is a food dispensing toy, but with one important twist. It has six compartments for treats or food, rather than just one. Even better, you can program the compartments to become available at certain time intervals throughout the day. So, you could set the Foobler so that one compartment would become available every hour. Then, at the beginning of the hour, a bell rings, letting your dog know that more food is available. If you’re planning to leave your dog home alone all afternoon, this gives you the ability to give him a fun game to play every hour for six hours. Pretty cool.
The Foobler is not available for sale to the general public yet. The creators are currently using the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to generate the money needed to start producing the Foobler. Check out their Kickstarter page and if you like what you see, I encourage you to support the project. For a $45 pledge, you can even receive your own Foobler once production starts.
As of the writing of this blog post, the creators have raised a bit more than 75% of their $40,000 goal. It looks like this project has a good chance of getting funded, but the creators need your help to get the rest of the way there. So, if you think the Foobler sounds like a great idea, please support this project and share it with your friends. I’ve already pledged, so look forward to reading a review of the Foobler on my blog sometime in the future!
Watch on YouTube: The Foobler