When I was given the opportunity to review a selection of dog toys from the Kyjen company, Brody shot me a look that said, “You’d better take this one, lady.” Not that he isn’t as spoiled as they come anyway, but I’ll admit the majority of his playthings are the usual easily destroyed types that I get at the store. I was already interested after so many of you raved about the line when I was looking for suggestions for the Holiday Guide, so this was a no-brainer.
They sent a large assortment for our perusal.
From left to right, we have an Egg Baby, Huck Em, Magic Hat with Rabbit, Hard Boiled Softie, Squeaker Mat, and a Bottle Buddy (which is a cool way to recycle plastic water bottles.)
Before poor Brody even got a chance to investigate the booty, I had to play with them and do a squeak assessment. My three year old helped out. We decided the squeak mat was as delightfully loud and cacophonous as promised. (Which is a good thing, 3 am excepted of course.)
The true squeaky winner, though, was the Hard Boiled Softie- an unassuming penguin with a really hard rubber squeaky ball inside. When squeezed, he lets out a gasp not unlike a dying rhinocerous collapsing on top of an accordion, loud and drawn out and melodramatic.
Needless to say, Brody loved this one. He took it and followed my husband from room to room in the house going “squuEEAAAAAAAKKKKKkkkaaaaaaaaaa” over and over until it was confiscated. In other words, an enormous hit.
We did a few side by side comparisons to see if any of the other toys could compare to that one, as well as to his favorite toy, a large stick from the backyard out of frame on the left.
Hmm.
Well, I am a retriever after all, so let’s check out the other bird.
He liked this one well enough, until I pointed out to him it was STUFFED with SQUEAKY EGGS! Then the party really started.
He fished them out, threw them against the wall, chased them down the hill, and buried them in the holes he dug while I was setting up the camera.
Squirrel!
Then he carried it around and snuggled with it.
Hey kid, you’re blocking my light.
I was trying to get him to pick which bird he liked best, but then he saw an egg in the distance:
So intent on the egg was he that he didn’t even notice his ear flopping in the breeze.
Boy, did he feel dopey when I told him.
Brody hasn’t put a dent in any of them, but he is a little more gentle on toys than some other dogs. So, I’m going to pass these out to some friends with aggressive chewers, who have given up on finding squeak toys that last more than a day. We’ll see how they do.
I’d like to give at least one away too, but I can’t promise being organized enough to send it right now so I’ll probably hang onto them and give some away later this month.
OH OH OH I have got to get Cookie the Egg Baby. Way too cute that it has squeaky eggs within!! She does have a toy similar to Hard Boiled Softie, it makes that same annoying dying squeak that she insists on squeaking in the middle of something that needs to be quiet.
Brody is the perfect model. So dang adorable.
Will definitely have to check those out, although I suspect Clyde is a bit rougher on his toys than Brody is. Isn’t it funny that the backyard stick is always the favorite in the long run?
Our 5 month old puppy, Juli, has the Kyjen Hide-A-Squirrel and totally loves it. She shakes the “tree” until all the squirrels fall out, then she runs around the house with the little squirrels in her mouth.
She also has a Fleecy Clean tug toy from Kyjen. It works really well for puppies especially, who don’t have the teeth or motor skills to really grab onto a tough toy. It’s also supposed to clean your dog’s teeth as they play with it.
If you want a TRUE test on how these hold up with tough chewers, my dog Brooklyn would be more than happy to test any of them for you. She gets a special kind of joy out of destroying toys. First, she goes for the eyes, every time. Then she’ll usually aim for the neck….make a small hole, and proceed to very gently pick out the stuffing and spitting it to the side…..
Please let Brooklyn test these ! She’d love it ever so much ! hee hee, thanks !
A penguin! I have to find that. Ally loves all the ones she has. I bought one (not made by the same folks, my mistake) and if it is possible for a dog to hate something, that’s Ally’s relationship with that toy.
I actually have pictures of Juli playing with her Hide-A-Squirrel and fleece toy: http://julipuppy.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/julis-top-toys/
Okay… with a Husky who LOVES squeaky toys, yet destroys them in a day or two, because she just HAS to get the squeaky OUT NOW, I think I must look in to this!
Brody is adorable as always!!
Is the penguin the one with the eggs or the other? The penguin looks just like one Starr has but hers has not eggs. She would LOVE that. Smart cookie, likes finding things.
Oh, and btw, Brody — so gorgeous!
Brody is definitely my favorite goldenbeast!
Pru received one of Kyjen’s squeaker mats (it’s a pig!) for winning a contest and it is one of her all time favorite toys. It lasted through her abuse (which is very little abuse because she’s not too tough on her toys) but it did not last through various late night steppings on while trying to make it to the bathroom. A few of the squeakers are not so squeaky anymore 🙂
I’m so going to get the Egg Baby for Pru next… per Brody’s recommen- SQUIRREL!
i stumbled on the bottle buddy in a pet supply shop in s.f. and brought it home to my dog who adores it. he always liked the crinkly sound/feel of plastic bottles and i liked it that the pieces were contained and he couldn’t potentially cut his mouth on the plastic. it’s been a huuuuge hit and a great idea!
Brody is just too darn cute, I can’t handle that much cute.
You’ll have to let us know how these toys fare against the heavy chewers, cause Chewy destroys toys like no other dog I’ve known before, and we had a rottweiler who loved to chew! I’d love to get her some toys that would last. So far, we’ve only managed 3 toys that she hasn’t completely ruined; a Kong Wubba, a spiky rubber ball that you put water in, and a small rubber ball that used to belong to Kitteh, Chewy stole it. It has a bell in it, and she thinks that’s fantastic.
These toys are cool . I have to check these out. My little Yorkie ( Charlie) loves to ceromoniuosly remove tails and ears and dissembowel his squeaky toys the second he gets them. I am looking into the egg Penguin. It Would give him the satisfaction , without the damage LOL
PS Brody is , as always a cutie pie
As I gaze over the wreckage that was my monster’s Christmas toy from my mother (its head is currently in pieces all over my living room) I must say: I gotta check these out. She loves anything that squeaks in an annoying manner (my monster, that is, not my mother).
We’ve got some crazy chewers in our household… Learned breaks squeakers in less than 2 hours generally… except for the stuffed frogs we have (which have each lasted almost a year). Good to know there’s something else out there. Totally will check it out.
There is no plush toy in the universe that can stand up to Blue’s methodical chewing. He chews with surgical precision. He plans his surgeries ahead of time and carries them out in perfect form.
Step one: make a small rip in the fabric, we don’t want big scars! Step two: excise the offending squeaker with minimal destruction to surrounding tissues. Step three: Relentlessly pull out the stuffing bit by bit, making a neat pile of fluffy white stuff to his side. Step four: discard the now shapeless sack of nothing in his pile of…well…shapeless sacks of nothing.
If you do find out that these toys are surgery-proof, let me know!
Did anyone notice the “pawcurious green” in the background of these photos?!
The sandbox cover?