A dog that empties its bowl before you have straightened up from putting it down is not being greedy — it has just finished, in seconds, a task that in any other life would have taken most of the day. Handing part of that food back as a problem to solve is the cheapest enrichment going, and the first puzzle a dog meets tends to decide whether they ever bother with a second.

This is the entry point of the Nina Ottosson range, a level 1, and that matters more than it sounds: a puzzle pitched too hard on day one gets abandoned and then blamed on the dog. Treats go in through the holes in the ball and come back out as the dog paws and nudges it around the floor. The surface is wipeable, Outward Hound list the materials as food safe and free of BPA, PVC and phthalates, and their cleaning instruction is warm water and soap between uses.

• Level 1, the introductory tier of the Nina Ottosson range
• Treat-dispensing ball, filled through holes in the body
• Wipeable surface; clean with warm water and soap between uses
• BPA, PVC and phthalate free, from materials described as food safe
• One toy per pack
• Suits indoor and outdoor play, supervised

One thing worth knowing. No diameter, no hole size and no treat-size guide has been supplied for this, so nobody can tell you in advance whether your dog's usual biscuits will drop through the holes or whether you will be breaking them up first. It is also a level 1 by design — a dog who already empties a snuffle mat will solve it quickly and then want the harder tiers. Outward Hound are blunt that no toy is indestructible: this is a supervised toy, not something to leave on the floor with a dog who chews plastic for its own sake.

Who it's for: puppies and complete beginners at puzzle feeding, and owners of fast eaters who want to slow part of dinner down without committing to a cupboard full of enrichment kit.