Marley has been searching for his Greenie & charcoal biscuits each morning for many weeks. It's good practice for him to sniff out things for us. We tell him "find it" and off he goes. He has to "sit" or "down" and "stay" while we show him the treats, then go hide them. He can't go find them until he is released with the word "free".
Some days is takes only seconds for him to find them and they might be in any of the rooms other than the guest room (door is semi blocked to give the cat a safe haven). Dining room, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, hall or bathroom are all possibilities. We've started moving the treats from the floor to on handles, rails, tub edge, between things, partially under things to make it a bit more of a challenge.
Yesterday I added another level of difficulty. I put the greenie (most aromatic, therefore easier to find by smell) under a small plastic basket. The basket has plenty of large openings so he can see it and smell it. He is easily frustrated by complications so he whined for help at first. So, I moved it so a tiny bit of the greenie stuck out under the edge. Bingo!
Today I put it under the basket. He bumped the basket a couple of times until the edge lifted enough to expose a bit of the greenie and success! We'll move on in a few days to more difficult things, like a small cardboard box or other item he can easily move.
I had tried a small steel mixing bowl, but that was too difficult too soon. There's no good way for him to flip it, so I won't use it again. But there are so many things we can use.
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