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:

Tug-a-jug

Price: $24.95

Purchased from: Our local petstore 'Wonderful Pets', Cannington, WA.
This toy has lasted: 1 week so far

As I've previously mentioned, Dougal really seems to like the Busy Buddy toy range and so on my typical stop by the pet store to check out the new puppies this week, I bought him a refill of his gnawhide chews for the Busy Buddy Bouncy Bone and saw this new toy - the Tug-a-jug.

It is essentially a toy / treat where you unscrew the end of the 'bottle/jug' bit and fill it with treats. At the end of the jug is a rubber bristle, and a rubber rope that feeds into the jug. The idea is that your dog will pull on the rope to bring out the treats. There are also scent holes in the bottom of the jug so your dog can smell the treats inside.

HOWEVER... although I was initially quite excited about this toy (mainly because the rope was rubber, as lets face it, if it were rope, Dougal would just chew through it!) we have so far found that it is actually REALLY difficult for our pup to get the food out, and he gets quite frustrated. And not because he's not trying. Unfortunately either the size of the treats that we're using, or the shape of the jug itself, is restricting the amount of food that comes out.

We'll just try it out with a range of different sized treats and see if the amount that emerges is easy to adjust.

Having said that, I did buy the 'medium' sized version, so perhaps the large one would have been better?

Dougal rates this toy:

Cuddlies Sting Ray

Price: $~20

Purchased from: Petstock (http://petstock.com.au)
This toy has lasted: 1 week so far

We've bought quite a few of the Cuddlies brand as Dougal has been growing up, mainly because they are a good mix of soft toy and interesting 'squeaks'. This toy was one I really liked, mainly because the 'speak' is actually a soft gurgling/bubbling noise, rather than an annoying, piercing squeak.

(how many times can I fit squeak in a sentence you ask, too many I say! Sorry about that.)

In comparison to other squeaky toys I find the stingray actually quite soothing to listen too.

I suspect that Dougal will tear it apart when he gets bored, but as he's gotten a few toys for his birthday this week, this one has so far remained intact.

Dougal rates this toy:

Tuffies Octopus

Price: ~$25

Purchased from: Petstock (http://petstock.com.au)
This toy has lasted: 1 week so far but this is a good start and there are no tears in the toy as yet.

We've previously bought Dougal a "Tuffies Ring" which I purchased online before I realised that our local Petstock sold this range of toys.

I actually bought the ring, primarily because it rated "10 on the tuff scale!". And so far it is one of the FEW toys that Dougal has yet to pull apart and rip the stuffing out of.

So I am have high hopes for the Tuffies Octopus. This toy rates "7 of the tuff scale!" and is good for tug-o-war games and fetch as you can chuck it via the legs.

Each leg also has a squeaker embedded in it, although it is admittedly pretty hard to squeak them, given the thickness of the materials used (ie layers).

Dougal rates this toy:

Busy Buddy Bouncy Bone

As the pup turns one tomorrow we stopped by our local pet stores to pick up a few gifts including the Busy Buddy Bouncy Bone (below), as well as the Cuddlies Stingray and a Tuffies Octopus.

We've previously bought Dougal many of the 'Busy Buddy' toy range and have found that he really likes all of them (will review the rest as soon as possible, but essentially there is a treat ball, 'squirrel buddy' and football boy all of which you can fill with food).

Not sure if it's just the food (as he has other treat balls but loves these the most), or perhaps there is some scent to the purple rubber, but either way, they're a big hit. So hopefully the busy buddy bouncy bone will be too.
UPDATE: After 2 days, this toy has proved to be a hit as it is relatively long lasting and you can actually put other food types on each end of the bone. For instance, we bought some raw hide smoked 'Pringle' like crisps which Dougal pretty much ignored after the first sniff, but if we put them on this toy, he is determined to chew them. Success!

Dougal rates this toy:

Pull-apart dog toys

Price: ~$15

Purchased from: An online store I've forgotten (sorry!)

This toy lasted: ~2 weeks

Again, looking for dog toys that were different to those found in our local pet stores and supermarkets I stumbled upon the 'pull apart' range of toys that came in the 'vet', 'policeman', 'convict', 'devil' and 'mailman' (to name a few).

This dog toy seemed quite interesting as it was essentially made up of 3 separate parts which fitted together to make the toy. The main 'body' part (plush), the 'arms' and the 'legs' (or outfit/dress).

The idea is that dogs can chew on the toys and throw their heads from side to side wildly (as they do!) to split the toys up.
We purchased the 'pull apart vet'.

Dougal really liked this toy at first, but unfortunately it didn't last very long (unsupervised). As per usual he got his teeth into the main body park and started to pull out the fluff from the head.

But if supervised this could be a pretty good toy - you just need to keep putting it back together. It would be a good toy if it were made out of rubber, or a more durable material.

Dougal rates this toy: