Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball, Large | 
| Brand: Omega
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $4.00 (29%)
New (7) from $9.99
Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 760
Color: Orange
Media: Misc.
Size: Large
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 5 x 5 x 5
MPN: 9006:11297401
Model: TTLG
UPC: 620661221028
EAN: 0620661221028
ASIN: B0002DK26M
Release Date: June 29, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Buy 4 eligible items in the 4-for-3 promotion offered by Amazon.com and get 1 of them free. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Large, interactive treat-dispensing dog toy made of neon-orange vinyl | | • | Tough, yet soft and pliable textured surface for easy gripping | | • | Simple to fill; dispenses dry food or bite-size treats during playtime | | • | Helps keep a dog mentally stimulated and encourages hours of vigorous play | | • | Measures 5 by 5 by 5 inches |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball is a challenging ball that will entertain pets for hours. Insert dry food or treats into the Omega Paw Tricky Treat ball and as a pet plays, treats are despensed. Good for small dogs or cats.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...
 Four paws down from my dog January 28, 2008
C. MCCALLISTER (The waters of the Great Lakes)
14 out of 20 found this review helpful
In October of 2006, we had an addition to our family: a rescue dog from an Animal Control shelter, a female Miniature Pinscher (red variety) who is now about eight years old. Amber is a chowhound and a couch potato, resulting in a gain of weight, since she joined us, from sixteen to twenty-four pounds.
What to do? I thought this toy might help. It is a 5-inch ball of spongy vinyl, colored bright orange, with an easy-to-grip surface covered with craters of varying size. One of those craters, though, is actually a hole. The idea is to put some food into the ball and, as the dog plays with it, food will occasionally fall out.
Why I thought it might help: Amber loves food, is an indoor dog, likes to chase things she identifies as food (e.g., Snausage slices tossed toward her, shrews in our small front yard), and is the most scent-oriented dog we have ever had, and we have not gone without a dog in our home, in my lifetime, for more than a year. When I say that Amber is scent-oriented, it is not an understatement. She has found candy-bar wrappers buried in wastebaskets (we now put them out of reach), and she will get agitated, when she sniffs the air, from the front porch, and we cannot see, hear, or smell anything that should agitate her.
Psychology was on my side, too. When psychologists have studied people and animals, to see what reward schedule most encourages behavior, random intermittent rewards were the strongest. In plain language, if you wanted someone to pull a lever many times, you do not give a small reward each time (that gets boring) or a reward every fifth or twentieth time (again, boring); you give a reward at random, unpredictable intervals. If you doubt this, go visit a casino and check out the slot machines. You will see lots of lever-pulling.
Why the odds were somewhat stacked against success: Amber is only interested in one toy, a big knot of colored strings, that she takes into her bed and fights with. She likes to play-fight with people, too. All other toys, she has disregarded.
What actually happened with Amber and this toy? We put some of her dry dogfood in it, and tossed it near her. She watched it roll by, then looked at us, like she saying, "And?" We rolled it around more, until some food pieces fell out. She not only did not catch on to the idea, she did not touch those food pieces until eating them the next day. We put cut-up pieces of Snausage in the ball, and she ignored it. Amber loves Snausages. We put pieces of smoked chicken jerky in the ball. Amber ignored it. She will try to find a way to climb up on counters to get smoked chicken jerky. From all the evidence, it appears that, to Amber, anything put into that ball, stops being food from that moment on. She has not touched the ball in the sixteen days we have had it.
Post-mortem: Why the failure? I knew she was unenthusiastic about toys, but I thought her passion for food and her keen sense of smell would over-ride that. I picked the ball up, and smelled it. At that time, it had pieces of Snausage, smoked chicken jerky, and dry dogfood in it. I could not smell any of that. I smelled vinyl. Maybe, even with Amber's keen olfactory powers, the vinyl smell overwhelms the food smells. That still does not explain why Amber continues to ignore food that falls out of the ball, as if it were tainted. My conclusion was that she figured out that this was just a trick to get her to exercise, and she is rebelling. I am probably wrong, but I have yet to conjure up a better theory.
Note: the only way to clean out the ball is to flush it out through that one hole; it cannot be opened up to clean and dry it.
 Thank you, thank you, thank you September 29, 2006
A Traveler (Chicago, IL USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This treat ball is probably not for every dog, but our 8 month old Shiba Inu puppy absolutely adores it and so do we. Our trainer recommended that we use a treat ball as a way to challenge our puppy and focus his energy on something "productive" (for him, at least). This does the trick better than any other similar product. It is very durable yet (unlike a Buster Cube) soft enough that nothing gets damaged as it rolls into walls, chairs and the like. We use it for half of his kibble at each meal. After about 4 weeks of daily use, our ball is starting to show signs of wear but we have gotten far more use out of this than any other "toy" we've purchased.
Our puppy is a high energy, very food motivated, tough-chewing, smart little guy who can get treats out of his Kong and open the child gate in under 5 minutes. But while this treat ball requires patience, our normally "A.D.D." puppy will persistently push this ball around the kitchen until he gets every last piece of kibble out. That can take 20-30 minutes. The ball does not make a good "chew toy" for a tough chewer (like our dog, who can chew off the top of a red Kong), however. We make sure to take it away after he empties it. Otherwise, it would never have lasted this long.
Nice, FUN, quiet distraction March 21, 2007
Karin A. Rex (Lansdale, PA USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
My Tibetan Terrier loves this treat ball. I usually feed him at least one of his meals each day in this ball...it keeps him quietly occupied for at least 20 minutes or more. I have another similar square treat dispenser, but it is a hard plastic and VERY noisy as it rolls around on my hardwood floors. This ball is softer, so it doesn't make that much noise.
The Power of Positive Reinforcement April 3, 2008
Kelly Ballance (Lake Oswego, Oregon)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
My dog quickly learned how to operate this toy, and has nosed it all over our 2400 sq foot house. I have left it down for them to chew on, but they seem to have more interest in rolling it around on the floor rather than toothing it to bits. They engage with this toy more than a similar toy that is cube shaped.
I love that I can fill this ball up with their kibble and they'll entertain themselves for hours pushing it down the stairs and around the house. It's a lot less noisy than the cube version. This toy is easy to clean up too, ran it right through the dishwasher with no problems. It was easy to teach them to bring the Tricky Treat Ball back to me for a refill when needed.
Ah, the power of positive reinforcement!
The activity of nosing it around so that treats fall out has resulted in treats falling out of the ball, while chewing on the toy has not resulted in treats, thus the behavior of rolling the ball is more likely to be repeated, and the chances of chewing reduced.
Brilliant! It means the ball will last longer!
 Losses attention before giving up any treats December 15, 2005
Brandie Mccollum (Austin, Texas)
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
My dog is a basset, a hyper basset. He is always on the go and chewing various toys that we give to him. We baught this toy thinking he would use it alot (bassets are know for their noses) but when it does get his attention it is only for a brief time because no matter how much he rolls it and despite the different treats and amounts we have put into it, nothing comes out. They only come out some of the time when we try to do it ourselves.
Unless your dog goes for a while without enforcement, this toy is not for your dog.
I only wish we could return it.
Hope this helps.
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