And so it begins, my second season of toy review for Kohepets and my very first toy review for 2018! Unlike season one where I covered the 'action' toys, Miss U and I decided it was time to focus on interactive dog toys.

My loot of interactive toys for season two of reviews... except ONE! Can you spot the odd one out?

As usual, I have a budget of $250 (retail price!) for my toys selection. Miss U had very kindly organised a range of interactive toys for my selection. After we agreed on the toys selection and the transaction was finalised, my blonde eye lashes fluttered in a flurry like an antenna picking up a signal call.

"Miss U! Miss U! Can I please add the KONG Tugga Wubba to my loot? I need that toy. I want that toy. I MUST HAVE that toy!!!", I asked her with all excitement I could conjure up.

Miss U agreed to add on to my loot even though I would go over my budget.

Flashbacks of daddy's toys played in my head.

We, Frodo and I, really need this toy.

See video below for the story of how we got the Tugga Wubba. True story.

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Tugga Wubba Explained!


As you can see from the illustration above, the Tugga Wubba toy was developed for tug-of-war as well as toss and fetch.

It's a good design.

When I first saw the 'ropey' bit of the toy, I knew it would withstand Frodo and my monster mouths should we start chewing on it. The incorporation of Kong's trademark Wubba nylon 'feeler' at each end was much appreciated. The Tugga Wubba is not just one of those typical rope toys that I, Flapper Choo, am fully capable of untwining the ropes in minutes. For what seems to be a simple tug toy is really quite smartly designed with durability in mind as well as interactive fun between dog and human... and dog and dog too (watch above video).

Priced at SGD18.00 for the large (L) Tugga Wubba, I felt it was reasonably priced for a dog toy especially if it is durable. The small (S) is priced at $13.00 whilst the x-large (XL) is at $23.00. Sorry guys. No medium in the mix!

However, having been zinged once by KONG, I hoped the Tugga Wubba would be as sturdy as the photo showed. But their Wubba toys have proven trustworthy thus far so that boosted my fragile confidence on its quality.

When the Tugga Wugga arrived, it did not disappoint! I could tell right away it was going to be durable toy. Bring on the tug of war Frodo!

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Tugga Wugga For Work

Shortly after I started my dog therapy work with the elderly, mummy started looking for a toy she could bring with to motivate them to play with me. Most of the elderly has movement problems (fall risk as well) which meant that they had to be seated at all times and could only stand up with assistance. So the toy selected has to be one that is safe, does not get drowned in [my] saliva easily, easy for them to hold and release, produces a good toss vertically and horizontally and best of all if it an encourage game of tug.

Then mummy remembered my new Tugga Wubba! She was confident it met the criteria listed above and the attractive colours was a bonus. She packed away with my existing lot of toys we use for therapy and the rest is history.

The Tugga Wubba is now my staple toy for dog therapy.

via GIPHY

This is just a demo which daddy very kindly to help me with. Mummy does not get a chance to take photos or videos when I am working and we need to preserve the elderly's identity too. Daddy's demo is a very tame version of what actually goes on during the therapy session.

The elderly can be very cheeky. They would flail the Tugga to tease/taunt me, feign innocence only to throw it pretty darn far, lob me with their toss so I can't catch it and once there was a lady who stood up with much gusto without assistance just to fling the toy. She gave the staff a panic attack with her action. The elderly can be filled with mischief no doubt about it. But watching their progress and seeing them break out in laughter and applause is absolutely rewarding.

via GIPHY

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FLAPPER RATES TUGGA WUBBA

What started out as that proper tug toy for Frodo to irritate me has become my unique work toy. Unique means it is only brought out and used during my therapy sessions with the elderly. Once in a while, mummy may relent and let Frodo have it to irritate me.

As such, mummy and I concurred that I will be the one to rate the toy except in one category...

Fun for both humans and dogs. Got to give it 5 Flaps!

I get to irritate Flapper with it, I get to stuff it into his mouth, I can play tug with Flapper.... Defintely 5 DOH!

Overall, it is a sturdy and durable toy. It is surviving our monster mouths and play. However, with the stitching starting to loosen and peep at me.... got to give it 4 Flaps.

The classic Wubba nylon material does not stain easily and my Tugga still looks pretty darn good. It should easily be machine-washable although I suspect the ropes may take quite a long time to dry.

For its quality, durability, presentation and design thoughts, SGD18.00 is good value for money. Definitely 5 Flaps!

Absolutely yes. I am thinking maybe I should get a spare in case this spoils and well, another one for Frodo... maybe?

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With this, my first dog toy review for 2018 is done!

For anyone who is interested in purchasing the KONG Tugga Wubba, you can get it from Kohepets. It is currently out of stock but I am sure they will happy to assist you with the stock status!

Next up, we will be reviewing Outward Hound PAW HIDE Puzzle Toy.

Look out for it!

After my not-so-happening review of the KONG Zinger Dog Toy, it is time for a happier review. As mentioned in my previous post, I do not like giving bad reviews but I also need to be honest to all my doggie friends who might be interested in the toys Frodo and I are playing.

We strive on giving authentic reviews and not just give reviews for the sake of it. And for me, it is not just about dissecting a product/toy to write a review but to relate our tales tails while testing it.

With that said, it is time to for my next toy review! Please forgive me that is going to be one long post. You see, mummy insists that I need to tell the tails of Frodo's rambling ways versus my rocket scientist ways.

Aka 'Pinky and the Brains'.

TRUE STORY.
No fibbing.
No exaggeration.
We have videos for evidence too.

Enjoy our rambling tales tails.


It's About Workin' Those Brains

The KONG Rambler was my second third toy selection. The second was the KONG Wubba which I sneakily added into the Kohepets shopping cart without mummy's knowledge. Mummy always says, "You can never beat a dog's physical energy but you can beat their mental energy". Thus it was quintessential to add a interactive/thinking toy to the cart.

One of our utmost favourite range of interactive toys is Nina Ottosson. We own quite a few of these from couple of years back and we do still play with them now and again. Rumour has it, Miss U is planning to send us Nina Ottosson toy(s) to test! Woof! We cannot wait to see what comes our way!

Anywoof, so I was in search of some interactive toys I could purchase just because I need to exercise my mind. And also, I wanted to make sure I had a varied selection of toys to review on. Not just those chase and fetch type toys to flaunt my flapping ears.

KONG has a variety of interactive toys. As mentioned in my Zinger toy review post, I do favour KONG toys. Well, that was before NERF won my heart.

Anywoof, you might also know by now that my toy selection criteria is pretty much - plush,  no; plasticky/too-plasticky, no... and I tried to avoid selecting those treat-dispensing toys unless it is a die-die-must-have type of toy. I was looking for toys that both Frodo and I could play with at the same time.

After going through my elimination process, I ended up with the KONG Rambler toy.

1. The toy squeaks (if you have not figured by now, we LOVE squeaky toys);
2. The 'outer shell' looked like it was made of hardy rubber;
3. It has a tennis ball inside;
4. Trying to get that tennis ball out... surely it would exercise our my brain. A little. And Frodo's brain. A lot.

The KONG Rambler comes in two sizes and three colourways. When you leave it to mummy to choose, we will ALWAYS end up with something blue, black, grey, brown or white UNLESS there's none of these colours available. It also comes in SMALL size which is priced at SGD25.00

It Took. JUST. 17.7 Seconds.

'Twas that fateful day that Frodo ditched us for grandpa. After a fun run at the field testing the NERF Ball Blaster (saving the best for last) and KONG Zinger Toy, there we - Uncle Nic, Mummy and myself, back at home.

Mummy excitedly took out my brand new KONG Rambler and asked Uncle Nic, "Since Frodo Goondu Pinky is not home, let's try this toy on Flapper! I wanna see how long it takes for him to figure it out."

Sony Action Cam - check.
KONG Rambler - check.
KONG Rambler Squeaks - check.
Flapper Choo aka The Brain - check.



Silence.

The humans were quiet.
Very quiet.

Hello Uncle Nic?
Hello Mummy?
Where's my thunderous applause and cheers for getting the tennis ball out?

Instead they tested me again to see if my first attempt was a fluke.

Still no applause nor cheers.

I am certain if this was Pinky at work, they would screaming in excitement, yum seng with their gin and tonic and throwing confetti.


Three tries later and 'twas the case of "Maybe this ball is smaller....."

Unce Nic, the pseudo rocket-scientist, took the toy and attempted to studiously study it.

"Maybe this [tennis] ball is smaller or maybe there's one side of the toy that has a bigger opening...."

So mummy brought out our regular tennis ball to measure against. It does feel like the KONG ball is a tad bit smaller and of more compact pile.

A slight difference in measurement but does it affect the 'performance'?

So looks like Uncle Nic was right. There is a slight size difference in the ball size which does affect how the ball rambles as illustrated above. Which also means, it would be a tad bit more challenging for Pinky to get the ball.

The tennis ball, being that tad bit bigger, fits snugly. On the one hand, it is easier for a dog like Pinky to get it but at the same time, it requires a little more effort to detach the tennis ball.

So to prove Uncle Nic's theory about the 'ball size', mummy decided to test me with a tennis ball....



Easy Peasy.
No problem.
The Brain conquers the toy again.
In 5.5 seconds.


"Let's see what he does if we put TWO balls in...."

In case you have not figured, I have yet to receive any thunderous applause at this point despite my success. In fact, mummy was getting progressively annoyed as she could not believe she wasted my toy budget on this toy.

Mummy called it "anti-climax". She was excited about trying this toy with me except she did not expect that I would get so quickly. She felt quite 'cheated' (by me) as she expected more mileage out of the toy.

Sorry mum... you do call me the 'rocket scientist'.....

Feeling undefeated, Uncle Nic proposed, "Let's make it tougher. Let's see what he does if we put two balls in."

Mummy agreed just because... she would do anything at this point just to feel that the $32.00 was well-spent.




The awesome part about owning this Sony Action Cam is that mummy can easily take good quality and stable videos whenever we, Frodo and I, are testing new toys. But here's the downside (for me), it also allows mummy to study the footages on how I, the 'Brain', figure things out.

In this 'part 3' of my test, was mummy's 'O.M.G.' moment when she reviewed through the footages in slow-mo and she immediately shouted out to Uncle Nic, "I know how he gets the ball."

Uncle Nic watched the footage with mummy.

Did you see it? He actually waits for the moment the ball is turned up then he goes for the grab!

Okay Action Cam, that is so not cool. You are leaking out the secrets of my brains. Not cool at all.

Anywoof, mummy was seriously pissed off after my 16.6 seconds clearance of getting two balls out, she declared most grudgingly, "Waste of money."

She wondered, "Is this toy meant to exercise the dog's brains or the humans' brains? The fact that we are standing here studying the toy and thinking of ways to outsmart Flapper.... "

In her one last ditch attempt of consoling herself for squandering the budget on the KONG Rambler, she said, "Let's await the return of my 'prodigal son'. I am sure he will make this toy very worthwhile."

And nope! Still no rousing cheers and applause. Sigh.


Welcome Home, Pinky!

By the time Pinky barged through the door after his day out with grandpa, mummy was seething in injustice over the purchase that she was determined to find some worth in the toy. Mummy quickly whipped out the Rambler and put Pinky to the test.



As mummy predicted, Pinky ended up on a rambling trip to and from Timbuktu and even got lost in transition more often than he should.

Remember how mummy started out seething over how easy the toy was for me?

It did not take very long before she forgot and after Pinky's several failed attempts at getting the toys out, mummy called me just to have me test the toy again.

"Got so difficult, meh?", mummy was puzzled and got me to verify.

And I demonstrated to Pinky HOW to get the ball. Easy!

Uncle Nic even gave hints to Pinky.

Okay mum. You asked for it. You wanted to find value in the toy through Pinky, your wish came true.

Pinky NEVER got it on that day.

After reviewing through our footages and editing it, mummy admitted....

You know, Flapper makes the toy look so easy that it's actually boring. Frodo, on the other hand.... can sell the toy. He makes it look fun."

Do you agree with what mummy said?


There Are Good Days And Bad Days With Pinky

Post our first KONG Rambler test, surely mummy had to continue testing on Pinky to see if he will ever get the toy.

There are good days with Pinky when he wakes up with an epiphany on how the toy works and he manages to get the ball out repeatedly. That's when he gives false hopes to mummy and she would think that maybe finally Pinky has developed a brain!



Then Pinky will have bad days when he cannot figure the toy out and decides it is more fun just fetching and/or chewing the entire toy.

Mummy bangs head against wall.

What can I, the 'Brain' say?

Never ever a dull moment with Pinky aka Frodo Choo aka Doh-AH!


#FlapperFrodoPlays. #FlapperFrodoRates.

Brain-Juice Power

1-Flap for me, 1-Flap for the humans. I did make them think, didn't I?

I don't get why the ball keeps disappearing and isn't the objective of the game is to take and chew the big toy>

Fun-Factor

Even though it's game-over very quickly for me but I love squeaky toys and don't ask me why, I can keep going for THAT tennis ball over and over again! Love it!

I can senselessly ramble to Timbuktu with the toy, I can chew on the rubber big ball... I don't need to know how to remove the tennis ball but I can fetch the entire toy... The toy makes loads of noise.... what's not fun about this toy?

Quality

The KONG Rambler lives up to KONG's reputation of producing quality/hardy toys for dogs. The rubber is SOLID.... not easy to break. Can't fault them for the quality.

I can chew on the rubber, I can chew on the ball... can la!

Value for Money

Priced at SGD32.00 for the Large Rambler and SGD25.00 for the small rambler, I  do think it is a overpriced for how short the game-play is. HOWEVER, I am happy that the toy is able to fit regular tennis ball and the overall quality of the rubber rumbler is good. That's very important. Will be nice if the toy came with one or two extra balls....

Eh... what does value for money mean? Bro! You work, get us more toys and I play.

Will We Buy Another One?

Straight out no but I have a feeling it will be a resounding 'yes' from Pinky.

I want the orange one too! Maybe a small pink one for Ah-Lian? Bro! Go earn more toys!

One More Toy Review To Go!

Yes, my friends! I only have one more toy review to go before ending this first season of toy reviews for Kohepets! I am so excited on my last review - the NERF Ball Blaster.  I have been saving my best toy buy of the season for last. It will probably take a while to finish that review as we have so many videos to show and more stories to tell!

I am trying me best to finish the final toy review really soon before the Flapper10 promo ends on 15th May 2017. I hope my hard work in putting together all these toys reviews help our other furry-friends to make use of this once-off promo with Kohepets to purchase new toys... and other necessities or wants.

So don't forget....

Flapper10 promo is still on!

As usual, if you have any questions about the toys we have reviewed, feel free to drop a comment below each respective post.

Now.

Time to get to work on my exciting final review.... THE NERF BALL BLASTER!

Bye bye.

It is time for yet another toy review.

No 'Woohoo!".
Just 'Boohoo!".

Not because I do not like doing product reviews but I am weeping because this toy turned out to be a disappointment. I was in a dilemma whether or not to review on this toy and HOW to present it to give it some credit.

As a product/toy reviewer, I strive in giving honest reviews and avoid giving fake raving reviews just because...

Anywoof, here's my tale tail of....

The ZING That Could Not KONG-quer.

Let me begin by saying, the KONG Zinger toy was the first toy I chose and was really excited about. I am a big fan of KONG Company toys. KONG toys have been around for a long time and has a wide variety of toys - most recognisably, their wide range of interactive toys which are commonly used in reward-based training.

Through the years, I have owned quite a few of the KONG 'Air Dog' series of toys which are fundamentally a whole range of tennis-ball material toys in different designs... that SQUEAKS!

I love the KONG Air Dog range of toys. Tennis ball material and squeaks.... My favourite combination! (Click on image to go to product page at Kohepets)

Note:
The Air Dog toys are NOT ideal for swimming. The water seeps in, the toy becomes very heavy and will sink after some time. The water stays inside the toys and takes eons to dry.


As of now, Kohepets carry 321 KONG toys on their online store. So when Miss U and I first started discussing about Frodo and I being the 'official toy tester' of Kohepets, I immediately jumped at the opportunity of proposing reviewing just on KONG products. The main reason being that I am familiar with KONG toys so I know I can offer comprehensive reviews quite easily.

As Kohepets is just an online pet store and not the distributor of KONG toys, Miss U declined the proposal and we finally settled on just being Toy Testers. I am glad we decided on that because it gave me the opportunity to get-to-know NERF Dog Toys which I most recently did a review on their Illumina-Action LED Light-Up Toys.

So yeah, unlike NERF toys, I had much higher expectations in KONG toys as I have playing with their toys for many many years now I was confident that I could give raving reviews about how fabulous their toy quality is and how much I love it.

Then along came Mr Zinger....

As mentioned, Mr Zinger was the first toy I chose. I had a favourite toy for outdoor play. It was the ChuckIt! Classic Ball Launcher which I had for many years but it broke some time last year.

*Glare at Frodo*

Unfortunately, Kohepets does not carry ChuckIt! toys which left me a little disappointed. So as I surfed through KONG toys, I discovered the Zinger Dog Toy. I got excited. Very excited. This could be the replacement to our ChuckIt! toy.

We dogs are silly. We love running after flying toys and fetching them back. The KONG Zinger Dog Toy looked very promising as our new 'fetch' toy

With a name like 'Zinger', I started imagining that MAYBE it could have those cool pull-string mechanism that 'zings' the toy off the rod and the donut goes flying with a zing. You know... like those flying top toy.... I do have quite a good imagination you know.

Then I saw the price. SGD20.00... Hmmm.... I doubt there will be any funky mechanism but I kept optimistic and still hoping that the donut will bring on the 'zing'.

The toy arrived.

It was o-kay. Maybe my imagination got the better of me but somehow, the toy just did not meet the expectations and it lacked the wow-factor. Or should I say the zing-factor?

The Zinger Toy right out of the box. Some how it failed to impress and well....

The rubber 'donut' felt really cheap to the touch. As you can see here, after two SHORT sessions of LAB-Test and the prints on the donut are fading.

I decided to give the lacklustre appearance of the Zing Dog Toy benefit of the doubt and LAB-Test it. Maybe it will surprise me....


And The Donut Goes 'Plock'....


For the first LAB-Test, Uncle Nic and mummy decided to bring me out to the fields to play. The real intention was to try the NERF Ball Blaster but mummy packed in the Zinger Toy anyway to test if the opportunity arose. And since Uncle Nic was there, mummy could focus on testing the toys with me while he helps to take the video footages.

Don't ask. Frodo had ditched us for grandpa.

The FIRST THROW was a failure. Total failure. The donut flew wonky and I bolted off a short distance before I realised the toy was... WHERE WAS THE TOY?

Uncle Nic and mummy realised that perhaps perhaps she had fixed the donut on wrongly and they stood there trying to figure it out. The donut had detached itself from the stick when mummy chucked the toy in the bag and she could not remember how the original attachment was.

Mummy was not impressed at all.

"What kind of stupid fling toy is this that two humans have to stand there to figure out how to attach it on?", mummy grumbled.

You can see at the start of the video that after figuring out the correct donut attachment, Uncle Nic was figuring out if there was a throwing technique to get the donut to fly.

So....




Then came the second LAB-Test. Because Frodo ditched us during the first test, so mummy decided to do a second test with Frodo to see if he likes the toy. In addition, instead of testing on a grass field, we tested on concrete ground instead.

A few throws later and mummy started to heard this 'Plock' sound as the toy landed.

That was it. The donut had become a split bagel. It was appalling as that was only the second LAB-Test and that rubber donut had effectively become a split bagel. Talk about bad quality!

The donut had split after just two LAB-Test. Not impressed. At All.

I quickly feedback to Miss U, who in turn promptly feedback to the (I believe) distributor. Then I was asked this question: "Did we chew on the toys?"

As much as I have a monster mouth, I did not chew on the donut. My disbelief behind the question was - this is a dog toy. The toy was created for outdoor play. It is meant to be durable and surely dogs could bite down a little harder when retrieving and/or chew on it a little as they twirl it around their mouth to keep it in place.

AND! The donut is made of rubber which makes it highly attractive for dogs to otherwise regard it as a chew toy.

I am sorry. But asking a dog about chewing on rubber toys is frankly quite silly and eyes rolling. IF we, the dogs, had chewed on the rubber donut and destroyed it, we would admit to destroying the toy and not question on the quality.

Based on how the split bagel look, I would caution owners about watching your dog when they are playing. This rubber can easily be shredded into pieces and potentially ingested.

We have been kindly offered a replacement unit though we have yet to receive it.

Perhaps I got a faulty donut but since I have yet to receive my replacement to test, I can only base my review on the first set. Should the second set prove to be more durable and credible, I will update this post.

At this point, the ONLY positive thing I have to say about this KONG Zinger Toy is... it does fly far and it actually is good for dogs like Frodo and I who do enjoy senseless fetching. There's something funny about us dogs - flying toys, donuts.... we're there!

Just a shame about the quality. This Zinger Dog Toy could otherwise easily become our favourite senseless fetch toy.

And once again, time for Frodo and me to rate this toy though you could probably guess by now it wouldn't be receiving favourable ratings.

Fun Factor:

The donut does fly far and gives me a good workout retrieving it! Flying toy + donut = super fun!

It flies, that round thing has a hole in the middle, chewy rubber... me likey!

The 'Zing' Factor:

Nope! None whatsoever. I don't think it should be called "Zinger". Misleading.

What's a Zing?

Value for Money:

I'm giving it 2-Flaps (instead of 1) just because... priced at SGD20.00, it could potentially be a good toy for dogs who love senseless retrieving at an economical price. But the fact that the donut became a split bagel in 2 short sessions....

Quality and Durability:

Apart from plush toys, this is possibly the most disappointing outdoor toy I've ever played with in its quality and durability. I was tempted to give zero-Flaps but because the stick quality was decent, I gave it that 1-Flap. Split bagel after two SHORT sessions is unforgivable.

Mummy has kept the toy away from me already. Meh!

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In the meantime....

Don't forget the Flapper10 promo is still on with Kohepets!