Review: Toss n' Pull

Some time ago, the nice people at Lucy's Dog House, which is one of my favorite online dog supply places, asked me to review Bamboo Pet's Toss n' Pull dog toy on my blog. I know I've taken forever to get to this - my apologies! - but I guess it's better late than never. (And I promise not to take forever with my reviews in the future!)



Product Name
Combat® Extreme Toss n' Pull Dog Toy

Manufacturer
Bamboo Pet Center

Where to Buy
Lucy's Dog House

Price
$11.99



What it Promises

From the manufacturer's website: "Constructed of the most durable fabric for aggressive and persistent chewers, Combat® Extreme outperforms most competitive soft toys on the market today. Perfect for the park or pool -- it floats! A tennis ball is attached to the adjustable heavy-duty rope to provide a comfortable grip for swinging, throwing and tugging.

All Combat® toys are backed by our “Battle-Tested” Guarantee: Our toys will outlast most other soft dog toys on the market. If you or your dog is unhappy with your Combat® dog toy, send it back and we will replace it free of charge!"

Features

The Toss n' Pull toy consists of one rectangular tug toy, a rope, and a tennis ball, all of which are attached to each other.

The tug portion of the toy is rectangular in shape and made from red cordura nylon, edged in black nylon trimming and stitched with polyester thread. It is stuffed with a soft material and appears to be manufactured very well. Any trimmed edges have been melted to prevent fraying, which is common with nylon-blend materials used in dog toys, rope leads, and rope collars.

The rope, which loops through the top of the tug toy, appears to be of durable poly-cotton construction similar to that found in most modern climbing ropes. It is approximately the same length as the tug itself and is secured tightly to the tug by means of a knot, which is also stitched down. On the opposite end, the rope is looped through a standard-size tennis ball and topped off with a knot. The rope ends are melted to prevent fraying.

Overall, this toy gives an impression of being well-made and of good quality, based on the material choices, design, and quality of manufacture. Its design is interesting to dogs and handlers as it can be used in a variety of ways, such as a reward tug and a retrieve toy. Because it floats on water, it can be used for working with water-retrieving dogs, or a fun game of fetch at the lake in summer.

The color choice of this toy is very appealing to humans, since the red-and-black construction is easy to locate in deep grass after you've thrown it (in case your dog isn't interested), and most dog equipment manufacturers offer other equipment in the same colors - dog boots and dog packs from RuffWear spring to mind. The color choice is not so good for dogs who have limited color vision and who do not actually see the color red as red. (Click here to see how dogs perceive color.)

Flaws & Problems

The most obvious flaw I can see with this toy is the manufacture of the black trim, particularly the edges at the toy's upper corners, which are melted to prevent fraying. Since I have had my Toss n' Pull, I have had to re-melt those edges as they had begun to fray with casual retrieving use (not heavy-duty tugging).

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, this toy will not stand up to heavy-duty chewing and should not be given as a chew toy or left with an unsupervised dog. This should be a given, considering it is made from cloth and rope, and there is no cloth or rope material known to mankind that can stand up to heavy-duty use by canine molars. There are very few toys that would stand up to such abuse - even the Kong has its limits. If this toy is used properly - as a retrieve toy, a reward tug, and other manners of supervised training and play - it is plenty tough for its purpose.

The other problem is that, for the life of me, I simply can never remember the product name. I keep wanting to call it the Tug 'n' Toss for some reason. Which, of course, doesn't matter at all.

Verdict

Before I deliver my verdict, I need to first point out that my Abby is not terribly interested in playing the game of "tug" and therefore, my Bamboo Toss n' Pull has not seen a whole lot of tugging action. I do, however, use this toy with Abby to work on directed retrieves, for which it works great, and I also frequently use it in my temperament test kit when I go to area shelters to see whether any German Shepherds they have would be suitable to go into rescue foster homes. It is the toy I use to see if a dog is interested in play, in chasing prey, and in how willing they are to give up a toy when asked.

As such, my Bamboo Toss n' Pull has seen quite a bit of use, but it has not seen a lot of heavy tugging (as in, 75lbs German Shepherd being held up by the toy, type tugging). For the purposes I am using this toy for, it is great. It is holding up well, is easy to toss, comfortable for the dog to grip, and allows for a variation of games and uses. This would be very well suited to be a reward tug for obedience training. Personally, I like the rope I can swing it or flop it around the ground by to get a dog interested.

Now, I've already mentioned above that this is not a chew toy and is not designed to be left with an unsupervised dog to be used as such. There are specific toys for that purpose. But for training, supervised play, and most average dogs, this is a great toy and gets my thumbs up.

Having some play time with the Toss 'n' Pull and shelter dog Zeus.

Incidentally, my tabby kitten Finnegan, also enjoys playing with this toy when it's laying around the house. While it's obviously not designed for feline use and is a little big to be carried around the house like most of his toys, he does like to jump on it and thump it with his hind legs.