5 Best Interactive Dog Toys For Alaskan Malamutes: 2024 Update!

In this article, I’m going to break down the best interactive dog toys most suitable for Alaskan Malamutes. As any true Malamute owner knows, the average toy will fall victim to this heavy chewing breed.

Below the list of toys, I will also have a section explaining the powerful health benefits that interactive toys can bring. But for now, let’s get straight into it!

5 Best Interactive Dog Toys For Malamutes

Let’s run through the best interactive dog toys suitable for your Malamute. I’ll include the relevant key features and the difficulty level of each toy.

Rank	Interactive Toy	Level	Price
#1	StarMark Bob-A-Lot Interactive Dog Toy	Beginner	$$
#2	Nina Ottosson Dog Smart Beginner Dog Puzzle Toy	Beginner	$$
#3	PAW5 Wooly Snuffle Mat	Beginner	$$$
#4	West Paw Zogoflex Qwizl Interactive Treat Dispensing Dog Puzzle	Beginner	$$
#5	Outward Hound Ottosson Puzzle Brick Dog Toy	Intermediate /Advance	$

1) StarMark Bob-A-Lot Interactive Dog Toy

One of the best and most recommended interactive dog toys on the market is the StarMark Bob-A-Lot toy.

At first glance, I wasn’t convinced, and in all honesty, I thought it was trying to be a kong toy. But after I saw it in use, my opinion drastically changed. The durability and strength of this toy are outstanding and even a Malamute would have a very hard time destroying it.

It’s a very simple puzzle toy, all you do is fill up the bottom half with dry kibble or treats, pop it down on the floor and let your furry friend do the rest.

Normally, the issue I have with these types of toys is that the hole is too big, which allows the food to drop out effortlessly and within 5 minutes, is all gone. Well, this toy has that issue solved. The hole has an adjustable sliding door on it, so you can have great control over how easy or difficult it is for the food to fall out.

I’ve seen people use this toy as a full-on food dispenser for mals who eat their kibble too fast. So it has multiple uses.

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2) Nina Ottosson Dog Smart Beginner Dog Puzzle Toy

Nina Ottosson is well-known for her amazing interactive toys and has quite an extensive range.

This is one of the easier puzzle toys and in my opinion, is a great starter toy if your Malamute has never previously tried anything like it.

Your Malamute has to use his snout and mouth to remove the white plastic bones to reveal the treat. I will admit that it’s quite easy and your Malamute will figure it out very quickly. That’s why it’s aimed for beginners.

You can make the puzzle more interesting though, Instead of placing treats under every bone, only place treats under a few of them. Your Malamute will be able to smell the treat but instead of assuming there’s food under every cover, he’ll be surprised to find nothing! This will encourage him to use his sense of smell to find the treatment more efficiently.

This puzzle toy shouldn’t be left down unattended. As the white bones are small, your Malamute will likely play with them, chew them, or worse, eat them. This is a toy that requires supervision.

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3) PAW5 Wooly Snuffle Mat

The Wooly Snuffle Mat instantly strikes you as an unusual interactive toy, and that’s exactly what it is! An excellent idea that gets many Mals instantly excited.

The Snuffle Mat is essentially an extra long rug, where you can hide treats in and let your Malamute sniff around and forage for them. Initially, I thought it would be too easy, but if you take a closer look at the photos provided on the product page, you can see that the material raps around. This hides and holds the treats much better than I first thought.

Although this is a little more expensive than a regular interactive toy, It’s extremely entertaining and would be a great gift for any Mal out there. It also looks quite cool as well.

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4) West Paw Zogoflex Qwizl Interactive Treat Dispensing Dog Puzzle

If you regularly use chew sticks or dental sticks, this is the perfect interactive toy for your Malamute.

The West Paw Zogoflex is designed to hold a stick treat which makes it last considerably longer. Your furry friend can use the various outlets and holes to lick and chew the treat in small quantities at a time.

A simple, yet powerful toy that when used in combination with a delicious treat, will keep your Malamute occupied for well over an hour.

The material used is a hard rubber designed for heavy chewers. West Paw is confident in their product and offers a 100% guarantee from the manufacturer against damage made by your Mal.For Malamutes, I highly recommend the large option instead of the small one.

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5) Outward Hound Ottosson Puzzle Brick Dog Toy

Another great interactive toy from Nina Ottosson. The brick dog toy is more advanced and contains multiple elements to the puzzle.

Compared to the previous Ottosson toy, this one has multiple compartments with different functions. In order to retrieve the treats from all areas, your Malamute must learn to solve the puzzle in the correct sequence. It’s definitely a step up from the beginner level. But will certainly keep your Malamute engaged for longer.

Once your Mal has a grasp of basic interactive toys, this is a really good one to opt for. It’s fascinating to watch your Malamute think and try different actions to access the final treats.

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 Related: 7 Best Shampoos For Alaskan Malamutes

The Powerful Benefits of Interactive Dog Toys

Before I get stuck into the best interactive dog toys, it’s worth mentioning the power of these types of toys, and why your Malamute will benefit from one. or two, or three!

Alaskan Malamutes are a wonderful breed, but they aren’t for the faint-hearted. They come with a bold character and an extraordinarily high daily-exercise requirement.

Unfortunately, in many cases, mental exercise and stimulation are often neglected because most owners get wrapped up in fulfilling the physical exercise needs instead, and I completely understand. But the truth is that for any high-energy breed, both mental and physical stimulation are as important as each other for a well-behaved, calm, content dog.

The powerful benefits of interactive dog toys:

• Increased mental stimulation will encourage your Mal to be more receptive and obedient. Actively solving puzzles and figuring out problems will urge your Mal to use his brain more and this will flow over into all future training exercises that you carry out.
• Having to solve puzzles (as long as they’re not too difficult) will be extremely satisfying for most Mals and actually uses up a lot of energy. This will leave your pooch feeling genuinely calm, happy and content. Absolutely necessary for hyperactive breeds.
• Breeds with destructive tendencies also seem to benefit significantly from interactive toys. Adequate mental exercise has shown in numerous studies to reduce stress and anxiety levels and effectively decrease destructive behavior in hyper breeds.
• Reduces Boredom. One of the clear benefits of interactive toys is their ability to keep your Mal entertained for longer than usual. Most interactive toys have compartments where treats are placed, and upon a successful combination of moves, they will release the treat. Many Mals will continuously engage in the toy until all treats are gone. Depending on the toy, this amount of time can be quite long.

I’m sure there are even more benefits of interactive dog toys that I haven’t mentioned. But you get the idea! Interactive toys or otherwise known as “puzzle toys” are a must for every Alaskan Malamute or any breed for that matter. So let’s take a look at the best options.

Summary

If you’re thinking about getting an interactive toy for your Malamute, you won’t be disappointed. Although most interactive toys aren’t actually difficult they still provide adequate mental stimulation for a Mal.

If you know of a good interactive toy that I haven’t included in the list, comment below and I’ll get back to you!