Busy Buddy Tug-A-Jug

A friend's mom found this toy for their new puppy and it seemed to get great reviews from them so I bought one for Louie. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to our expectations.

The product description online: "Ultimate interactive toy allows your pet to see treats, smell treats and hear treats. The textured rubber wrap serves as a chew toy and cleans teeth. Made with non-toxic bullet-proof material."

It is made of a very hard plastic, with the 'cap' of the bottle made of a soft rubber and a rubber rope pull running through it. The bottom unscrews and you fill the bottle with small enough treats to come out the top opening, around the rope. The flaw is that the rope pull is such bad quality that even if I bent it in half, it would've snapped. So Louie had no trouble destroying that part within 5 seconds of playing with it. It still took him some time to get his treats out and kept him occupied for awhile. Once he figured out where the treats were coming from, he chewed the spiky cap off, which didn't affect the dispensing of treats. What did ultimately damage the toy was when he cracked and broke the plastic neck of the bottle, and eventually the screw-on bottom.

On top of the poor rubber quality, the other problem with this product is that the company markets it differently online and in-store. Pictures online show the toy with a cloth rope instead of the rubber one shown online. After reading some customer reviews, they claim that they were sent the rubber rope version instead of the cloth one shown. Many reviewers also had an issue with the rope pull being easily broken. I will give credit to those who improvised and used other objects as an obstacle.

All things considered, the toy is a wonderful idea. The improvements need to come in the way of more durable rubber parts and a realistic product picture/description for online purchases. I am contemplating buying a smaller version (since the bottle is really big) and taking the rope out and replacing it with a ping-pong ball to act as an obstacle instead. It probably won't solve the problem of him chewing the spiky part off, but I think it will still keep him occupied.

I bought this toy at Target for $11.99 but there are lots of websites which sell it. I found the reviews on amazon.com. The company (Busy Buddy) has other products which promote interactive, independent activity so I'll see about testing other products of theirs.

Kong Training Dummy

I'd like to start by saying that I didn't purchase this toy for Louie and it's not accessible to him on a daily basis. That being said, the rating and review may be a bit skewed. Dan's mom, Carol, bought it for her Golden Retriever, Chase. So when Louie goes over for play dates, they like to play tug-of-war together (as seen above) and whip it around.

This 'dummy' toy, is a fun interactive toy for him and Chase to play with together. It has held-up for about 6 months now of occasional tug-of-war between the two of them. It's usually outside and since it is Chase's toy, and he doesn't have an issue with destruction, it's available to him always. I've seen people use it at the lake as a retrieval toy (which is what it is supposed to be for) and held-up really well in the water and with other dogs.

It's basically a classic Kong filled with foam and a rope going through it. It does have a tendency for the foam inside the kong to pull-out when the rope is pulled hard. I'm not blaming that on a strong-jawed dog, since it seems like a common problem when you play tug-of-war with any dog. The rope part is beginning to fray a bit which I do contribute to Louie's tendency of destroying ropes. But I will say that the rope isn't made of 'soft' fabric (like cotton or a blend), instead it is made of woven plastic which is way more durable. This is definitely a fun toy for them to play with and provides us with entertainment!

Side Note: If you haven't purchased a Kong toy for your dog yet, get one. It was a lifesaver when we were training Louie as a puppy. It curbs boredom, separation anxiety, and keeps him occupied for hours. It is made of a very durable soft, thick rubber and it is made to stuff treats into. There are so many different shapes, sizes, and uses for Kongs, there really is no reason to not have one for your dog.

Everlasting Treat Ball

Found this new toy at Bow Wow Meow in San Carlos. We decided to test out this toy because the packaging says that it "stops destructive boredom behaviors, provides hours of mental stimulation, and is virtually indestructible." Once we got it home, in an attempt to get the toy out, I destroyed the packaging so I wasn't able to take a picture of it, my apologies! The first picture is Louie patiently waiting to play with it and shows the "everlasting treat" in the top of the toy... It comes with two treats and the ball has two sides so you could put both in there if you wanted. I placed some smaller treats on the other side just to see if other treats worked. My gripe is that the treats that come with the toy are held in by a small lip which when the toy is squeezed, the treat pops-out. The second picture is the illustration of this happening. The smaller treats I placed on the other side created a great challenge for him and kept him occupied for about a 1/2 hour. The treat that came with it seemed to go untouched until the other ones were gone so I'm not sure how appetizing they are.

I purchased the 'Medium' size; I guess I didn't pay attention to the packaging very well since it says it's recommended for dogs under 40 lbs., and Louie is around 65 lbs. I can't recall if there was a larger size but I do remember seeing a smaller size. After 3+ hours of playing with it, it's living up to its claims of being "virtually indestructible". The good thing is that even without the treats, Louie loves it. It bounces around and rolls really easily so it keeps him entertained.

Since Bow Wow Meow is classified as a boutique store, the price was higher than what you might find elsewhere. At $22.99, I'm sure you can find it online for less but I haven't seen it in PetSmart or my local pet store yet. I'll do some research but if you want to look for it, the manufacturer is Star Mark.

** UPDATE: It is at PetSmart now; same price as Bow Wow Meow ($22.99) but the treats are $1.00 less at Pet Food Express than at PetSmart and Bow Wow Meow.