Dog Enrichment Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: Milo's Rotating Kit
Milo is twelve, part Labrador, part Lurcher, and entirely convinced that his nose is the finest instrument in the house. Enrichment for him has never meant buying more — it means rotating what he already has so it stays interesting, and keeping the sessions short enough that they end as a win.
Here's the whole kit: one puzzle family in three difficulty levels, one craft project, and one game that's completely free.
The puzzle rotation: three Nina Ottosson boards, all over four years old
We rotate three Nina Ottosson puzzle boards, and here's the part we're quietly proud of: the newest of them was bought in 2022, and the other two are older still. Every one has been redesigned since we bought it — the whole range has had several facelifts over the years — so the links below are the current versions of the same puzzles, not the exact boards in our photos. Four-plus years of Milo later, the originals are worn, loved and still in weekly rotation.
The rotation works because the three sit at different difficulty levels. That mix matters more than any single toy:
- Level 2 — the warm-up. Sliders and layers, quick wins. Perfect for settling into a session, or for evenings when he wants the game but not the workout. Dog Tornado, Level 2 (Ad)
- Level 3 — the challenge. Discs that slide in sequence — he has to work out the order, not just the move. Dog Twister, Level 3 (Ad)
- Level 4 — the brain workout. A grid of locking tiles for proper problem-solving. A few minutes of genuine concentration, and a very satisfied dog at the end. MultiPuzzle, Level 4 (Ad)
Easy win, then a challenge, then rest. The secret we've learned: rotation. The same puzzle every evening stops being a puzzle — but three, alternated across the week, have stayed interesting for over four years.
The homemade snuffle mat
The snuffle mat was made at home — fleece strips tied onto a mat base, and that's the entire build. Scatter kibble or a few treats through it and Milo sniffs out every last piece. Sniffing is genuinely calming work for dogs, which makes this the thing we reach for on evenings when he needs to settle rather than rev up.
No link for this one, because there isn't one. Cost: a couple of pounds of fleece and an evening. It has outlived several shop-bought toys, which tells you something.
One practical note: whatever goes into the mat comes out of the day's food, not on top of it. We measure Milo's kibble for the day and scatter a portion of it rather than adding extra — if you're not sure what his day should add up to, our senior dog portion guide has the calorie maths.
Find it / hide and seek (free)
The cheapest enrichment we own: hide small treats around the rooms and let his nose do the hunting. Behind a chair leg, on a low shelf, under the edge of a rug. We say "find it" and off he goes.
It can't really be photographed — a dog mid-search looks suspiciously like a dog standing in a room — but it's his favourite of the three, and it costs nothing. Start easy so every search ends in success, then make the hides trickier once he's got the idea.
The actual secret: rotation
We rotate two or three things across the week, keep sessions short, and stop while he's still enjoying it. When he's worked through something, he settles — that's the tell that it did its job.
Enrichment, for us, is giving him something interesting to do at his own pace. Wins, not frustration. None of it needs to cost much, and one of the three doesn't cost anything at all.
Some links are affiliate links (see our affiliate disclosure). We only say Milo tested something if he actually tested it — all three puzzle boards are genuinely his, bought with our own money between 2020 and 2022.