Dog Puzzle Feeder

Product Description

Features

• Designed by neuroscientists, CleverPet is the revolutionary new tool for engaging your dog.
• Watch them every day as they figure out puzzles while eating their normal kibble!
• Discover your dog's hidden talents and see them learn over weeks and months.
• Ideal for dogs who are high-energy, easily bored, and food motivated.
• Ultra-durable to let you offer your dog engagement whether you're home or not.
• Worried they won't get it? CleverPet has a 30-day money-back engagement guarantee (details below)
• Use CleverPet to offer 50-300 plays per day. Never too easy or hard: it adjusts automatically to any skill level.
• Monitor Progress: Apps available for iPhone and Android with the ability to track statistics and manage an operating schedule for the Hub.
• Enables All Day Play: Allows for regular dog kibble to be used as a reward for learning. Fits 2.5 cups of dry kibble.
• Allows for kibble 18mm or smaller (should be smaller than a dime).
• If you’re having trouble with your Hub, or are having difficulty getting your dog to use it, our support team can help! You can reach us by emailing support@clever.pet, calling us at 1-510-9CLEVER, or by using the in-app support chat.”
• In order to use the Hub, you will need access to a Wi-Fi connection and an Android or iOS smartphone. Please note that we are currently incompatible with Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7 phones

Top Reviews

My Lab/Cocker needed this!
by MondaysTuesday (5 out of 5 stars)
May 8, 2017

I waffled on spending this kind of money on "a dog toy," but I am glad I did. It is not a toy at all, but it is a trainer-fascinator-motivator-entertainer-teaching-tool for my dog. My dog is very food motivated and has progressed through the initial lessons quite quickly. I thought he was smart, but it is fun to watch him think and learn and now I think he is smarter than I thought. He is now up to lesson six where he has to start figuring out more than one light or pattern to get the kibble to appear. This is more challenging for his thought processes but he will figure this out soon.

Buster Black is a food gobbler, so having his food portioned out more slowly is good for him and for his digestive tract. I cannot "free-feed" this dog like I could with my previous dogs using an "always there" big bowl of kibble. He would just eat non-stop. The CleverPet provides his daily ration, but he is still a bit confused a his meal times as to why I am not feeding him. He doesn't get it so far that he has already been fed. He is actually being fed more with the CleverPet than his normal rations because at least initially I wanted him to be able to continue to train and not interrupt his learning cycle when the food ran out. He has liked that a lot, but since I noticed he was getting a bit heavier, I have started to cut back on how much goes into the pod daily. I get a big kick out of watching Buster fixate on the tray.

On day one he was afraid when it made noise but once he found out the noise meant food, that fear was gone in about an hour. Then, because he had a tendency to lay his feet on the touch pads while he laid down in front of the CleverPet, (slippery floors and laziness, I think) I had to change his approach a bit. Now his CleverPet is elevated on a large box so it is about chest height and he is learning to press the touch pads with his chin and nose instead of his feet. This is working better for him.

We have all bought products that did not perform as they said it would or the materials were flimsy. You will not find that to be the case with this product. My dog is one that chews up so-called indestructible toys and has not been able to harm the CleverPet in any way. Also, it is quite heavy, so he is certainly not going to be able to pick it up and take it somewhere. The plastics used are really tough and even though Buster tried the digging-to-China approach to see if that would make it feed him, there are no scratch marks on it and it looks as good as it did when it arrived.

When you get your own CleverPet, I think you will be wowed by the packaging. It comes in form-fitting protection and each part of the unpacking process comes with brilliantly numbered and identified tabs to guide you through the setup process. You will be up and running in no time at all with no confusion. I have never seen any product packaged like this. Great job, CleverPet folks!

One last comment. I tend to always read the negative comments on a product first. One customer gave the CleverPet three stars because they said it was a good product but they had trouble connecting it to their WiFi because it was indicating that the login or password was wrong. I did not have this issue, but I know from experience that when any device has this issue, it is not a faulty device; just a connection issue. The fix for that problem is to bring up the list of broadcasting SSID's (router names) and tell it to forget the one that is yours. Then tell your phone or laptop to create a new network connection and type in the SSID and password for your WiFi router. That will solve the problem. It will not disrupt the connection to any other device using your WiFi, it will just fix the connection to the CleverPet or whatever device is having a problem.
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Love It!
by Gatsby (5 out of 5 stars)
July 11, 2017

I've had the cleverpet hub for less than a week and I am obsessed. I have a golden retriever and a cat so my boys are on the opposite spectrum of sizes. My dog is very good motivated while my cat is less so. They are both already used to tech: auto litter box, feeder, fountain, etc. so mechanical noises are familiar to them. I got the clever pet to dispense treats only and keep them entertained while they are alone. The cleverpet arrived in the evening and I set it up shortly after. My cat became fascinated first, he actually mastered the first level within the first two hours. My dog was more hesitant. Over the next few days, my cat would lay in front of the touchpad while my dog stood over him to eat the treats as they came out. It was very sweet but I felt like it was counter-intuitive to my dog learning the concept. Well it's been less than a week since I set it up, and my dog just started getting the puzzles right on his own (without kitty's help that is). I was worried that my dog wouldn't figure it out but very slowly, he's getting the concept and the extra treats are bringing a lot of joy into his day. This is definitely a toy that involves a lot of commitment: both financially (because it's really pricey), and because you need to put in the time and patience with your pet to get them started. In regard to the product itself, it's built very well: its heavy and made of heavy duty plastic. The design, both inside and out, is very clean and neat. When you pop the hood on the unit, there isn't anything that looks vulnerable to damage. The treat holder has a rubber gasket seal which is rare to find on pet products. Its that attention to detail that makes this unit a standout. The setup process is easy and the app is ok (it shows interesting info and it connects to the hub reliably, but it could use more features), luckily, that can be updated at any point. I definitely recommend this product for all pets and look forward to seeing the next generation pet puzzle product.

UPDATE

Here's an update with an update video. It's been about a month and my dog (and cat) still love the clever pet. Just watching their thought process is not only adorable but also really incredible to watch. (I use it for treats rather than meals). I love seeing my dog get a bunch of puzzles correct in a row and get increasingly excited, faster and more focused with each new puzzle. I always knew dogs were smart, but this device helps to bring out their inner genius. The clever pet team reached out to me and made themselves available for any issues/ comments/ suggestions that may come up. The hub does a great job on randomly attracting throughout the day with flashing lights and opening and closing the treat door.
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... had the "Hub" for 6 days now and we love it (me and my dog)
by Blue Pooch (5 out of 5 stars)
July 3, 2017

I have had the "Hub" for 6 days now and we love it (me and my dog). So what is it? Bit hard to explain but critically it's an interactive "toy" that challenges and stimulates a dog. I got it for my dog because she's getting old (and you CAN teach an old dog new tricks) and I needed something to keep her mentally active even if she's not so physically active any more. This fits the bill perfectly.

Initially I had trouble setting up the app on my Samsung tablet, but the customer support was very helpful. This is a known problem and the company is working to fix it. I'm surprised at some of the negative reviews about the nature of the customer service as I've found it super responsive. (And a real person!)

My dog took to the Hub right away, but she's a confident curious dog. She did get frustrated with it not dispensing food quickly enough, and has left tooth marks on the upper edges (above the light) - so don't think the plastic is bite proof! Having said that, it's made of pretty durable stuff and has well withstood her frantic clawing and stomping. She's not progressed through the challenges as quickly as I thought she would - is still "stuck" on discriminating between unlit and lit lights. She'll get there!
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I love this toy for my dog with some comments
by AH (5 out of 5 stars)
July 21, 2017

I love this toy for my dog with some comments. Its definitely the first edition of this toy - there is some figuring out and fine tuning to be done. I had to make sure it was in the right placement in relation to the wi-fi, the treats were the right size, occasionally it needs to be reset (unplug it for a second), and sometimes the app doesn't do exactly what its supposed to.

If you are not willing to consider some basic logic to get this right, this is not your toy. My boyfriend is unwilling to spend time to figure it out. But I, on the other hand, am willing to spend some time on this, because my dog is OBSESSED.

At night, he plays before bed, in the morning its the first thing he runs to, which is fantastic! I bought this as a distraction for my dog during the day while I am at work, and I can see him playing with it all day. Its great!!! You can even see him trying to think through the puzzle staring at the feeder.

I am all-in on these toys, and hope they continue to innovate like this. My purchase is a vote for more of these toys!
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Worth it.
by Sophia (5 out of 5 stars)
August 18, 2017

So, I vacillated about buying a CleverPet because I thought it was so pricey. And then I moved. My dog, Max, did not handle this move very well. he spent the first few days hiding under the bed. I bought the hub in order to provide Max new kinds of stimulation and maybe help with his low mood. The CleverPet exceeded my expectations, in the best ways. And I'm only like 10 days in!

Max was terrified of the hub at first. It made him jump and draw back every time it made noises. But after realizing that there were free treats on offer, he was all over it. My advice is to grab a bag of Zuke's Mini Naturals in your dog's favorite flavor to get him introduced to the hub. Kibble didn't really motivate Max to interact with the hub, but Zuke's Minis did. Right now, I have a mix of kibble and treats in the hub and he's still pretty motivated.

Another advantage to having one of these is watching your dog show you how smart he is. I'm not going to lie; I enjoyed watching Max get all frustrated and growly at the hub, too. But overall, it's really amazing to see what your dog can do if given the right tools and incentives.

I would definitely recommend the CleverPet to anyone who wants to keep their dog stimulated and engaged. It's pricey but so worth it. I honestly think having a constant source of play has made Max a happier dog. Given that he was a sulky little furball when we first moved, the improvement in his attitude is nothing short of staggering.
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This Device GIVES YOUR DOG A JOB!!!
by Karen (5 out of 5 stars)
August 16, 2017

We have had our two CleverPet Hubs for three days now and my two dogs are enthralled. They have moved from touching the touchpads to engaging consistently and they are now working on avoiding unlit touchpads. We do puzzles and structured activities regularly, but this device is so well designed that it is more compelling and gets their focus more strongly than anything else we have introduced for dog entertainment. It is so compelling that I would recommend preparing a multi-dog household for its use before trying to integrate it using games and activities that insure they understand how to be collaborative with food. I am looking forward to watching them continue to learn and be engaged, and transferring their dry feeding completely from the bowl to the hubs. This is hands down the most engaging thing I have ever purchased for my dogs. One note of caution: it does take a bit of getting used to in terms of what the lights mean and how to keep things working - but the company's customer service is outstanding. Stay the course, you will be glad you did!
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Mentally stimulating and fun!
by M. Schear (5 out of 5 stars)
September 6, 2017

My dog has spent hours playing with this in the past couple of days! I love watching him while he's trying to understand how to get the treats to show up. Customer support for Clever Pet is quick to respond and very helpful, and I was extremely impressed to get a call from one of the founders to get feedback.

You can track your dog's performance as the puzzles get consistently more complicated. I feel that this was a great investment as it will keep my dog occupied for a long time to come. The first night I showed it to him, he kept getting up out of bed all night to go and play. I finally had to close the door to the room so that he'd get some sleep.
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Amazing concepts, but the product needs a little upgrade...
by Amazon Customer (3 out of 5 stars)
July 28, 2017

After owning this for a month, I have decided that this product is a great product, but needs a lot of improvements. This review is based on interactions I have seen with my 60lbs lab retriever and his experience. I use Taste of the Wild (TOTW) as the kibble.

Set-Up:

Easy to unpack, a little tricky on the set-up. Instructions were very straightforward, and like others, I did have trouble with the WiFi connection from the hub in my studio apartment. After getting annoyed that the green light was constantly blinking to find internet, I finally moved it much closer to the router and got it to connect. Not a big deal. The app was easy to set-up, but you might run into a keyboard issue if you use G-Board because I think it was the age or gender field that the keyboard was visually blocking...can't remember which. It's a little bug, but it works. Customer service was quick and effective. It seems like there are only three customer service people working so I understand that they might not get back to some people that fast?

Experience/Adaption :

At first, as expected, it took a little bit of motivation for my dog to get used to. I used bacon, cooked chicken, and a lot of treats to get this started. Once he got the concept, it was moving pretty well. After two weeks, he was at the challenge, 'Responding Quickly'. It was fun and exciting see him advance to each level. I think it was more interesting to see how he developed and evolved his techniques to each change. He went from attacking the hub, to using his nose to just tap everything, to just tapping the touchpads, to triple-touch brute force (3N) on each touch pad, to finally learning how to wait for the lights. After he used it, we would feel his head and joke that his brain was fried like a student studying for the finals. He was very persistent in getting to his food.

Experience:

Despite the dog's experience to grow, it did come with a lot of support from the human side. I bought this expensive item with the intention of having my dog play with it till the kibble depletes. However, the mechanics of this product has been quite a headache. A few of my friends constantly thought it was broken, but I am persistently trying to make it work. The first problem I ran into was watching my dog hit the light on target and not seeing it respond. I thought it was because he missed somehow or he pressed some other buttons first. Then when I tried it, with my index finger or gentle fist pressure, it wasn't responding. I correlated it to the consistent dog drooling as he plays which causes the touchpad to be wet. Think of it as a little patches of puddles on the touchpad. Customer service said: "the touchpads are capacitive sensors and are constantly recalibrating to respond best in their given environment, including a certain amount of moisture. However, if enough excess slobber is present, this can sometimes cause the pads to be a bit over- or under-sensitive." [1] Though that was annoying, I was relieved that my dog was still persistent enough to tackle it. If anything, this was teaching my dog to wait and be more patience. So that's great! My biggest issue here is the food sensing mechanism. Currently, "The way the Hub determines whether to add food is actually by shining a light into the dish, and if it senses enough light reflected back it determines that the dish should be filled. So, you may notice it come out empty on occasion if there's lots of slobber, dirt, or crumbs in the dish, though if you do notice this happening when the dish is relatively clean and dry that we'd probably want to investigate what else could be going on. "[1]. So unfortunately, with my dog's consistently slobbering and leaving traces of crumbs behind, the mechanism for "detecting food is presence" would result in a false positive daily. I would notice a dry drool/slob at the bottom every time I get to it. It seems to happen after 30 - 60 plays when the accumulation of physical noise causes the false positive check. This would fail to let my dog to be engaged when I go back to work. He just waits for me to come back and fix it.

Recommendations/Final words:

For a $300 product, I would wish to see it be a lot better. I was hoping that maybe if they released their RESTful API, maybe there is a chance I could have intervene and just program some commands to dispense more food when the hub isn't being played. My dog fortunately knows how to wait for the sound of food coming out to play. Their app could be slightly improved to maybe show like, "time stamp of last interaction" or something as such. They give you these nice reports that give you performance and plays (correct/incorrect) with max plays and play average(?). I haven't used these statistics for anything yet though.

Reference:
[1] Alyssa from CleverPet
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My cats love it
by R. Seleski (5 out of 5 stars)
June 4, 2017

Prefacing the review by stating - She can go in and out of the crate at will. There is a microchip cat flap on the door that opens for her.

My cats love it - note that only one of my cats is actually prepared to use it properly, the others just watch/try to steal from it. But that didn't matter, because I know my cats and I predicted this outcome as I was hitting the purchase button.

I knew Mimi (the 2 year old Sphynx playing it in the video) would use it, that Mao Mao (my 11 year old ex street cat) would be fascinated but too apprehensive, and that Mei Mei (the one trying to steal) would be too overcome by excitement about food that she'd never learn and would instead steal from Mimi. This is exactly what has happened, so if you are thinking about buying this for cats, I'd suggest either buying it for cats that already interact with buttons (Mimi pushes buttons on our electronic devices to get attention, her favorite is the Roomba) or getting it for a multi cat household where the odds are greater that at least one cat will interact. You can't necessarily make cats perform and that is not the fault of the product.

It's also not the fault of the product that if you own multiple cats (or dogs) that it's going to be difficult to monitor their eating if one steals from it - the product is specifically designed for one animal and we accommodated Mimi by cutting out one of her meals, but Mei Mei was going to end up getting fat via stealing from it so we had to place it inside a dog crate with a Sureflap microchip door programmed for Mimi's microchip. We already had the Sureflap door, the dog crate we bought later was our solution to allow her spacious access as the feeding cupboard we used for Mimi before (feeding multiple cats is hard with Mei Mei around) would not allow us to watch her using the Cleverpet. It was also way too small to accommodate it.

We've had this for two months now and she's on Challenge 9.
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Almost three years ago I fostered an adorably yellow lab mix from a rescue for one night
by John P (5 out of 5 stars)
October 13, 2017

I've got a story to tell.

Almost three years ago I fostered an adorably yellow lab mix from a rescue for one night. I officially adopted that same pup, now named Leonidas (Leo for short), and he's never seen that rescue center again. Leo is a spoiled child - but he deserves it. We've gotten through college, relocated some 1100 hundred miles to be an engineer at Microsoft, and basically every milestone of since.

Now that we have some background, let's get down to why you're reading this.

Skim for these if you'd rather not deal with me ramblings.
[-] : Negatives
[+] : Positives
[=] : Mehs
[%] : Tips (only because they worked for me. YMMV)
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Why I sacrificed my left kidney to buy this
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[-] This thing is cussing expensive (fantastic Mr. Fox reference for those who've seen it). There's absolutely no way to soften the blow of this. Standing at a solid $300 I felt like I did sacrifice a kidney for a dog. I do not confess to be a dog fanatic, but I do believe if you accept ownership for the care of something. I choose to adopt him so I'm responsible for his happiness.

So what do I do? I work 8-5. Add in the 40 minute commute and that's easily 10 hours. I've got a neighbor nice enough to let Leo out for a midday potty break - but the pup is still bored out of his mind for 9.5 hours during the day. In my guilt I've bought him dozens and dozens of chew toys, antlers (elk, deer, emu - whatever, all of them!), Kongs, puzzle toys (chess, checkers, backgammon, Jimanji, etc.), and one after one he chewed them up, gnawed them down, and mastered every brain teaser.

Those puzzle toys are $15-$40 a pop and it added up so quickly for me to exceed the hub's $300 over the years. The five or ten minutes he takes figuring it out is great to see - but each time after that seems more and more robotic. He's figured it out. It's routine. This doesn't challenge him for more than a few minutes, nevertheless the entire day.

The CleverPet Hub has such a fantastic concept: [+] It has what seems like freaking ENDLESS engagement activities for Leo throughout the day. When I first got the device, the box was sleek and nice enough, [-] but the hub was just this white, almost cheap feeling plastic thing. It had some weight, but I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as high-end as the price tag. Why not choose a metal alloy or something? The device costs $300 - if you'd like to build a fanbase and following - do what Apple did. Hate them or love them, iPhones were one of the smartphone pioneers, and one consistent factor (aside from OS challenges, locks, blah, blah, blah) is the product in your hand. The iPhone feels like luxury. When I hold the CleverPet Hub, or look at it's location in the corner of my living room, [-] I don't feel that it's physically a luxury item worth the price tag.

Setting it up didn't take too long, but I did read the reviews before buying so I knew what to expect - and also can understand how some who are not as technically skilled might have had initial frustrations. [-] I had issues on my 5ghz network, [%] but I connected it to my 2.4ghz network and the connection's been consistent since.

Leo, being a rescue pup, is afraid of the world (read: statues, leaves blown by the window, cussing Christmas wreaths just hanging on the neighbor's door, you name it). Why wouldn't he be afraid of this weird new thing that flashes lights and makes [-] robotic twirling sounds (put some kibble in a mason jar and slowly turn - that's the sound you'll hear plus a robotic twirl at about the same decibel)? Oh, and of course the right/wrong sounds. [=] None super loud since he plays it while I watch movies all the time; but to Leo it was Pandora's cussing box prepared to unleash every means to end the world. If the options to manually temporarily disable lights or sounds in app became available, it would be helpful when introducing the hub amongst other uses.

It took coaxing and understanding Leo to work his confidence up to not fearing the hub. [%] I bought some liver training treats and crumbled it all over the hub (made my fingers smell like warmed up - well, I won't take the fun away from you, try it some time) while it was off and silent. I progressed with further trickery until he no longer feared the hub and it's sounds.

While I was still trying to convince him the hub is a friend, I filled it with solely liver treats ([%] the treats he valued the most that fits within the treat size requirement). [%] I made sure he was next to me and saw my fill up the hub with the treats and that helped his understanding. [-] The first hiccup I ran into I ran into came when I saw Leo, working hard, complete the puzzle, filled with enjoyment, and then completely confused when the tray opened empty. He'd lick it anyways lick the liver treat addicted junk that he is, and the next time the tray would open with treats. What? That doesn't make sense from a motivation aspect.

I sent a quick email out in the app late Saturday evening not expecting a reply until normal working hours. [+] I got a response from Alyssa the next. Sucks that you had to work the weekend, but it was an extremely positive beginning to my relationship with those over at CleverPet. Turns out there's a sensor for the food tray. Leo was salivating so much that little pools would collect in the tray [-] fooling the hub sensors into thinking there were treats present. [%] I moved his water further from the hub, in addition to whatever update was pushed to the hub and of course periodic wipe down cleanings, has made this issue nonrecurrent.

With time, Leo learned each puzzle and understood there are treats within. There were moments when I felt my 'Tiger Father' instincts come out and I was frustrated that he wasn't learning and progressing faster. [%] I had to remind myself that he's a dog and this is completely different from all the types of training he we've done. The charts within the app were a good feature - but I quickly found that the weekly cadence wasn't sufficient. Once two days were loss before I saw the chart and realized I needed check things out.
[+] Around that time I got a follow up email just checking in to ensure things are working well - which is always good customer service. [+] I briefly mentioned having more regular reports would be a nice add, and I'm not saying the feature is there today because of me, but it's been added nonetheless.

The reports and my observations were showing that Leo was getting in HUNDREDs of plays a day. [+] That tells me that he enjoys it. [+] I also could match his play and puzzle stage to more information within the app.

That's how I justified buying this, well, that and I tend to invest in emerging tech (IoT, gadgets, gizmos, galore) given my line of work. It's just icing on the cake that this benefits my best bud, too - but that's not the reason why I decided to actually sit down and write a review for the CleverPet Hub. I took time out because [+] Alyssa from CleverPet followed up with my again remembering my request for the more frequent reports. The level of support I've received has been top notch.
[+] I've had the hub 4 months to the day now and it's held up physically.
[+] Pup still loves it
[%] I started mixing his daily kibble with liver treats and he falls for it (1/3 treats)
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Final thoughts
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It's a startup. This is what I'm guessing is their first, or at least early, products. It's not perfect; but it provide my dog ever changing challenges which soothes my guilt when I'm not home and the customer service is great.

The product itself is closer to a 4 than a 5. It's the support and continued development of the app and hub play that earns the CleverPet Hub my 5 star rating.

*If this is not the "Dog Puzzle Feeder" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link.  Details were last updated on Mar 14, 2026 18:28 +08.