Everyone wants a smart dog — until you get one and start doubting yourself because smart dogs require you to be smart, too. Ignorance is bliss; intelligence is tedious.
Tucker has the brawn and the brains, which makes finding appropriate puzzle activities a challenge. He’s capable of thinking his way through a problem, but if he gets impatient he can also just smash the problem to pieces.
Such it was with the puzzles his daycare provided him with in North Carolina in 2016. They were well thought-out challenging puzzles, but they were made of thin wood intended to be non-toxic. Which, yay for eco-friendliness and non-toxicity, but they don’t hold up to the jaws of a smart but frustrated pitbull.
In 2017, I found the Trixie brand puzzles made of plastic and not wood, and I bought a couple for the holidays. The standard Chess Game wasn’t too difficult for Tucker to complete, so I upped the ante with the Move2Win. He’s been playing it for over seven years from coast to coast; it’s one of the staples in his luggage on every tour. With many gameplays logged, we thought it was about time to give it a review.
Trixie Move2Win
Game Play
The Game Board features four unique challenges to get to the hidden treats:
1. Push the small towers off the top.
2. Pull the two front drawers open with the small rope handle.
3. Push the lever side to side to slide the side drawers out.
4. Move the lever around the corners to slide the front drawers out.
Due to the varying levels of difficulty within the game, even if all four tasks haven’t been accomplished, the dog is still able to have a few wins. I think Tucker added his own challenge: How far he could flick the towers off the top. I never measured it, but he did send those pieces a few feet in the air.
The Human Touch
The game board is easy to load up with treats. Due to the drawer height, not all treats will fit. I find that air-dried dog food (for example, Ziwi Peak) works best since the pieces are pretty flat. Vital Essentials Nibs also fit, but nothing taller than that.
Note: Tucker’s treats are mostly just high end dog food. I’ve concluded that a dog’s determination on whether something is a “treat” or a “meal” is based solely on presentation.
Your part in the game goes beyond just the setup. This isn’t a plug-n-play game, this is an interactive game between you and your pooch, at least in the beginning. Every dog learns differently, so there are various ways to teach them the puzzle, and only you know how much or how little direction your dog likes.
For Tucker, I showed him how each thing worked (flicking the tower off, pushing the lever, pulling the handle). Then I let him at it. He isn’t a dog who likes to be helped; he wants to figure it out himself. The only time I intervene is if he knocks the whole gameboard around enough to dislodge the drawers or get them stuck deep inside, or if he grabs the gameboard by the knob and lifts it off the floor. None of those actions are under the heading “help” for Tucker, so he’s fine with that.
In teaching the game to my current foster dog, I’ve had to show him how the pieces work a number of times, and he still repeatedly asks me to show him again. He seems to prefer more involvement from me that Tucker did.
When the game is over (I usually do two or three rounds and end on a win), cleaning entails dish soap along with a paper towel or rag. It can be difficult to clean deep inside where the drawers sit, but if you use solid pieces of food, there shouldn’t be muck inside the game board; it’s just dried excitement saliva on the outside that you need to mop up. Here in Southern California, the pieces air dry pretty quickly and are ready to go for another round in a few hours.
Is It Tucker-Tough?
Only recently did Tuck slam a piece so hard into the floor that it cracked.
To its credit, it’s seven years old and travelled about the country enduring many different climates and weather extremes inside luggage. It’s reasonable that eventually it would wear out.
The knob has gotten the brunt of Tucker’s frustration. When he doesn’t remember to push the knob with his nose, he grabs it with this teeth. If it’s just to move it, it’s fine. If it’s to pick it up, I intervene before he can inflict too much damage. I think it’s held up pretty well.
My current foster dog is using his claws often and sometimes putting a lot of weight on the game board as he figures how to get the drawers out. Claw marks can be seen, but the plastic is holding up and not cracking.
Tucker’s Take
The video advertisement had a Border Collie running through the paces, showing off their MENSA level brainpower in under twenty seconds. I didn’t expect Tucker, the pit bull mix, to be at the same level. But I was wrong.
Tucker attacks every challenge with glee. And unlike the puzzles he had had at daycare, the hard plastic of the Trixie game board and pieces aren’t easily marred by his teeth or talon-like claws. Also, the product doesn’t dissolve from his copious saliva during game play.
Even with all the years of playing, I can’t confirm that Tucker really understands the game, but he is always excited when he sees me load it up. I suppose you don’t need to understand something in order to have fun with it. As soon as I set it down, he rushes in to immediately knock the top cones off as if he is timing himself.
Then onto the post to get the side drawers. If they don’t open all the way, a giant nail from his huge paw can slide it open.
He opens the drawers with the string handle easily, which I find surprising as it’s a tiny string that he needs to pull with his massive canine teeth. Even with his wide pittie muzzle, he can get the treats out of the small disk-shaped holes in the drawers using his tongue.
The biggest challenge for him is getting the lever around the corner to knock out the two front drawers. It’s hit or miss. Sometimes he gets it instantly. Other times, he struggles. And let me tell you, he does not want my help.
He will sometimes try to lift the whole gameboard with the lever and slam it down, which, admittedly, will work to dislodge the drawers, but I feel that falls outside the rules of engagement. Or he uses his front paws to try to gain purchase on a little sliver of extended drawer, but it doesn’t always work. When I show him how to push the lever as a reminder and reset the drawer, he thinks I’m mocking him and he gets more frustrated. He wants to do it himself. So I’ve learned to say, “Time Out,” reset the drawers and let him go on without another word from me.
I always let him finish the game. And he always does. On his own.
Pros
- Provides challenges for multiple skill levels.
- Durable.
- Space-efficient; easy to pack flat.
- Interactive game that isn’t training.
- Teaches that a dog has agency.
- Builds confidence and skills.
Cons
- Difficult to clean in crevices.
- Not all treats will fit due to drawer height.
- Not for every dog – some dogs just don’t enjoy it.
- Not a plug-n-play game; requires human interaction (both a pro and con depending on what you're looking for).
Working With The Canine Demographic
This is not a chew toy or roly-poly object that dispenses treats — the type of toy that you hand to a dog, show him how it works once, and walk away. This takes some learning on their part and some teaching on your part. Dogs who already use their paws and mouths to manipulate objects are more likely to catch on quickly.
Due to the variety of challenges within the game, you can work in any order or all at once. Knocking the towers off is an easy win. Choosing to teach pulling the string on the drawer or knocking the knob to push the drawer first is a matter of knowing what your dog excels at. The string could be pulled by a toenail or by the teeth. The knob can be hit with the nose or a paw could also be used. Think about how your dog uses their own tools to get things done. Watching your dog is one of the best things about this game — you get entertained too!
The only downfall is that once dogs have permission to take the first step, they will start to see that they can affect their environment, even outside of the game. It’s one of the reasons I have only taught Tucker to close drawers and doors, not open them. If I teach him how, he’ll start opening the front door and go for walkabouts whenever he chooses and open drawers to get his own treats.
Not every dog will enjoy this challenge. If your dog is the type who expects you to do all the work and hand them everything, this game is not for them. Move2Win is for the dog who yearns to use their brain; the dog who if you don’t give this to them, will find something else to make a puzzle out of (e.g. ripping open couch cushions; figuring out how to open the sliding glass doors; tipping over the trash can).
Trixie Move2Win
The Final Bark
Durable, fun, challenging, and interactive: Tucker and I both recommend the Move2Win, but only for those dogs who crave using their mind. And only for those pet parents who are willing to engage with their dog and enjoy the challenge. You both come to the game with equal challenges: You to teach them, and they to learn. But it’s a game, not a command, not a life-saving cue like “stay” or “come.” It’s just fun. And honestly, isn’t that why you got a dog to begin with?
