Product Review: Hyper Pet Crinkle Elephant

This Crinkle Elephant toy by Hyper Pet arrived in one of our last BarkBoxes, and I've finally gotten around to sharing it with you. This is a low-stuffing crinkly toy with a soft loopy texture and a plush head. I believe it is part of the Pet Logix brand that Hyper Pet debuted last summer.

Photo by Erin Koski

My dearly departed Brisbane never enjoyed crinkley toys. I don't remember that particular feature being common in dog toys when he was younger. In the last ten years suddenly they've popped up everywhere, and everything is crinkley.

This is a super cute toy with a crinkle and a squeak, and no stuffing to pull out and spread all over creation. It has a rope tail for gnawing, and looks super fun for puppies.

Pros

• No messy stuffing
• Super cute
• Variety of textures and sounds

Cons

• Not super durable
• Not for big dogs

Bottom Line

Hyper Pet mostly makes durable toys for intense dogs, but this is more of a low-speed toy for small, gentle, or young dogs.

Product Review: Coleman Brontosaurus Stuffy

This Coleman brontosaurus is one of our many dinosaur stuffies. It is a nice dark, slightly mottled color that stays clean-looking. The body is pleasantly floppy, and it crinkles just a little.

Photo by Erin Koski

According to Coleman's website, the dog toys under their brand are actually made by Unique Petz. This company has a very flashy animated website with very little actual content. They state that they manufacture products under several brands, but only show the brand logos and no actual products. I'm pretty sure Coleman-brand dog toys are not currently being produced.

I love dinosaurs with the fiery passion of a preschooler, and I was thrilled to find this adorable brontosaurus on Amazon.com. (In case you missed it, we have brontosauruses again as of April 2015.)

Unfortunately, Brisbane and Ru are not crinkle toy fans. I kept the brontosaurus around anyway because I love it, and now Sisci thinks it's pretty awesome.

Photo by Erin Koski

Pros: Lovely dark textured color hides dirt so it always looks clean and pretty. Floppy soft body is a lot of fun to bite.

Cons: The brontosaurus is looking a tiny bit threadbare in places despite it's relatively easy life at the bottom of the toybox. I can't remember if it came like that or if it happened in the wash.

Bottom Line: I think this is our cutest dinosaur stuffy. I am pleased to have it laying around the house.

Product Review: Silly Bums Bee

The R2P Pet Silly Bums are basically the back half of a stuffed dog toy. They come in a variety of different...um...species and two or three sizes.

Photo by Erin Koski

Our bee bum arrived in the disappointing May BarkBox, and was part of the reason why this box was so lackluster.

For starters, I was familiar with the Silly Bums toy line before this one arrived on our doorstep, and I've always found them sort of dumb. It's not a whole stuffy, it's just half. Which half? The butt! Stuffed animals have butts. Sometimes those butts are funny, particularly if it's a baboon stuffy. I find the butts are just as funny when they are part of a whole animal. Removing everything else just feels like they're beating me over the head with the joke.

Photo by Erin Koski

I could probably find some love in my heart for this bumblebee arse if it was just a fuzzy plush toy. It's not though, and when I found it in the BarkBox I had to double check the tag to make sure this thing was actually intended to be a dog toy.

I have never seen this much plastic on a dog toy. The wings and stripes are all made out of thin, flexible vinyl. Those bits of vinyl are sewn on via bulky turned-under seams.

Photo by Erin Koski

So the vinyl is basically designed to be ripped off by all but the most gentle dogs. I don't think I could come up with a more irresistibly shreddable design if I tried.

Our Silly Bums bee also crinkles. Brisbane hates crinkle toys. Ru finds them distasteful. Conveniently, foster dog Xena is both incredibly gentle with toys and loves crinkly things. It's hers now. When she finds a home, it will be leaving with her.

Pros: It squeaks. Someone must find this concept to be cute or funny, given that Silly Bums made it past product development and into actual stores without anyone going "hold on a second, this idea is actually kind of stupid."

Cons: Crinkles. Easily-destroyed vinyl is a questionable material for use on a dog toy, I would worry about intestinal obstruction if any of my dogs started to chew it. Butts aren't really that funny once you're out of middle school.

Bottom Line: One of my least favorite things we've ever received in a BarkBox. At least Xena likes it. If she suddenly develops an interest in shredding toys, it's going straight into the garbage.

Product Review: BarkBox Flower Bouquet

The BarkBox Flower Bouquet is an adorable plush toy made up of four different toys. It consists of four pretty plush flowers held together by a velcro sleeve printed with some doggy news. It is available exclusively from the BarkShop and made just for BarkBox subscribers.

Photo by Erin Koski

I had seen this uniquely adorable toy in pictures of other dogs with their BarkBoxes for a couple of months before ours arrived in our April box. My expectation was that the bouquet would be a little too large and awkward for anyone at my house to really enjoy.

Happily, Brisbane enjoys chomping the flowers. Foster puppy Xena likes to carry them around the house. The bouquet might be a little too awkward for Ru to carry around.

This toy is so adorable that I haven't even tried taking it apart and handing out the individual flowers. I've been waiting for the dogs to disassemble it but they haven't shown any interest in that particular feature.

Two of the flowers crinkle, and two squeak. Brisbane and Ru really don't like crinkly toys, but they can just stick to chomping the squeaky ones here. I like that they have options.

Photo by Erin Koski

Pros: Excessively cute toy makes it appear that your dog has brought you a flower bouquet when they really just want to play. Splits into multiple toys. Velcro sleeve and multiple pieces can give smaller destruction-happy dogs a project to do without actually shredding a toy.

Cons: Probably easy for a large or determined dog to destroy in short order, lots of seams and bits to grab.

Bottom Line: This is easily one of my favorite BarkBox treasures. The dogs like it, too.

Product Review: Dex & Penny Dia de los Muertos Skull Toy

This Dex & Penny Dia de los Muertos skull toy arrived in our October Allergy-Friendly Barkbox. It is a sturdy stuffy with reinforced seams and a squeaker inside. It is also a little bit crinkly.

Photo by Erin Koski

My dogs aren't normally interested in crinkly toys, but this one seems to be the exception. It's not huge, and the sound it makes isn't terribly loud.

We just spent a week babysitting a couple of puppies, which meant some of our toys got tested for durability. The Adorable Snowman got partially destuffed. The Amazeball started to split around the food-dispensing hole. One of our Mighty Stegosauruses lost a back plate.

The Dia de los Muertos toy came out looking the same as it did before the little hooligans arrived. Those reinforced seams held up beautifully, and the puppies looooved that little crinkle. I tried to get a shot of Opie carrying it around, but everything came out blurry.

Photo by Erin Koski

Pros: Tough enough to hold up to dogs that aren't hellbent on destruction. This stuffy did not develop any holes that would lead otherwise well-behaved puppies down the path of destuffing. Does not pick up dirt, still looks great even after they dragged it through the dirt outside. (I thought I told them that was an indoor-only toy...)

Cons: The slight crinkle made the skull less appealing for Brisbane and Ru. Brisbane will play with it out of obligation.

Bottom Line: Foster puppy Xena put it somewhere after the puppies left, but I can't figure out where and she isn't telling.

Product Review: Pet Qwerks Pawpcorn Toy

The Pet Qwerks Pawpcorn toy is a stuffy that squeaks and crinkles. It arrived in our March Allergy-Friendly BarkBox, and nobody liked it. Not even Darla the foster puppy, who was adopted by a very nice retired couple on Friday, liked this toy.

Photo by Erin Koski

I think it's the crinkling. Neither Brisbane nor Ru like toys that crinkle. The foster puppies all seemed to like them ok, but this one just didn't catch anyone's attention. I ended up contacting BarkBox to use their Scout's Honor guarantee.

Pros: Seems to be well made and durable. Very crinkly.

Cons: White color looks dirty instantly. Too big around for medium-sized dogs to get their mouths around. Very crinkly.

Bottom Line: After a lot of coaxing, Briz made a half-hearted attempt at shredding this toy. I should see if Xena likes it, she likes weird stuff.