How Nina Ottosson Dog Brick Changed Life With Our Aussiedoodle

On college football Saturdays, the couch belongs to Dale and the living-room rug belongs to June. That is the arrangement we settled into in the fall of 2024, about a month after I brought home the Outward Hound Nina Ottosson Dog Brick for our Aussiedoodle. June was just past her first birthday then, a 48-pound blue merle with a wavy-curly coat and enough energy to wear out two Labs. I am Carla. I work as a dental hygienist outside Knoxville, and I have one dog, and she is the reason there is a treat puzzle on the top shelf of our hall closet.

The story starts with a bored dog, not a bad dog. June came home to us at ten weeks old in October 2023, and by her first birthday she had already solved every squeaky toy we owned. She is not destructive. But on rainy days, or on Saturdays when the game ran long, she would pace between the kitchen and the back door and occasionally pull a shoe out of the basket, not to chew it, just to let us know she was under-stimulated. I had seen treat puzzles at the pet store and I was skeptical. They looked like toys that would entertain a smart dog for four minutes and then live in a drawer.

I was wrong about that. The Outward Hound Nina Ottosson Dog Brick is a Level 2 puzzle, which in plain terms means sliding blocks, flip lids, and removable bone-shaped pieces, and all of it hides treats. The first time I set it on the living-room rug, June sniffed one block, nudged it with her nose, and went straight to work. That first session ran about ten minutes. For a dog that usually solves a new toy in two, ten focused minutes was practically unheard of.

The part that surprised me came in the second week. Most toys lose their shine once a dog figures them out, and June figured out the basic moves on the Dog Brick within her first week. I nearly put it away for good. Then I started hiding the treats in different spots, and the whole game changed. Some days I slide a block to the left and tuck a piece of kibble under the flip lid on the far side. Some days I leave the bone-shaped pieces in and let her work them out one at a time. Same toy, different puzzle every single time.

That first session ran about ten minutes, and for a dog that usually solves a new toy in two, that was practically unheard of.

Here is the honest part, because every review should have one. The Dog Brick is not a chew toy, and we never treat it like one. The pieces come out, which is exactly what makes the puzzle interesting, and it is exactly why June only works it when I am sitting on the living-room rug with her. When she finishes the last piece, the whole thing goes back on the high shelf in the hall closet until the next rainy day or the next football Saturday. That routine is what has kept the toy working for the better part of two years.

The difference shows up in the rest of the afternoon. A dog that has spent even a few minutes thinking hard is a dog that will lie on the rug while the fourth quarter plays out. June still gets her walk most mornings and fetch in the backyard most evenings. The puzzle never replaced any of that, and I would not want it to. It is the extra gear for the days when the weather or the schedule gets in the way, and it earns its spot on the shelf every single time.

One more honest note. The Dog Brick is not the answer for every dog, and it is not the answer for every day. June moved past the beginner levels quickly, which is why the Level 2 rating mattered to me. If your dog loses interest fast, try hiding the treats in different spots before you give up on the toy. And if your dog would rather chew the pieces than solve the puzzle, this is not the toy for her, and that is fine. There is no single piece of gear that works for every dog.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

I would tell you that a smart dog does not need an endless supply of toys. She needs something to do with the brain she already has. Ten minutes with the Outward Hound Nina Ottosson Dog Brick on a rainy afternoon, a walk in the morning, and a few rounds of fetch in the yard add up to a dog that settles down at night. I would also tell you to keep the puzzle supervised, to put it away when she is done, and to ask your vet if anything about your dog looks wrong to you. I am not a trainer or a vet. I am just a person who found something that works at our house.

And I would tell you this: the toy is not the point. The point is that a bored dog is a restless dog, and a restless dog will always find her own entertainment. A little structure on a Saturday afternoon beats a shoe pulled out of the basket every single time.