Best Interactive Dog Toys That Move on Their Own

Playtime is a chance for your dog to exercise, stay mentally sharp, and alleviate boredom and stress. The benefits are mutual, as both pet parents and dogs experience improved moods.

While traditional toys like sturdy ropes for tug of war or tennis balls for fetching are enjoyable, they often require human involvement. But what happens when you’re at work or too tired to satisfy your pup’s endless energy? That’s where interactive dog toys come into the picture. These innovative toys provide a way for dogs to occupy themselves and engage in stimulating activities even when you’re busy.

Discover the best of the best when it comes to dog toys that come to life. These innovative creations are safe, user-friendly, and guarantee to keep your dog thoroughly entertained.

Join us as we explore an array of automatic and interactive dog toys that boast self-moving capabilities. From highly-rated autonomous toys to app-operated devices, our carefully curated selection will introduce you to a world of endless play possibilities. Get ready to witness the joy on your pup’s face as they engage with these captivating toys that move on their own!

Are Moving Dog Toys Safe for Dogs?

Absolutely! Our selection of the best dog toys that move on their own not only offer a range of benefits but also ensures the safety of your dog. With a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and designs available, there’s a perfect moving toy fit for every dog’s preferences and needs. Discover how these engaging toys can enhance your dog’s playtime while keeping them happy, entertained, and safe.

Choosing the best self-moving dog toy

Selecting which of the many available moving and motorized dog toys is best for your dog can be confusing.

Things to take into consideration are what your budget is, which moving toy your dog would enjoy most, and the strength and durability of the toy. It is important to consider safety. if you have a dog that destroys their toys easily. You don’t want your dog to get to the batteries or electronics inside.

I recommend with any of these toys to supervise play, especially at first. Once you are confident that it is safe for your dog you may be able to leave them alone with the toy.

Benefits of moving dog toys

These types of toys are extremely engaging for a dog as they cater to their natural instinctive prey drive. The benefit of giving your dog an interactive moving toy includes –

  • provides mental stimulation
  • reduces boredom
  • caters to a dog’s natural prey drive
  • can be self-playing
  • provides activity and exercise
  • type of sensory enrichment
  • extremely entertaining and amusing to watch

SKYMEE Owl Robot

The SKYmme Owl Robot is the latest in smart toys for dogs and the ultimate choice for the home alone dog. It is not only an automatic moving smart toy. It is also a pet camera with two-way communication and a treat dispenser.

This device runs off your home 2.4Ghz WiFi and you can access it from the phone app wherever you are. The big advantage this device has over other pet dispensing pet cameras is that you can drive it from room to room. Most treat dispensing pet cameras stay in a fixed position.

With the two way communication, you can talk to your dog and also hear if they are barking. The phone app allows multi-person access of up to 8 people. This way your friends and family can also check in on your dog.

The high definition 1080p camera is able to record video so you can watch later and has night vision. This is helpful if the room is dark or your dog is home alone at night time.

View the SKYMEE Owl Robot on Amazon.

Features/Highlights

  • Camera – 1080p with night vision
  • Treat dispenser – 50g capacity
  • Can be used inside or outside
  • Compactable iOS it Android
  • Charge last 6 – 8 hours in active mode, 5 days interactive mode

Varram Pet Robot

The Varram Pet Fitness Robot another great automatic chase toy for dogs and cats but doesn’t have a camera like the Owl Robot. However, this device is super smart and ideal to keep your dog active when home alone. Using an app on your iPhone or Android you can schedule when to activate or have it in sleep mode. It also can sense when your pet is near wanting to play. It also has an obstacle avoidance ability and can learn where obstacles are.

The Varram Pet Robot has a few more functions than the other smart chase toys shown below, and as a result, is a little more expensive. It has a built-in treat dispenser to reward your dog for playing. It also provides all the stats and reports on the smartphone app such as monitoring your dog’s activity and how many treats were dispensed.

View the Varram Pet Fitness Robot on Amazon.

Features/Highlights

  •  Battery charge lasts over four hours in play mode and 24 hours in standby mode.
  • Indoors use only
  • Treat dispenser for added engagement
  • iPhone and Android compatible.

GoBone

The GoBone is the original smart motorized dog chase toy. Just touch the GoBone and it will keep your dog entertained for up to 8 hours. Alternatively, you can use the app to control the GoBone yourself. This makes for a fun game for both your dog and you. The  GoBone is tough and made from durable materials. However, if your dog does chew it you can get a replaceable exterior cover.

To make it even better for your dog you can place treats inside the wheels. Even more reason your dog will love one.

Features/Highlights

  • Compatible with iPhones running iOS 9.0 or later and smartphones running Android v4.3 or later
  • Indoors use only
  • Replacement covers available if your dog chews it
  • Battery charge lasts over eight hours in auto-play mode and minutes in the manual mode.
  • No treat dispenser, but can put treats inside wheels.

Wicked Bone

Wicked Bone is an interactive smart dog toy that plays and interacts with your dogs. You will be able to set it to Drive Mode where you can control it with your mobile phone, or set it to Interactive Mode for the toy to auto-play with your dog.

The Wicked Bone adapts to your dog by way of 12 types of emotionally driven systems. It acts responsively to different types of touch, such as chasing, teasing, or avoiding, and so on.

With the Wickedbone App, you can set different parameters such as speed, swerve, acceleration for playing indoors or outdoors, as well as adjustable sensitivities for playing on hard or soft grounds.

The Wicked Bone operates on Bluetooth with a connection range of up to 30 – 50 feet.

Features/Highlights

  • Indoor and Outdoor use (preferably on grass)
  • Battery charge lasts over two hours in auto-play mode and one month in sleep mode.
  • No camera or treat dispenser
  • 12 built-in play modes and 9 motion modes.

PetGeek Play Bone

If you are looking for a motorized chase bone for your dog, but the additional functions of the others are out of your budget or not needed this is a great alternative. The PetGeek Play Bone is similar to the other chase bone type toys except it doesn’t have a smart app so you can not control the toy or activate when your not home. However, price-wise it is significantly cheaper.

You simply pat the bone and it bursts into action. It can be easily dismantled and is dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.

RoboBone Electronic Treat Dispenser moving dog toy

The Robobone is a basic version of the play bone type toys mentioned above. Rather they being chargeable it runs using 4 x AAA batteries. It doesn’t come with an app like the more high-tech moving dog toys but apart from that, it works the same.

You simply fill up the wheels with your dog’s favorite treats and turn it on. It is designed to move around for 2 minutes then goes into sleep mode until your dog wakes it up. It also has sensors built in to ensure it doesn’t get stuck in a corner or under furniture.

The Robobone is a good option if you want a simple playbone type moving toy. It is not made of the same quality materials as some of the other toys mentioned above.

View the Robobone on Amazon.

Petgeek Automatic Rolling Treat Ball

This automatic rolling treat ball from Petgeek is activated by a soft touch from your dog and can last for up to 7 hours. It requires two AAA batteries and goes into sleep mode after a period of no activity.

It provides physical exercise and mental stimulation as they figure out how to release the treats.  Can hold up to 380ml of kibble or small treats(sized up to 0.3 inches). This is ideal for the home alone dog also.

View the Petgeek Automatic Rolling Ball on Amazon,

Petsafe Kibble Chase

This is a similar concept to the Petgeek moving treat ball above, but is a different shape. It moves in an unpredictable rolling action while randomly dropping treats to entice your dog. Will go in to sleep mode after 10 minutes and a nudge from your dog will start it up again.

The Kibble Chase is a great option if your dog eats too quickly. Holds up to half a cup of dog kibble or treats. A great feature is that it has rubber wheels. This means that if you have a wooden or hard floor, it doesn’t make noise.

View Petsafe Kibble Chase on Amazon.

Wicked Ball

If your dog is ball mad then the Wicked Ball is the ultimate moving dog toy for them. The magic ball runs and bounces all by itself and the LED light adds another level of engagement for your dog. No App or remote controller required.

It has several settings such as the Intelligent Companion mode. In this mode, the Wicked ball has 10 minutes of play and 30 minutes of rest. If your dog pushes or hits the ball it starts the play cycle again. It also has three reaction modes (gentle, normal, active) so you can set it to suit your dog’s mood.  Due to its obstacle avoidance system (collision sensor), it doesn’t get stuck in tight spots.

The Wicked ball is durable and dog safe and is also waterproof so it can be played with when swimming. It also has a treat hole for dogs that are food motivated.

View the Wicked Ball on Amazon.

Doggie Tail

The Doggie Tail vibrates and jumps to stimulate your dog. It also makes intriguing sounds to further engage them. It requires 3 AAA batteries and will shut off after a period of inactivity to prolong battery life. If your dog damages the outer material you can get replacement covers. It also comes in different styles including Crab, Hedgehog, and Owl.

Zeus Bulldog

The Zeus Bulldog barks, shakes, bounces, and rolls in an unpredictable way. It comes complete with 3 AAA batteries. The cover is machine washable for when it becomes covered in slobber and grim.

Zany Bunch Zany Ball

The Zany Ball wiggles, turns, twists, and jiggles to engage your dog. It has a soft grippy surface that is gentle on your dog’s teeth.

Turn on the ball to activate the random action. It will continue to play by being touched by your dog. It only requires one AA battery which is included.

Petbobi Plush Giggle Ball

The plush giggle ball makes dog growling sounds and has a shaking motion by for 20 seconds when you turn it on. The toy will activate again by shaking or touching by your dog.

The plush cover can be removed and is machine washable. The toy runs off 3 x AAA batteries which come with the item.

Weazel Ball Motorized Ball Pet Toy

This motorized plastic ball rolls around when turned on and Weazel frantically chases the ball. It measures around 4 inches and runs off one AA battery.

This is best suited for smaller dogs and play should be supervised. A larger dog could quite easily destroy this. In all honesty, I don’t recommend this toy for most dogs and it is probably best suited for cats. There are much better moving dog toys on this list I would choose.

Remote Control Dog Chase Toy

This remote control rat chase toy is probably really meant for cats, but if you have a small dog or terrier this would be fine for them. It would probably be best to keep this a controlled activity as they may destroy it easily.  The toy itself is a reasonable size measuring at 29cm in length including the tail.

These are relatively inexpensive and you can even get a pack of three of these each with a remote for only a little more just in case your dog makes short work of it.

Automatic Ball Launchers

If you have a dog that loves to chase the ball then one of these is a must-have. I am sure you know that look that says “please throw it just another 1000 times’. Now you don’t have to. They can “throw” the ball and chase it to their heart’s content.  Read “Automatic Ball Launchers for Dogs” to learn more.

Whichever motion activated self-moving dog toy you choose it will be sure to give your dog hours of entertainment and fun. Mental stimulation such as that provided by playing with dog toys that move on their own can tire a dog just as much as physical activity.

Author

  • Joseph Coleman

    A lifelong writer and proud dog dad. Joseph started this blog dedicated to helping other dog owners find accurate information on how to keep their pets at their healthiest through exercise and nutrition. His passion for all things canine shines through in his writing, and he believes that every dog deserves the best possible care. If you're a dog owner looking for reliable advice on how to keep your pup healthy and happy, be sure to check out Joseph's work.