Keep Your Dog Busy and Engaged with the BUSTER Activity Mat

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great day! Today I have a review for you on an exciting new "puzzle toy" from BUSTER! My dogs absolutely love playing with puzzle toys and I highly recommend them for every dog owner. Puzzle toys are awesome because they work the mind and the body. They are wonderful to have on those awful winter days when it's raining too hard or it's too cold to spend much time outside. I also find them very useful for when I'm not feeling well and the dogs need something to do or when I want to take a break from training and just have some fun.

We recently had a few bad rainstorms, so bad that there was flooding in some places! My dogs hate the rain and they refuse to play outside. Having indoor activities for them to do is essential so that we don't all go stir crazy.

This is the BUSTER Activity Mat Starter Set! The starter set comes with three puzzles for the dog to solve and Buster offers around nine more puzzles that you can buy separately for when your dog advances past the first three. 

The Water Lilly

The Activity Mat has 35 press studs placed 10 cm apart. You can attach different tasks to the mat, most of them with varying levels of difficulty depending on whether you fold the tasks or leave them open. The whole idea for the activity mat is to hide food in the different pockets of the puzzles and then the dog has to use his or her nose and paws to get to the food. 

Phoenix is working really hard!

Zoe tries the Water Lilly

The Starter Set comes with these three puzzles: 

Envelope, Cone Cloth and Water Lilly

Water Lilly
Square task with pockets for treats. Each corner is folded towards the center and closed with Velcro. The task is attached to the mat with 4 press studs.

Envelope
This task consists of a square envelope which is closed with the stick. The task is attached to the BUSTER ActivityMat by 4 press studs. The dog must then remove the stick in order to solve the task and find a treat.

Cone Cloth
This task consists of a fabric cloth which can be attached to the BUSTER ActivityMat mat using the elastic band with a press stud at each end. You can make it into a cone or roll it with treats hidden in the middle for the dog to find.

Here's our short video of Phoenix using the Activity Mat!

Both of my dogs have had a ton of fun playing with the activities from the Activity Mat! It's been keeping them very busy. I also think it's awesome that Buster has more activities that you can buy separately and I'm planning on ordering more of them soon!

On the back of the Activity Mat it has some non-skid material on there so that it doesn't slide around the floor while your dog is playing with it.

The Carrier Bag is as big as Zoe!

The Activity Mat Starter Set comes with a handy bag that is great for storing all of your dog's puzzles and it's also helpful for carrying them around to new places.

Overall I am really happy with the BUSTER Activity Mat! It's on a whole new level from all the other puzzle toys we've tried. This one makes them work so hard to figure out where the treats are. You can really see their noses and brain working. It keeps them busy for a decent amount of time and if you watch the video Phoenix was still thinking and searching even after she got all the treats out.

I would not recommend leaving your dog unattended with the activity mat (or any puzzle toy, really), it's best that you stay and monitor them while they are using it and then put it away when they are all done. The mat is really sturdy and can take some punishment but my dogs had a tendency to want to chew on the wooden dowel that comes with it as you can see in the video. I didn't want to encourage that so I asked Phoenix to give it to me.

I would highly recommend checking the Activity Mat out and getting one for your dogs! I also think it would make an amazing Christmas present for any dog owner in your family. Every dog can benefit from playing with this.

Update: We tested this toy on my friend's Belgian Malinois and he had a great time playing with it and it held up to Malinois teeth. I'm sorry I didn't snap a photo of it! It was way too dark in the house to get good pictures.

ZoePhee was provided with the BUSTER Activity Mat Starter Set in exchange for an honest review. We were not monetarily compensated and all opinions are my own. BUSTER is not responsible for the content of this blog post.