Customer Reviews

Premier Pet Busy Buddy Twist 'N Treat Dog Toy, Small

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(35)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

Length:: 3:02 Mins

Moo Moo the Chihuahua loves this treat toy! I can fill it up and it will keep her busy for an hour to 2 hours, depending how I have the toy set up to dispurse treats to her.

Good thing about this is, you can make it so they have to work fairly hard (a small dog at least) to get treats out, or you can set it so the treats will loosely fall out. Either way my dog loves the reward.

I also bought the Buddies Berries that were recommended for this toy, and I was kind of hesitant not knowing if she would like the treats, she is used to bigger "meatier" treats, but she loves them!

I am the owner of a 100 lb. Lab mix who is a VERY powerful chewer. I absolutely LOVE Premier's products! I cannot speak highly enough of the Citronella Collar, Gentle Leader, and the Busy Buddy Squirrel; these have all made my life with my dog much easier!!

However, I was very disappointed with the quality of the "Twist and Treat", which I paid a whopping $15 for at a retail store. My dog typically goes through toys like candy, but I thought this one would be worth the money; it just sounded so darn cool! Unfortunately for my pocketbook he chewed through the plastic in 5 minutes flat. This is a very well-designed interactive toy made by a great company, but if you have a strong chewer, stick with the Kongs filled with frozen peanut butter!

What self-respecting mid-size dog isn't a power chewer? I have a 36 lb. border collie mix and she chewed large chunks off this within 5 minutes, perhaps less. It's a nice idea, though to keep them busy. The smaller ones may be good for smaller dogs but there is no point to the larger sizes; the material is much too soft. Get this if your mid-sized dog is elderly and mentally focused but can only gum things.

I recently purchased the 4" version of the Busy Buddies - Twist 'N Treats interactive treat dispenser and I'm pretty impressed.

It's two piece, hard rubber design allows for quick access to both owners and dogs alike, as well as simple cleanup and durability. Basically the two parts of the 'dome' screw into each other by a central core and can be adjusted to allow for various size treats to be dispensed through two side access points once aligned.

The toy itself is made of a very durable and tough rubber, somewhat similar to that of 'Kong' toys, and it's slightly oblong shape allows for both a good grip in your dogs mouth as well as promising not to roll away like a ball when your dog plays with it. I'm a bit surprised at reading other reviews that their dogs have been able to break chunks off or destroy. I consider my 22 lb mini-schnauzer a power chewer for his size, and so far the toy has faired much better than most others, but I do watch and don't leave him with it for hours once he's done getting the goodies. In my opinion, the rubber has been durable and after some exhaustive play with it already, I have seen no signs of wear or tear that I've witnessed in so many other so-called durable that my Schnauzer has destroyed within minutes.

Very small slits on both parts of the 'dome' allow for your pooch to sniff at the treats inside, and encourages them to 'figure out' the puzzle that promises delicious goodness. The packaging material says it is dishwasher safe and in addition to kibble and other hard treats says you can place peanut-butter or other spreads inside. I'll stick with the hard kibble and treats to dispense as it actually may be hard for your dog to get the 'spread', and more of it may end up on your floor and carpet as the toy is shuffled around. As far as cleanup goes, it is very easy to do with just warm water and mild soap.

There is only one color option: purple. That seems to be the standard color for all Busy Buddies toys, and it may be nice to get a little variety in, even though I'm sure your dog won't care.

Pricing is very reasonable and has already lasted much longer than many other more expensive 'durable' toys. I recommend this toy to help break boredom, encourage alone time exercise, and as the owner, you are in complete control of what and how much of a treat is dispensed. But once it's empty, I'd encourage you to remove it as a general 'toy' and save it for a special 'reward' time...perhaps for the other reviewers it may have lasted much longer.

We got this for our super chewing Scottie puppy when she was about 6 months old as we were looking for ways to entertain her. She LOVED this item. We kept it loose in the beginning so that the kibble would come out easily until she knew what to do with it. Then we kept making the lid tighter. She is now over 1 year old and this is still her favorite toy. I would highly recommend this item for dogs with a high degree of curiosity!

I bought the medium for my Staffordshire terrier to "mix it up" with her toys when she is crated. Within a few hours she had gnawed enough off of it that pieces of rubber were coming out and I had to take it away for her own safety. The flying saucer shape is really interesting and moves/rolls in fun ways, but the durability is definitely lacking. However, I have also purchased the Busy Buddy squirrel and the "Waggle" bone and those two items, even though they are the same brand, have held up fine!

My pit bull chewed through this in about 3 minutes flat. The gorilla kongs and bustercubes are a lot more durable. Oh well--this is expensive and too soft, at least for a vigorous chewer.

I thought this toy looked like a lot of fun but I was skeptical. My 7 year old, 80 lb Rottweiler is a powerful chewer and he hates rubber toys. I thought he would either ignore it or rip it to shreds. He is very food motivated though, and I saw one of the other reviewer's videos and thought it was worth a try.

We brought it home and he was a little puzzled at first. He showed a little interest when my roommate's Dachshund sniffed it (very typical, nothing has value until the other wants it) but he mostly ignored it. We decided to up the anti by getting some higher value liver treats he had never tried before. That did it.

He officially loves the thing. He only gets the special treats when he plays with this toy. We mix them with kibble or other low-calorie hard treats and we cut the soft liver treats up into smaller pieces to make them last longer. He goes crazy when we pull it out and everyone is entertained while he plays with it. The most surprising thing is that he hasn't ripped it apart yet. Today he did put it between his paws and bit at it, so we'll see how long it lasts. Considering he usually kills his toys an hour after he gets them, the fact that we've gotten days out of this toy definitely makes it worth the money.

One note... even though he is a big dog, we got the Medium size and that has worked fine. The large is very big and we have another small dog in the house. We figured that if he didn't like it, then she could have it. Luckily he does so we will probably just buy another to avoid competition.

This is a great toy, I absolutely recommend it. If you don't think your dog will go for it, try and find a treat he really loves and will work for. You might be surprised. It is a lot of fun watching the dog try and "figure it out." If my lazy beast likes it, I think yours will too.

UPDATE 5/4

Since a lot of the other reviewers noted that their dogs chewed this toy up, and we know Zeke could if he wanted, we only let him have it once a day when we put treats in it. When the treats are gone, we take it back and hide it. This approach has worked well because he can't get bored or frustrated and shred it up. Also, when we do take it down he gets very excited.

Premier Twist and Treat / B0002I0RLW

This is a nice little treat dispensing toy, but it's a bit tricky for humans to handle. The toy is shaped like a child's spinning top, with two halves (top and bottom) that unscrew from each other. You unscrew the top half, and try to balance the bottom half with one hand while you pour doggy kibble and tiny, cut-up treats into the bottom half. Once the bottom half is full, you use your "food pouring hand" to screw the top half back on. It's a bit of a balancing act, and I prefer the Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball, because the Omega ball is much easier to fill. Maybe two parent families will have an easier time with the Premier.

As for doggie enjoyment, my puppy likes the Premier Twist and Treat well enough, mostly because he's discovered that one really hard bat of the paw will cause the toy to spin on its axis and pretty much expel all the food right away. (My puppy is currently 4 months old, and 12 pounds.) Once again, for a better time-to-treat ratio, I recommend the Omega ball.

Still, the puppy likes both the Premier and Omega and I like giving him a variety of toys, so this gets 4 stars from me. I have not had any troubles with toy durability, but I'm also blessed with a puppy that doesn't chew very much (yet!). I *highly* recommend filling this toy primarily with the dog's usual kibble, with a few treats interspaced in the mix as "surprises". There's really no need to stuff it full of treats - the puppy enjoys the toy just as much, and it makes "dinner time" a more interactive and exercising experience! I chop my doggie treats up very finely for training purposes and my puppy is always eager for the taste of a treat without filling up or getting sluggish or fat.

~ Ana Mardoll

This is a wonderful invention! I used to have to poke and prod the leftover treats from closed balls. My 8 lb. dog would either gobble up the treat or lose it and bring the ball to me for help. He takes this toy up the stairs and bounces it down to get the last ones! Easy to load, clean and adjust for all kinds of treats. A Winner!