Squirrel Dude Revisited

Our first Premier Busy Buddy Squirrel Dude was a size extra large. While it fit an entire cup of kibble, there wasn't much else I could put in it. Due to the sheer size of the thing, the dogs couldn't reach any food stuck in the very end of the toy. It was too large for them to bite effectively, and even tossing it was a bit of a stretch. I still use it as a roller puzzle toy, but I decided to get an more appropriate medium to size to explore the Squirrel Dude's potential as a Kong alternative.

Photo by Erin Koski

The most important difference between the Squirrel Dude and a classic-shaped Kong is that this toy has four little rubber fingers that protrude into the opening on the bottom. These prevent small treats like kibble from falling out easily.

To make the Squirrel Dude an easier puzzle, the rubber fingers can be trimmed. With time and heavy use, they tend to break off eventually. Once the rubber fingers are gone, the toy remains stuffable just like a Kong.

Photo by Erin Koski

We have a whole lot of Kongs, but only a couple Squirrel Dudes. For this reason, I am hesitant to chop the rubber fingers off our toys. With those intact, the dogs have a tough time getting peanut butter and other sticky treats out of the toy.

Puzzle Toy Review: Planet Dog Double Tuff

The Planet Dog Double Tuff is a durable, stuffable chew toy. It is made from Planet Dog's extra strong Diamond Tuff Orbee material, and rates five out of five on their durability scale. The Double Tuff comes in three colors and three sizes, ours is a large. It is made in the USA.

Photo by Erin Koski

This is basically a new version of the Planet Dog Orbo. We had two of those that started splitting after eight long years of trips through the dishwasher and almost daily use. Needless to say, I was impressed. If the Double Tuff turns out to be half that durable I will be pleased.

The Double Tuff seems a lot like a Kong at first, with some minor but important differences. The inner chamber of this toy is shaped just like the outside. The bottom chamber is wide and easy to access through the opening, the upper chamber has a smaller opening. This design makes the Double Tuff difficult to clean when stuffed with peanut butter or anything else sticky. I am finding that we enjoy it a lot more when I stuff it with kibble or small biscuits instead.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 2/5

I can fit a little over half a cup of kibble in here.

Loading Speed: 3/5

Not so bad with a soda funnel, otherwise it's basically one kibble at a time.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 5/5

The texture of the Double Tuff means it doesn't roll very far at a time, and the opening is slightly elevated when it lays on the ground. It's good at dropping a kibble or two at a time.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 4/5

Slower than a bowl, and slower than some toys that are more complex.

Size: 4/5

The Double Tuff comes in three sizes, including a little one for Ru-sized dogs. However, the large seems well-suited to my 40-pound dog and I can't imagine giving one to a giant breed. Owners of power chewers tend to go up a size or two to give their dogs a real challenge, but that's not an option here. 

Durability: 5/5

I would give this toy to a power chewer with supervision if they didn't demolish a similar-sized black Kong. Planet Dog stuff also comes with a kickass guarantee so they're likely to replace it or something if it gets destroyed. I haven't had occasion to test this yet, though.

Noise: 5/5

Dead silent on my hardwood floors.

Locatability: 3/5

It doesn't roll very far, but it does roll. It also fits under furniture, and Brisbane can pick it up. He usually loses interest once the food is all gone, otherwise this would be under the couch.

Washability: 3/5

I used to stick my Orbos in the dishwasher back when we had a dishwasher, but that didn't always remove the plug of crud that got stuck in the top. Only using dry treats means it's pretty easy to give the Double Tuff a quick scrub, but I still have to use a bottle brush to get it really clean.

Versatility: 3/5

I could probably use this toy to challenge Xhuuya the raven. The smallest one would be great for cramming nuts into, and she might actually be able to pull stuff out of the top chamber. She'd probably tear chunks off it though,

Total: 37/50

Product Review: Puppy Kong Classic

Puppy Kongs are durable rubber stuffable chew toys made from extra-soft rubber. The Kong Company makes a variety of toys out of their puppy rubber, we have two large and one medium Puppy Kong Classics.

Photo by Erin Koski

Kong makes their durable chew toys from five different color-coded natural rubber materials. Pastel pink and blue puppy rubber is the softest, followed by purple senior rubber. Next is classic red, followed by dark blue, and finally Black Extreme.

Puppy rubber is intended only for dogs that still have their needle-sharp baby teeth. Puppy Kongs are extra-squishy and inviting, and I have used them to help teach reluctant chewers that Kongs are more than just vessels for food.

Naturally, the Puppy Kongs can be used the same way as any other Classic Kong. I like to stuff them with peanut butter and freeze them.

Photo by Erin Koski

When I had the foster girls here, they had just been spayed and needed to stay quiet in their crates for ten days. I would fill their Kongs with dry kibble after each potty break so they could roll the toys around rather than eating out of a bowl.

Pros: A safe, durable chew toy that can be stuffed with tasty treats and frozen for teething puppies. Comes in cute pastel "baby" colors. Bounces unpredictably for ridiculous puppy action.

Photo by Erin Koski

Cons: Puppy Kong is only for puppies with baby teeth, as soon as they grow some permanent teeth this toy should be tossed. I'm not crazy about stuff having a limited lifespan like that. Puppy Kong also only comes in Extra Small, Small, Medium, and Large, so giant breed puppies may outgrow their toys before they finish teething.

Bottom Line: I own Puppy Kongs because  am eccentric enough to want to collect Kongs of every size/shape/color.

Cheapass Dog Fun: Non-Perishable Kong Stuffing

Every so often I get inspired and creative and stuff my Kongs and other food toys with sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, green beans, and canned dog food. I will inevitably regret this later when I find said Kong under the couch and full of mold a week later.

My dogs rarely empty a Kong completely, and we are all much happier when I accept this and stuff them accordingly. Sticking with non-perishable goodies means never finding a Kong full of green fur. If I stuff the toys in a very precise fashion, I might not even need to scrub peanut butter out of them after the dogs are done.

Peanut Butter is my standard stuffing, and each time I try something new I end up going back to it. The big jar lives in the refrigerator, but this stuff is shelf-stable. A peanut butter-stuffed Kong can spend months lost under the furniture and come back looking no worse for the wear. Peanut butter feels wet and sticky, but it actually has a very low moisture content, which prevents bacterial and fungal growth. The oil in it will eventually go rancid after a year or so, but it doesn't get gross hanging out inside a Kong under the couch for a few weeks. Heck, it could probably sit under there for a few months and still come out pretty much the same way it went in.

Brisbane and Ulysses cannot reach all the way to the bottom of a large or extra large Kong with their tongues. If I smear peanut butter all the way down to the bottom, I will have to scrub a solid plug of it out when they're done. For this reason, I usually start my Kong-stuffing with something dry and bulky to fill the space. A small scoop of kibble works, but I normally like to use something less dense. Broken up Cloud Star Buddy Biscuits and Zukes Skinny Bakes are currently my favorite things to cram in there.

Next I use a butter knife to spread peanut butter all the way around the inside walls of the Kong. A few more small biscuits help fill the space in the middle, and then I seal off the opening with more peanut butter. Sometimes I stick a biscuit in the opening for them to break off before they begin the unstuffing project.

This "How to Stuff a Kong Toy" diagram is all over the internet, and it always makes me laugh because it was clearly drawn by someone with no sense of perspective. Either this is a gargantuan XXL Kong, or those bone-shaped biscuits are tiny. Our Kongs are mostly size large, and I don't think I've seen any bone-shaped biscuits significantly smaller than the inner diameter of the toy.

I've also seen those "marrow bites" dog treats they show in the "dessert" layer, and a large Kong could fit maybe one or two in there. Definitely not five. Honestly, I think my dogs find kibble to be higher value than most biscuits, those things are pretty bland, so offering them as a dessert seems kind of silly. I also like the "tantalizer" placed in the small hole at the end, my dogs totally ignore anything in there. Maybe one of these days I'll try putting something really exciting in it to see if they notice. I'm thinking Limburger cheese or something equally stinky. They love stinky treats.

My dogs need no "appetizer" sticking out of their Kongs, they're really just in it for the peanut butter. I keep trying to find something less nutritionally dense to stick in there, but apparently nothing else is worth quite as much effort. I'm not going to argue.

I do occasionally leave Buddy Biscuits sticking out of the top of the Kongs before I freeze them, but it's for my benefit rather than theirs. I don't think the dogs care. I just like seeing those little guys waving like they suspect nothing.

So far, as long as I stick with the dry biscuits/peanut butter formula, I have yet to scrub anything Lovecraftian out of a Kong toy.

Puzzle Toy: PetSafe Busy Buddy Squirrel Dude

The PetSafe Busy Buddy Squirrel Dude is a durable rubber chew toy with a hole at the bottom for dispensing food. The Squirrel Dude comes in four sizes suitable for most dogs.

Photo by Erin Koski

So this is basically an off-brand Kong in a lot of ways. It's a hard, durable rubber toy that is hollow inside, but it's shaped like a squirrel. The hole is in the bottom, so the squirrel basically poops kibble. Erin wanted everyone to be very clear about this.

So how is the Squirrel Dude different from everybody's favorite durable rubber chew toy? For one thing, the cavity inside is longer and narrower. We have a large Squirrel, intended for dogs over 50 pounds, and Brisbane and Ulysses can never get all the goodies out of the very bottom.

Photo by Erin Koski

The hole (in the Squirrel's bottom) is also smaller in diameter than the ones in our non-animal-shaped Kongs. This makes the Squirrel Dude a little safer for smaller dogs, who can get their lower jaws stuck inside the biggest Kongs.

The Squirrel Dude is made from harder rubber than Kongs, I think it's actually less flexible than our XL Extreme Kong. The large Squirrel is surprisingly heavy and while PetSafe claims it has a fun unpredictable bounce, I would be worried about head injuries and broken windows if this thing started bouncing anywhere nearby.

So what makes the Squirrel Dude a puzzle toy and not just a stuffable rubber toy? It's the four little prongs poking out around the butthole. These prevent kibble from pouring out and turn the toy into a challenge rather than a simple unstuffing task. The prongs can be trimmed to widen the hole, and are flexible enough that I can violate the squirrel with a bottle brush in order to clean it. Stuffing this thing is a bit of an art though, particularly since the large Squirrel is a bit oversized for my dogs. The fastest way to stuff it with a soda bottle funnel, which jams the prongs open. With heavy use the prongs may eventually break off, but the squirrel can still be stuffed with peanut butter and other goodies. I've had to abandon the idea of jamming larger biscuits inside our Squirrel because Briz and Uly can't get them out, and even with thumbs I have a tough time of it.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 5/5

I can fit an entire cup of kibble in this thing.

Loading Speed: 5/5

Jam a funnel in the hole, pour in the kibble, done.

Unloading Speed (standard dog): 5/5

Ulysses, the dog who recently mastered the ball with a hole in it, can spend all day getting a meal out of this thing.

Unloading Speed (superdog): 4/5

Brisbane never gets a whole cup of kibble because he would turn into a blimp, but it takes him an appreciable amount of time to get his daily quarter cup out. It doesn't require a whole lot of effort, but it's tougher than a ball with a hole in it, and doesn't randomly dump most of its load at once.

Size: 5/5

Comes in Extra Small for tinydogs and large for big guys. I might have been happier with a medium, but the large is a nice addition to my collection of heavy duty toys.

Durability: 5/5

This is one of the few puzzle toys I actually would give to a power chewer. It's not indestructible, but it's also not made from hard plastic like many puzzles. It's a seriously heavy duty toy, and often one of the only ones a power chewer can enjoy without demolishing. Careful supervision is required for a while, but the Squirrel Dude is one of the first toys I feel comfortable leaving a new dog with unattended. Is the Squirrel Dude tougher than the Extreme Kong? It seems to depend on the dog, many destroy one and not the other.

Noise: 4/5

While I don't relish it thudding repeatedly on my hardwood floors, it's much quieter than heavy bobbers and hard plastic toys.

Locatability: 4/5

It's small enough to be shoved under the furniture, but the woodland creature shape prevents it from rolling under the furniture most of the time. It's also big enough to prevent the boys from carting it around the house.

Washability: 3/5

Dishwasher safe, whoopity-doo.(I don't have a dishwasher) The prongs make scrubbing a bit annoying, and since Briz and Uly can't get bigger stuff out I end up scrubbing this thing quite a bit. The small hole is great at preventing kibble from dumping out, not so great for getting the Squirrel squeaky-clean inside.

Hoardability: 2/5
Brisbane and Ulysses can both pick the Squirrel up, but it's kind of awkward and heavy so they tend to just empty it in place. I'm more likely to find it on the kitchen floor than in a crate or bed.

Total: 42/50

Product Review: Dogzilla Bone

Petmate's Dogzilla toys are durable rubber chew toys that come in various shapes and sizes. Most can be stuffed with peanut butter or treats. Dogzilla toys are available at Walmart and various other retailers.

"Here Briz, hold this."
Photo by Erin Koski

Let's be honest here, these are direct competitors to the Kong toys, and that's ok. The durable chew market has been around for a long time, and we have everything from Nylabones to Bionic toys to choose from. The Dogzilla toys aren't niche products by small companies driven to create products inspired by their own dogs, though. These are large-scale mass-produced for big box stores, and I often wonder if any of the people involved in the design and production process have ever actually used them with their own dogs. I get that these are supposed to be a low-cost option for people to grab while they're at Walmart, my local OSH sells them too.

Photo by Erin Koski

My beef with the Dogzilla toys is just that they feel like someone came up with an idea that looked good on paper, someone else signed off on it, and they went ahead and produced it. The result is our Dogzilla bone. One end has a wide triangular opening, the other end is completely closed except for an air hole. The two ends are connected by a passage just wide enough to fit very small kibbles through. This toy is impossible to clean, impossible to stuff with normal kibble, and impossible to get anything out of once it has been lost down the tube.

I kind of think the idea was to make a toy that could be stuffed with kibble and then emptied out, but the passage in our large toy is too narrow for most kibbles to fit. I can't make treats tiny enough to fit easily into the tube of the toy, and when I tried stuffing kibble down it I couldn't get it back out until I soaked it into oblivion and just rinsed it. The dogs can't get anything out of it either.

With two-thirds of the toy being unusable, that leaves the big open end for stuffing with peanut butter and other treats. I can fit a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter in there, but the opening is so wide I may as well be spreading it in a bowl. I have tried freezing it, but there's no way to turn this into a long-lasting challenge.

Pros: An affordable chew toy that is widely available. The current ones are blue, dogs are supposed to be able to see the color blue really well. Some of the shapes are better designed than this one.

Cons: Not as durable as Kong, Nylabone, or Bionic toys. Design flaws make me feel like this was designed by a committee who wasn't planning to give this toy to their own dogs. Impossible to clean, and either ridiculously easy or impossible to unstuff depending on where the food is placed.

Bottom Line: I bought this toy on a trip when I realized I needed to entertain Brisbane in a crate for several hours and had forgotten all of our puzzle toys. It sort of served its purpose, but I would have bought a different Dogzilla toy or a Kong if either of these options had been available. The Dogzilla bone has fallen out of our freezer toy rotation because it is just kind of useless.

Product Review: Blue Kong

The Blue Kong is a rubber chew toy that is durable, flexible, and stuffable. It is 25% stronger than the red Classic Kong, and comes in sizes Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, and King.

Photo by Erin Koski

The blue Kong is not listed on the official Kong website, and it is supposed to only be available through veterinary clinics. I bought mine on Amazon. Though not as tough as the legendary black Kongs, these things are a lot more flexible and fun to chew. Blue Kongs are also radio opaque, meaning they will show up on xrays if your dog happens to devour them. This makes blue Kongs a better choice for dogs that are choosy about their chew toys, but also power chewers.

My blue Kong lives in the freezer, stuffed full of peanut butter and waiting to be dispensed to an eager dog. Kongs are dishwasher safe and made in the USA.

Pros: More stretchy and flexible than the black Kong, but tougher than the red. Shows up on xrays for dogs that tend to eat their toys. Some dogs may enjoy this texture over the red and black versions. Stuffable, freezable, and a valued part of the Kong family.

Cons: Hard to find except online. Looks a lot like the blue Puppy Kong toys, particularly the squeaky Kong. Not quite as strong as the hard black Kong.

Bottom Line: This is a great toy for power chewers, I like to give it to new dogs while I'm still figuring out their chewing style. Mine is a Large, it is also recommended that seriously destructive dogs be given the largest Kong they can play with safely. As long as the dog can't get their lower jaw stuck in the toy, bigger is better.

Product Review: Classic Kong

The classic Kong is a natural rubber chew toy in a distinctive snowman-type shape. It is durable and hollow in the middle, allowing the toy to be stuffed with edible treats. The Kong is available in six sizes to fit every dog from "that's not even a dog" through "pony".

Photo by Erin Koski

This is the flagship product of a highly successful dog toy company. Today they offer dozens of products for dogs, cats, parrots, and horses. The classic Kong dates back to 1976, when it was inspired by a rubber car part and a dog that liked to chew on rocks. The classic Kong shape is designed to bounce erratically for exciting chasing and play. It is non-abrasive on canine canines, and squishes pleasantly when chomped.

Today the classic Kong is a staple of the dog world. There are a variety of toys made from the original red rubber, from plain fetch balls to dental bones. The original snowman shape has been produced in several different types of rubber, from soft formulas for puppies and seniors, to super-tough materials for power-chewers.

Brisbane isn't a big fan of chasing or fetching the Kong, but for most dogs I know, the value of the toy is in its ability to be stuffed. I can cram this thing full of peanut butter, soaked kibble, wet dog food, cooked sweet potato, bananas, anything Brisbane thinks is worth slurping out of a toy. Freeze it solid, and he will spend at least ten minutes unstuffing it. The bigger the Kong, the bigger the challenge. Brisbane can safely chew a Medium Kong, but I prefer to give him a Large like the one shown here. We also have a couple of Extra Smalls for Ru, but he prefers to hide them in the couch rather than lick the peanut butter out of them.

There is really no limit to the ways a Kong can be used to entertain a dog. At one point the company sold a device that contained four Kongs that could be released at set times to help keep a dog busy for an extended period. I have personally duct taped stuffed Kongs inside several layers of cardboard boxes so that Brisbane had to destroy them in order to get to the food. When he was eating a premade raw diet, I would stuff his meals in them and freeze them so I could hand him one before I left for work in the morning.

Pros: Super durable, long-lasting, and dishwasher safe. Endlessly versatile, smear peanut butter inside, jam a biscuit in sideways, wedge it between the bars of the crate, toss it, bounce it. Use it to construct elaborate puzzles fro the dog to solve.

Cons: I want to say these last forever, but my experience has been that they actually have a lifespan of about 7-8 years of freezing, chewing, and dishwashering before they begin to crack. The decay is pretty obvious though, and it's slow enough that it's easy to tell when it's getting close to time to replace them. I think our Planet Dog Orbees have actually lasted longer than the Kongs. Despite the marketing, many dogs don't find an empty Kong terribly exciting.

Bottom Line: Every dog should have a Kong. I still had Oakley's classic Kong until a year or two ago. We have one Large and two Extra Small classic Kongs that I can find, and a Large and Medium that are currently at large under the furniture somewhere. We also have at least four other Kong rubber toys in various sizes and shapes, along with some of their newer offerings, including some Kong Quest toys and a Kong Marathon. At this point, my response to the news that Kong has made a new toy is "shut up and take my money!" Seriously. Kongs.

Product Review: Bionic Urban Stick

The Bionic Urban Stick is an extremely durable chew toy with stuffable end cavities. It is dishwasher safe, recyclable, and covered by a 30-day guarantee. If your dog manages to destroy this toy, Bionic will trade you for a different one and use your destroyed toy for product research. The Urban Stick comes in four sizes for dogs up to 90 pounds.

Photo by Erin Koski

Brisbane isn't a serious chewer, he doesn't like gnawing on anything that isn't edible. However, I like having nigh-indestructible toys around to give my foster dogs while I figure out what type of chewer I have on my hands. I was totally unaware of the Bionic company until the Urban Stick arrived in our monthly BarkBox. It was one of the first toys I let Ulysses have unsupervised.

Briz thinks the best thing about the Urban Stick is the hollow ends. This makes the toy slightly less durable for super power-chewers. (If your dog succeeds in destroying a Bionic Toy, the company would like to enlist him as a product tester.) Those stuffable ends make this a perfectly stuffable toy, and it is part of the collection of toys that live in my freezer. I stuff the Urban Stick with peanut butter or cheese and let Briz spend all day emptying it.

Pros: This toy is dishwasher safe, recyclable, and it floats. It is durable enough to rank up there with Nylabones and black Kongs.

Cons: Not for insane monster chewers, like pretty much everything out there. The bottoms of the treat wells are pretty narrow and deep, so they're difficult to clean when Briz fails to get that last dab of peanut butter. The guarantee only lasts 30 days and requires a proof of purchase to redeem, so I will be out of luck if a new foster dog destroys this thing.

Bottom Line: I like the Urban Stick and use it regularly. It's one of the few toys I'm willing to give new fosters while I'm figuring out how much they like to chew.

Puzzle Toy: SafeMade Biggie Bone

The SafeMade Biggie Bone is a stuffable toy shaped like a bone. This toy is not only freezer-safe, it is also oven-safe, something I can't say for any of our other toys. Since the Biggie Bone is from SafeMade, it's also toddler-safe, and infant-safe, and grandma-safe.

Stuffed with love, also peanut butter.

I like the size of the stuffing chamber in the Biggie Bone, it's cylindrical and goes all the way through the toy. A bit small for most biscuits, but it can be easily stuffed with sweet potato, banana, and peanut butter. I could also fill it with kibble and seal the ends with peanut butter. This is not something I would have purchased myself, but it came in this month's BarkBox and I feel obligated to give it a fair chance.

The concept of the SafeMade company is pretty good, basically everything they sell is safety tested for everybody in your house. We know that some imported dog toy tennis balls contain very high amounts of lead, and babies will put anything in their mouths. I solve this issue by not buying imported tennis balls, especially ones specifically marketed for pets. I also don't have a baby, and I might be more concerned about my dog toys being safe for babies if I had one and/or lost my mind.

Puzzle Toy Rating

Capacity: 3/5

It's not cavernous, but bigger than it looks.

Loading Speed: 4/5

No curves or nooks to load, just shove stuff in.

Unloading Speed: 5/5

I gave this to Brisbane yesterday and he still hasn't gotten all the peanut butter out of the center.

Size: 4/5

These come in three sizes, we have the largest one. It's pretty big, but I wouldn't give it to a giant dog or a power-chewer.

Noise: 5/5

Blissfully silent.

Locatability: 4/5

Doesn't roll, but the dark color can make it hard to spot if it ends up behind the couch.

Washability: 5/5

Dishwasher-safe, of course. The lack of curves and corners makes it really easy to scrub.

Hoardability: 2/5

Exciting enough to drag off to the lair, but boring once empty. SafeMade makes a lot of non-stuffable chew toys that Briz would find completely useless because he doesn't chew anything that doesn't involve food.

Total: 32/45

Not a bad product, this one has joined my collection of stuffable toys that live in the freezer. Still haven't tried baking anything into it, though.

Product Review: Planet Dog Orbees

The Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff balls are made from flexible rubber. The Planet Dog product line-ip has changed a bit in the last few years, but the quality of their products remains the same.

We have a 4.25" diameter Orbee ball with a hole in it, and two Orbos. The Orbo is a lot like the original Kong toy. These things are extremely durable; mine went through the dishwasher a bunch of times back when we had a dishwasher. I used to stuff Bravo raw dog food into the Orbos and freeze them.

The Orbos have two chambers, the large bottom and the small top, connected by a narrow passage. Getting peanut butter, ground meat, or cooked sweet potato into that smaller chamber can be difficult, but it is equally difficult to get the goodies back out. I've found Brisbane slurping peanut butter out of these things days later.

We used to have several more Planet Dog toys: another big ball, an Orbee-Tuff ball with with a rope handle, an eggplant, and an artichoke. The artichoke was difficult to clean. The eggplant eventually began cracking, and I'm not sure what happened to the other big ball.

The Orbo is supposed to have an unpredictable bounce, but Brisbane has very little use for them once they are empty. I like to fill the big ball with kibble for Josie, who is a bit slower and takes half an hour or more to empty it.

Pros: These things are tough as hell. They outlasted my classic Kongs and are still going strong after at least seven years. The two-chamber shape of the Orbo also makes them much harder to empty than a Kong. I wish they were still on the market as I would happily buy a few more. The large ball makes a wonderful and quiet slow-feeder for my elderly dog. It is large enough that it doesn't get lost under the furniture.

Cons: The two-chamber design of the Orbo makes it very difficult to clean, and sometimes I find a nasty surprise down there.

Bottom Line: We use the Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff toys pretty much every day. When they're not being hoarded inside a crate, they are in the freezer stuffed with peanut butter.