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Toys fall into two categories: interactive and pacifier. Interactive toys are toys that are the most fun to play with YOU. Pacifier toys are toys designed to keep a bored dog occupied.
Since dogs are naturally curious, it is important to provide your dog with both types of toys. When left alone, dogs tend to come up with their idea of fun. This is usually followed by frustrated dog owners calling dog trainers to help fix the problem. In addition, dogs need to eat at a slower pace to prevent digestion problems from arising. So when we saw the ‘PAW5’ Rock ‘N Roll Dog Bowl, we had to contact the company and ask if we could test it.
According to the company’s description, the Rock ‘N Bowl works like a toy-bowl hybrid by filling the bowl with up to four cups of food and having dogs sniff, nudge and shift it to receive the kibble. The bowl design builds off your dog’s natural hunt and forage instincts while it stimulates and challenges your dog’s mind. Perfect, we thought.
Once we received the bowl from PAW5, we started testing. The bowl is made in the USA using FDA-Compliant BPA and phthalate-free plastic. It breaks down into 3 pieces: the grey lid with pawprint shape, the colored outer bowl with the holes, and a lower rubber-coated piece that removes for the dishwasher, making it easy to clean. The size of the bowl we received was 8-inches in diameter with ¾-inch holes in the pawprint indentation.
What we discovered
We had several clients and staff members try the bowl out on their pets. Kibble varied from 1/4 –inch to 1/2- inch in size. Dogs were wide-ranging in size, breed, and food drive.
No matter what type of kibble, we could not keep 4 cups in the bowl. Larger kibble worked better than the smaller in staying on the top. Smaller kibble poured through the bowl and quickly on the floor.
The bowl did create longer mealtimes but also caused a large mess in doing so. Fast eaters hit the bowl once or twice, spread the food all over the floor, and then ate from the floor. Slower eaters did much better. They would methodically rock the bowl to gather the kibble from the ground around the bowl. The cats who tried this feeder felt the bowl was too much of a hassle to get the food and meowed their complaints to their owners.
Rock ‘N Bowl is a lot easier to clean than a wobbler-type feeder. We were able to take the grey paw indented piece from the bowl. Unfortunately, we never figured out how to get the bottom portion apart, but the dishwasher still cleaned it beautifully.
As far as a “puzzle” feeder, the term might be being a little generous. Most of the dogs figured that out in about 2 seconds. All they needed to do was pop it over and dump the food out. The food falls out very easily, so it might be better for a smaller dog that needs less food or for someone that feeds smaller portions multiple times a day.
Overall comments included the testers didn’t feel the bowl warranted the $30.00 of value since it didn’t provide much mental stimulation for their pets, and the food came out and spread on the floor much too freely.
Acme Canine gives this product 2-paws up for a great concept that may need tweaking to appeal to a larger audience of dogs.
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Welcome to Spike’s Dog Blog by Acme Canine. Throughout the site, you will find a variety of helpful dog training articles, insightful dog behavior tips, and truthful product reviews from nationally-recognized canine trainers and professionals.