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Top 10 Dog Toys

December 12, 2011 By 4 Comments

Once Thanksgiving is past and Christmas is upon us I start thinking about what dog toys I should get for my 3 dogs.  The search basically starts on the internet by typing A-M-A-Z-O-N-.-C-O-M into my browser.  Any time I think about purchasing anything my first thought is to visit Amazon.com(and usually ends with Amazon too).

How To Find Popular Dog Toys

How do I find the most popular dog toys on Amazon?  It’s simple.  Here’s my step by step process:

  1. Type Amazon.com into your web browser of choice.  We prefer either Firefox or Google Chrome, but any browser will do.
  2. In the left navigation bar hover over “Home, Garden, & Tools”.  In the sub-navigation scroll down to Pet Supplies and click on the HyperlinkAmazon Pet Suplies
  3. In the horizontal navigation just below the search box click on the “Dog” hyperlink.  This will take you directly to the Most Popular Dog Products page.Amazon Dog Supplies
  4. Now just manually filter out the toys from the regular, boring, old products.  Here’s the link that will take you directly to Amazon’s Most Popular Dog Products Page.

Just in case you don’t feel like going through my wonderful 4 step process here are the Top 10 Dog Toys on Amazon.com.

Top 10 Dog Toys

We like going Letterman Top 10 list style and go in descending order (countdown) from 10 to Number 1.  Here’s our top dog toy list:

#10 Dog Toy – Mr. Bill Dog Toy – Okay, okay a bit of a weak start to our top 10 dog toys list, but if you’re a Gen Xer like me then you might recall the days of Mr. Bill.  I envision this little guy getting shredded by the likes of Apache (my Golden Retriever) Linus (my Aussie Mix) and Stetson (my Black Lab).  Anyhow we ordered one and we’ll let you know how he performs under stress (of 3 big dogs).  The 20th most popular dog product on Amazon the price is right at $6 you’re receiving a 62% discount from Amazon!

#9 Dog Toy – Kyjen Plush Puppies Dog Squeaker Mat Toy – Kyjen seems like they’ve made some pretty popular dog toys coming into this holiday season starting off with this squeaker mat toy.  It might drive me nuts when the doggies get a hold of this one, but we’re going to order one from Amazon anyways and let you know what we think.  This one snuck in ahead of Mr. Bill by just a hair as the 19th most popular dog product and #9 dog toy!

#8 Dog Toy – Nylabone Dura Chew Wishbone Chew Toy – We’ve had one of these bad boys in the past which was chewed up, but not destroyed by Puppy In Training #2, Derby (yellow Labrador Retriever).  It got pretty jagged and every time Derby dropped it on my bare foot it left a scratch mark.  Rated for powerful chewers we eventually had to trash our Dura Chew Wishbone, but today we’re going to purchase another and let you know what Linus (aussie mix), Stetson (black Lab), and Apache (golden retriever) think of the Dura Chew.  This one is the 16th most popular dog product.

#7 Dog Toy – Ethical Pet Skinneeez Exotic Series Dog Toy – I was wondering what the fuss was about these line of toys which come in the beaver, chicken, or flamingo styles.  Here’s what Amazon had to say: “Our realistic Skinneeez toys will bring out a dog’s natural hunting instinct while dogs chase and flip-flop these toys all over the place. All Skinneeez are stuffing free and last longer than regular plush dog toys because there is no stuffing for dogs to rip out!”  Isn’t that half the fun for your dog?  I guess it’s not so fun when your dog…uhhmm…Stetson…tears up and eats the stuffing.  We ordered one and we’ll let you know if we like it better or worse then your regular plush stuffed toy.  Skinneeez is the 14th most popular dog product.

#6 Dog Toy – Kyjen Puzzle Plush Egg Babies Dog Toy, 5 Eggs – The second Kyjen toy to hit our list.  This one comes from Kyjen’s popular puzzle line of toys.  In fact we’ve loved these dog toys for years.  However, this will be our first Egg Babies Dog Toy.  We’ve noticed that our pups love to extract squeakers from regular plush toys.  These toys are great because our pups can still extract squeakers (the eggs) without destroying the toy.  This guy is the 13th most popular dog product.

#5 Dog Toy – KONG Extreme Dog Toy – We’ve had a few destructive dogs come through the house, but I think Apache (my Golden Retriever pup) may be able to take down the red Kong plus he such a big boy I think we need a bigger more extreme Kong.  Enter the KONG Extreme Dog Toy.  This is on the top of Apache’s wishlist so I ordered one from Amazon and I’ll let you know if it truly is EXTREME!  At number 11 amongst all dog products.

#4 Dog Toy – Kyjen Plush Puppies Squeaker Mat Long Body Dog Toy – We’ve been wanting to try one of these large Kyjen Squeaker dog toys.  Last year we bought the Kyjen Invincibles Snake Dog Toy and we’ve heard that these types of dog toys are supposed to be better for destructive dogs.  We plan on getting a couple and putting them to the test.   The #9 Dog product on Amazon!

#3 Dog Toy – Smarter Toys IQ Treat Ball Dog Toy  – we had the small version of this toy for our cat and she absolutely loved it.  I also recall Linus playing with it as well when he was just a pup.  However, we want to try the larger 5″ version with Stetson and hopefully can put a short review up for you guys in the near future.  Stay tuned…for a review of the #7 most popular dog product on Amazon.

#2 Dog Toy – Nylabone Durable Dental Dinosaur Chew Toy – we haven’t tried the dental dinosaur, but in the past we have enjoyed many other Nylabone dog products.  Nylabone rates the durability of their toys and this one is recommended for powerful chewers.  I think I might get one and test it with my boys who are definitely powerful chewers! This is the #3 most popular dog product on Amazon!

#1 Dog Toy – Drum Roll Please……… Kyjen Hide-A-Squirrel – one of our favorite toys.  It can be a bit puzzling for dogs at first, but your dog will enjoy extracting these squeaky squirrels form their stumpy home.  And the #1 most popular dog toy on Amazon is the #2 most popular dog product

After all that what actually is the most popular dog product on Amazon?  It’s a Children’s Gate Play Yard!?

And that’s it!  With Christmas right around the corner make sure you check out some or all of these great dog toys.  As I’ve mentioned some I’ve already tried and tested while others I’m considering bringing into the household.  If your dogs have already had the pleasure of playing with any of these dog toys then let us know what your pup thought in the comments section below.

We receive a small commission from Amazon that helps support our blog if you purchase an item from one of the affiliate links in this post.  Thank you for your support!

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Aikiou Dog Bowl – Final Review

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This is our final review in our series of Aikiou Dog Bowl Reviews.  In case you missed our first two reviews of the Aikiou Interactive Dog Bowl then check out the following links:

Aikiou Dog Bowl – In For Review

Aikiou Dog Bowl – Review – Putting It To The Test

If you’ve been following our reviews then you’ve already seen pictures and know a little bit about the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  After our initial inspection we had a little bit of difficulty deciding if this was a dog toy, dog puzzle, or a dog bowl.  According to their website this dog product is actually considered an interactive dog food dish.  Whatever it’s considered we think it’s pretty cool and as you’ll see in our video below, Stetson found it to be a pretty cool dog bowl, toy, and puzzle all rolled into one.

Aikiou Dog Bowl

Once again here are the stats on the Aikiou Dog Bowl:

Here are the stats on the Aikiou Dog Bowl:

Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.5 x 13 inches; 1.6 pounds

Aikiou Dog Bowl

Product Features:

  • Encourages your pet to eat more slowly, which reduces digestive problems and discomfort
  • Help to prevents the storage of excess fat (since your pet is eating more slowly, it will feel full sooner)
  • Provides a food hunting activity your dog needs for stimulation of the brain and the other senses
  • Helps reduce stress and anxiety through play
  • Use for each meal or at desired intervals

Aikiou Dog Bowl Video Review

Here’s Stetson’s video review of the Aikiou Dog Bowl:

Video Review Transcription

Welcome to the PuppyInTraining.com Aikiou Dog Bowl Review.  And there’s the Aikiou Dog Bowl I’m just taking it apart and we’ll speed it up here just so you can take a look at how we actually load all the food in the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  That’s about 1 1/2 cups right there and the Aikiou Dog Bowl is full we just have to put the pieces back together.  And that’s what the Aikiou Dog Bowl looks like re-assembled with food loaded up.

Now Stetson is going to go ahead and put the Aikiou Dog Bowl to the test.  In the upper right hand corner he’s eating 1 1/2 cups of food out of his regular stainless steel bowl and down below he’s eating using the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  As you can see with the Aikiou Dog Bowl Stetson has to eat one compartment at a time and it slows him down quite a bit.  Now Stetson is just about done with the food in his regular bowl and that’s about it that took him only about 20 seconds.

Now we’re going to speed up the footage for the Aikiou Dog Bowl because it takes Stetson quite a bit longer to eat food out of that bowl.  Even though the video is going about 10x normal speed you can see Stetson really has to maneuver the bowl around in order to get every morsel of food out.  Stetson’s all done with his food now as he can’t find anything else left in his bowl.  It took Stetson over three minutes to finish off 1 1/2 cups of food in his Aikiou Dog Bowl compared to 20 seconds in his regular stainless steel bowl.

We noticed a ton of slobber and food residue on Stetson’s bowl so we wanted to show you that it takes a little bit longer to wash the Aikiou Dog Bowl compared to a regular stainless steel bowl.

Overall we really liked the Aikiou Dog Bowl even though it took a little bit longer to load up the food and then clean it at the end.  That just about does it.  Thanks for joining us for the PuppyInTraining.com Aikiou Dog Bowl Review.

If you’d like us to review on of our dog or puppy products visit PuppyInTraining.com and fill out our contact form with your information.

Aikiou Dog Bowl – Final Review

As we mentioned in the video we thought overall the Aikiou Dog Bowl was a great dog product.  It slowed down Stetson’s eating from just over 20 seconds with his regular stainless steel bowl to well over 3 minutes with the Aikiou Dog Bowl.

Here are the things we really liked about the Aikiou Dog Bowl:

  • Cool design shaped like a paw
  • Required Stetson to do some problem solving
  • Several chambers and Stetson either had to spin or slide the little plastic pieces to access the food.
  • Learning curve.  We had to do a little bit of training with Stetson to get him to slide and spin the pieces on the bowl.  We enjoyed this and I like spending time working with my dogs.
  • Rubber pads on bottom reduced sliding
  • Plastic pieces were easy to pop off for loading food and cleaning the dish

However, the Aikiou Dog Bowl was not without it’s faults.  Here are some of the things we didn’t like about the dog bowl.

  • Made of plastic – our vet has told us that Stetson’s canine acne may be caused by plastic dog bowls.  We’ve also heard that plastic is more likely to harbor bacteria then metal bowls.
  • Time consuming to add food.  As you can see in the first part of the video it takes a bit of time to load food into the bowl (video is going 10x normal speed).
  • Time consuming to clean.  As you can see in the end of the video it takes a while to clean out the bowl (video is going 10x normal speed).

As we mentioned earlier overall we really loved the Aikiou Dog Bowl, but the time it takes to load up, feed, then clean the bowl can be a little long.  On average it takes about 15-20 minutes to feed Stetson with this bowl.  Although we really like the bowl we do not use it as Stetson’s regular feeding bowl mainly because of time constraints and we don’t want Stetson’s canine acne to return as a result of eating in a plastic dish.

If you have the time and your dog has no problems eating out of a plastic bowl then I highly recommend giving the Aikiou Dog Bowl a try.

We plan on donating an Aikiou Dog Bowl to the Guide Dogs of America on behalf of Audrey, Garfield, and Theodore for the 24th annual Open House held on June 11th, 2011.  If you’re looking to purchase one of these bowls then head on over to the open house where you should be able to find our donated Aikiou Dog Bowl in one of the baskets at the silent auction.

Have you ever used the Aikiou Dog Bowl?  If so, we’d love to hear what you thought about this dog bowl, puzzle, toy….

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Aikiou Dog Bowl – Review – Putting It To The Test

March 7, 2011 By 1 Comment

A few days ago we told you about the latest product, Aikiou Dog Bowl that we received in the mail for review.  In case you missed that initial review check it out here: Aikiou Dog Bowl – In For Review.  Our Black Labrador Retriever, Stetson sunk his teeth into (literally) it and had a his first few chances to use the Aikiou Dog Bowl during mealtime.

Aikiou Dog Bowl Midweek Review

As I mentioned we recently received the super cool Aikiou Interactive Food Bowl.  We’re still debating whether it’s more of a dog toy or a bowl.  Anyhow, we grabbed our ultra fast eating champion, Stetson and let him put the bowl through it’s initial test.

Tail Of The Tape

The Challenger (The Product): AIKIOU DOG BOWL

Aikiou Dog Bowl

  • 13 x 2.5 x 13 inches; 1.6 pounds
  • Interactive dog bowl or is it a toy?
  • Slows down eating
  • Aids in digestion
  • Durable Plastic

The Champion (Product Reviewer):  STETSON

  • 75 pounds of Black Labrador Retriever (he’s put on a few pounds since this picture was taken)
  • Always Hungry
  • Sniffing Champion
  • He hearts food
  • Has already taken down the other fast eating dog bowl challengers

Stetson’s initial reaction to the Aikiou Dog Bowl was “What the heck is this thing? and how do I get the food out of it?”  He was able to get the food out of the initial exposed compartments, but didn’t immediately figure out how to slide the levers to get to the food in the opposite compartments.  I showed him once and from then on he figured out how to slide the levers with his nose and paws.

The spinning disc at the top of the Aikiou bowl was even more difficult.  It took several attempts with help and guidance from me to show Stetson how to spin and rotate the disc.  His initial response was to just slide the entire dog bowl around the room hoping treats would magically fall out.  However, after working on spinning the disc for Stetson he figured out how to rotate the disc by just using his nose on his own.

In just a few short days Stetson has mastered the Aikiou Dog Bowl and eats out of the bowl once in the morning and once in the evening.  Just as advertised this bowl has drastically increases the time it takes Stetson to finish the same meal of food he polishes off in seconds with a regular aluminum dog bowl.

However, how much time it take now will be shown in our upcoming final video review of the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  Also, we will discuss why we will or will not continue to use the Aikiou Dog Bowl as Stetson’s regular feeding bowl.

Stay posted through our RSS feed or subscribe to our email feed and don’t miss Stetson’s upcoming video review of the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  If you missed our initial review then check it out immediately at Aikiou Dog Bowl – In For Review.

Once again we are very interested to hear your thoughts on the Aikiou Dog Bowl or any other dog bowl you might be using to slow down your dog’s fast eating.  Please leave us a comment in the comment section below.

We received a free review copy of the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  We do our best to present the good and the bad of every dog product we review and try to not be biased for or against any manufacturer.

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Aikiou Dog Bowl – In For Review

March 4, 2011 By 4 Comments

We recently received a free Aikiou Dog Bowl (pronounced “IQ”) for review from Aikiou the maker of interactive dog feeding dishes and toys.  My initial reaction when I was first contacted by Aikiou was “Awesome! Another great dog bowl to test and see if it slows down Stetson’s speed eating.”  If you’ve been following us for a while then you may have seen some of Stetson’s previous forays into dog bowl review and testing.

Aikiou Dog Bowl

Most of the bowls we’ve tested in the past have some kind of obstacle(s) to slow down fast eating dogs.  However, the Aikiou Dog Bowl was quite different.  When it first arrived in the mail I was trying to decide whether it was actually a dog food bowl or was it more of an interactive dog toy?

I figured since it held food it must be more of a bowl and less of a toy (although I’d have to say it’s a little bit of both).

Here are the stats on the Aikiou Dog Bowl:

Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.5 x 13 inches; 1.6 pounds

Product Features:

  • Encourages your pet to eat more slowly, which reduces digestive problems and discomfort
  • Help to prevents the storage of excess fat (since your pet is eating more slowly, it will feel full sooner)
  • Provides a food hunting activity your dog needs for stimulation of the brain and the other senses
  • Helps reduce stress and anxiety through play
  • Use for each meal or at desired intervals

Aikiou Dog Bowl

My First Impression Of The Aikiou Dog Bowl

COOL!!!  I was very excited to see such an innovative new doggy bowl!  I was excited to let Stetson give it a try.  My initial reservations were:

  1. It’s made of plastic and our veterinarian has told us that Stetson’s acne may be a result of plastic bowls.  We prefer the aluminum dog bowls over plastic
  2. Would Stetson be able to figure out how to get to the food…He’s pretty smart and very determined when it comes to finding and eating food.  In fact, Stetson lives for meal time.  When I come home midday (non-mealtime) he doesn’t even get out of bed to greet me.  However, if it’s in the morning or evening right before meal time he comes flying out of the bedroom begging for food.  I don’t think food drive is much of a problem with Stetson.
  3. Would Stetson have any problems getting the food out of the small compartments.
  4. Stetson is a violent eater.  Will the Aikiou Dog Bowl be durable enough to withstand Stetson’s exuberance?

Over the next week we plan on putting the Aikiou Dog Bowl through the ultimate test.  Stetson and I will do our best to poke, prod, lick, scratch, and do whatever it takes to produce a thorough review of the Aikiou Dog Bowl.

Stay posted through our RSS feed or subscribe to our email feed and don’t miss Stetson’s upcoming video review of the Aikiou Dog Bowl.

Have you tried feeding your dog using a bowl that helps slow his eating?  Have you ever tried the Aikiou Dog Bowl?

We received a free review copy of the Aikiou Dog Bowl.  We do our best to present the good and the bad of every dog product we review and try to not be biased for or against any manufacturer.

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Gingerbread House Puzzle Dog Toy Review

December 11, 2008 By 4 Comments

Just the other night I was at our Guide Dog Christmas party and I saw the Gingerbread House Puzzle Dog Toy at our gift exchange.  This cool little toy is a tiny house with several squeeky toys that you insert through the front door.  It looks much more interactive than any other plush toy we’ve had and I’m very interested to see if my dogs enjoy removing each squeeky object as much as they enjoy removing the stuffing from all their other toys.

Take a look at the Gingerbread House Puzzle Dog Toy:

Gingerbread House Puzzle Dog Toy

On top of being adorable I think my dogs might really enjoy this little house and it’s Gingerbread man.  Hopefully it lasts longer than the other plush toys we’ve had in the past.

Unfortunately I expect durability to be an issue and I’ll let you know as soon as my three dogs have had a chance to tear into this little house.  On a positive note it’s actually four toys in one and at $9.90 on Amazon.com that’s approximately $2.50 per toy.

I have to apologize to Derby because I didn’t have time to pick up a gift for the gift exchange, but there were several fun toys including the Gingerbread House Puzzle Dog Toy that may end up in his Christmas stocking. We’ll have to check with Santa Claus.  Has Derby been naughty or nice?

I’ll leave some comments below to let you know how Gingerbread House Puzzle Dog Toy holds up.  Do any of you have this toy?  If so, did your dogs enjoy playing with it?  Was it built to last?

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How To Enjoy Your Puppy Toy – The Air Kong

December 8, 2008 By 1 Comment

Christmas is just around the corner and maybe it’s time to go buy your best friend a new puppy toy. Unfortunately, I’m not going to go into great detail on puppy toys this time (we’ll save that for another post), but I did come across this great picture of a puppy playing with (apparently) his favorite toy.

My Favorite Puppy Toy – The Air Kong

Toy Joy, originally uploaded by klocean

My guys have that toy, it’s the Air Kong and in case you were wondering here it is:

Air Kong Squeaker Donut Dog Toy, Large

It’s very durable, although Stetson was good (or bad) enough to tear one to shreds. As long as I keep an eye on him and let him just play with the Air Kong and not sit down and start chewing the toy lasts a while and is good for the dogs to have a little game of tug of war.

Does your dog have an Air Kong? What is your dogs favorite toy? Please let us know in the comments area.

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