Ah time to make the pup wear stupid things...

Price: ~$12.99

Purchased from: BoyGirlDog, Mt Lawley
This toy has lasted: NA

I apologise up front for this post. My dog has never asked to be made fun of.
He's never made fun of me.

But I just can't help myself.

At this time of year when sappy Christmas outfits suddenly start popping up in stores I find myself inextricably drawn to buying these ridiculous articles.

You know what I'm talking about - bells on red collars, Santa hats with ear holes and of course, the ever popular Reindeer Ears.

I took the photo to the right after being informed that 92.9 was having a 'Santa Paws' competition. 'Alright!', I thought 'I'm in!'.

On scrolling through the over 700+ entries I started to doubt the cuteness of my puppy.

Sure, Christmas accessories - check.
Sad, depressed look on puppy's face - check.
Reasonable composition of photo (and for an extra bonus, it's in focus) - check.

But could it beat the photo of Santa's horse!?
Would it beat the sleeping shot of a Boston Terrior puppy draped in tinsel?
Or a group of 3 children dressed up like elves with a kitteh wearing an elf hat?

I'm guessing that as I've not heard from the radio station, poor Dougal didn't win...

Dougal does NOT rate this toy. He just wants to eat the fluff out of the ears :)

Hippo Hand Puppet

Price: ~$7.95

Purchased from: City Pets, Riverton
This toy has lasted: 2-3 months

Ahhh.. old faithful - the Hippo Hand Puppet.

I picked up this toy in a 'sale' bin in one of our local pet shops, thinking that it probably wouldn't last (it didn't) but it was only cheap so why the hell not.

Little did we know just how crazy Dougal would go over it. On first sight, as per usual he tried to jump up and grab it. Followed by a series of sharp barks, followed by a series of 'tricks' as he attempted to impress me in order to get the toy.

This toy is essentially a handpuppet, which is fairly well padded and contains a number of squeaks within the padding.

When he started to bite through the padding, it was time to put it away. So now it stays in the dog toy drawers and only comes out on special occasions.

Its the ultimate wrestling toy for our pup. Check out him playing with it on Youtube.

Dougal rates this toy:

Rubber dog frisbee

UPDATE: The rubber frisbee is now dead. It turned into a tug toy when Dougal was out playing with his girlfriend from up the road - Halley. So its time to replace it. BUT the frisbee did last 12 months +

Price: $8:95

Purchased from: Local pet store
This toy has lasted: 6 months+

This is probably 'THE' ultimate toy (or at least for our dog).

Ever since Dougal was old enough to visit the park and could be trusted enough to respond to his name - he's had a favourite toy. The one he adores above everything else (including Marrowbone treats, duck and CHICKEN).

And sure, your dog probably has a favourite too - but in most cases we find that Dougal tends to go through phases and plays with one toy for awhile, then switches, gets bored and moves on.

But this toy was probably one of the cheapest we've ever bought (around $8.95) and it has lasted the test of time. He STILL loves it. Actually I use the word loosely as he's pretty much obsessed by it :)

It's a blue rubber frisbee and is the one thing that our pup goes nuts over.


He will seriously chase it for HOURS if given half the chance.

On the upside, its the one toy that we can always take with us on walks and which we can use to get his full attention.

And as its rubber, he hasn't managed to chew through it, although admittedly we do hide it away when not in use. And he does like to play tug-o-war with it too at times... which only goes to show that its hard wearing and relatively long lasting.

Dougal rates this toy:

Cuddlies Rattle Snake

Price: $29.95

Purchased from: City Farmers, Belmont

It felt like it had been awhile since Dougal had received anything new to play with... and as our front room now seemed to be strewn with toys which have the stuffing pulled out of them, I figured why not try a new toy.

I've bought the Cuddlies range before, mainly the Ducks and Sting Ray and although they admittedly don't last all that long (mainly because the D monster likes to pull the stuffing from his plush toys), they are quite cute and very colourful.

They also have very cool 'voiceboxes' in them and aren't just the standard noisy squeak. This snake toy has both a rattle in the tail end, plus a rattle snake 'hiss' sound in the head.

Although Dougal was actually a bit scared of it at first.......and kept barking every time it hissed, he's now gotten used to it and its become the new tug toy. It's also kind of amusing to wrap the snake around his head (or around our necks) and walk around with it, pretending not to notice.

After 2 days he did pull some stuffing out, but the upside is that we tied a knot in the toy and it was pretty much fixed.

Check out his reaction (at first) on YouTube.

Dougal rates this toy:



UPDATE: It's 2 weeks later and the snake is now minus the rattle in its tail and minus the 'hiss' voicebox. Oh and the majority of the stuffing has also gone. So now its just turned into a tug toy instead.

Squeaky Present Toy

Again yet another great toy bought for Oscar by Jacqui.

Oscar loves this one, it is soft and squishy and makes just the best squeaky noise!!

He loves to play with this one in his paddle pool, or kick it around the house, or just sit there with it is his mouth and make it squeak!! He loves the feel of the toy, and he has not destroyed it.

Oscar gives this another great rating

Santa

Jacqui bought this toy for Oscar for Xmas. I think she bought it on her Melbourne trip

He loves it, this one he has not destroyed yet...

He carries it all around the house, and he want even drop it when he barks!!

Oscar rates this toy:

Rooster

I bought this toy for Oscar for Xmas from City Farmers

Oscar is not big on destroying toys but has had much pleasure is destroying this one!! And now it is missing one leg
It makes the sound of a rooster, and Oscar goes nuts when he hears it.

I bought the same toy for Dougal, and Dave commented on how it has gold pants on, so I nicknamed Oscar's toy Kylie.

Oscar rates this toy:

Ring Zinger

Price: $24.95

Purchased from: Upmarket Pets, Melbourne

I picked up a few toys in Melbourne while over there for work, one of which was this Ring Zinger. I was pretty happy I found it as I've not seen a similar toy in WA as yet and knowing Dougal's love for chasing frisbees it seemed like a good alternative to his other frisbee.

At first glance this looked to be a combination of a tennis ball thrower and a frisbee so I thought I would grab it and give it a go.

After initially throwing it back to front (yes, I am an idiot) and thinking it was rubbish, I re-read the instructions and figured out what I was doing wrong. Dave also kindly demonstrated the correct way to throw it.

But since then it's been the new favourite toy. Only minor complaint is that its not as easy to fit into your back pocket as the other rubber frisbee (obviously, given it has a plastic arm to throw the ring with), but apart from that - it's fairly solid and you can buy additional rings if your dog is a bit of a chewer.

Its easy for Dougal to grab while running after it (easier than a solid frisbee) and you can throw it in such a way that it curves rather than going in a straight line.

If you want to see it in action take a look at this video on YouTube:



Dougal rates this toy:

Snowman Tennis Buddy

Price: $12.95

Purchased from: Upmarket Pets, Melbourne

So, Santa Paws has delivered a number of 'Christmas' related toys for Dougal this year so I thought I might as well get into the spirit and review them.

First up is the SnowMan Tennis Buddy which I picked up while I was over in Melbourne.

Basically a tennis ball made into the shape of a snowman. Soft head and bum, but it did have a bell inserted into it so made an interesting jingle as it was thrown.

Dougal quite liked this toy. So much that he chewed it apart in under 10 minutes.

Admittedly, our dog does love to pull the stuffing out of toys - but this was ridiculously fast if you ask me. Even for him. Even though we threw the ball a few times for him to chase around the house, he preferred to just take it to his bed and rip it apart. Bit by bit. First the eyes, then the nose, then the rope arms.

A lovely mess was made by all. In fact it looks like its been snowing in our living room at the moment.

Dougal rates this toy:



Fun while it lasted but probably not worth the money.

Speaky Rubber Chicken

Price: $32.95

Purchased from: Our local petstore 'Wonderful Pets', Cannington, WA.

For Dougal's 1st birthday, Donna and Dan bought him a range of dog products, including some coat conditioner, dog treats and a squeaky rubber chicken.

Initially the pup didn't seem particularly interested in the chicken (obviously the food was more appealing!) and so didn't actually play with it for a day or two.

BUT then...... all of sudden he seemed to remember it was there and started running around the house squeaking it and squeaking it and SQUEAKING it again. And then some more. And a bit more. Then he decided it would be more fun if he just thrashed his head from side to side and made the chicken hit him in the face. Hours of fun.

He eventually settled down and decided to just chew on the chicken's feet for awhile. On the upside, (or downside) the squeak is still intact and the toy is still in one piece.


Dougal rates this toy:


UPDATE: Dougal has now decided that this is his new favourite toy and at least once a night runs around with it, thrashing his head from side to side to make it squeak. So I'm upgrading the rating accordingly:

Dougal NOW rates this toy: