We had to buy My Puppy Pal Scout for my youngest daughter a few months ago. The reason being that my eldest daughter has My Puppy Pal Violet and will not for the life of her share it with her baby sister, despite her constant pleas.

It is not usually the thing we do - buy them one of each of something - because we like to encourage them to share their toys. But with Violet being such a treasured toy for my eldest and because it was causing such massive arguments, we decided to buy Scout for the youngest, and in hindsight it was a very good decision despite my initial reservations.

And before you ask, Scout is indeed a boy but it doesn't mean he has to be given to a boy, I was quite worried about this at first and thought he might only have boys names programmed into him, but he has exactly the same set up as Violet, which was a big relief!

**Description Of Scout**

He is a green soft toy (a dog to be precise), who also talks to you and plays music. But it's not one of those 'squeeze the tummy' toys and he will play the same tunes over and over again. This noisy toy is a little bit different. He comes with a unit inside his tummy (accessed through Velcro on his back) and also a little USB lead which means you can plug him into your computer.

Once you plug him in the software will be uploaded onto your computer and the fun begins. The software is very straightforward, even the most techno-phobe among us would be able to handle it I'm sure.

Anyway, you get to personalise the toy to suit your child. First of all you choose the name (your child's name) and the amount of names stored in this toy is massive, and it also has lots of spelling variations. So if your child has an unusual name, it's likely to be in there.

Once you have selected your child's name, then you can choose a favourite animal, food and a colour. There are a lot to choose from so your child's favourites are bound to be in there, there are even animals I have never heard of - what's a loon??

And finally you can choose some music; you get to choose up to 5 daytime tunes and 5 lullabies (so 10 tunes in total). Now to be honest the selection here is not massive but there are a few well known nursery rhymes, a couple of Christmas songs, and some classic music. You get to listen to the tune before you choose it as well, so you can ask your child if he or she likes it before picking it - this is quite good for the child because they get their own input into personalising their toy.

**Time to Play**

When you have finished programming the toy, then you can unplug and give to your child to figure out what he does! My daughter knew what to do with Scout straight away because she was used to seeing her big sister playing with Violet (the purple girl version).

You activate the tunes by pressing one of Scouts 4 paws. Each paw has a different function:

Play Time - this paw will make Scout talk to you and sometimes he gets hiccups or wants a cuddle or other such things. He also says your child's name a lot, which is also very amusing!!

Songs - this paw will activate the daytime tunes you have chosen, and also some pre-set ones which incorporate your child's name and the favourite items they have picked. Scout currently sings about a penguin who is yellow and who likes to eat cake, but he has been known to sing about a ladybird that is red and likes cheese! That is one of the great things about this toy, you can change the favourites any time you like, and sometimes I like to do it without my kids knowing, then they get a surprise next time they play with it.

Lullabies- this paw activates the lullaby setting and it will play 2, 5 or 10 minutes of bedtime music - this is a constant stream of the lullaby music you have selected. My children sometimes like this on at bedtime, and to be honest my oldest likes it better than my youngest, and she likes it to be turned down a bit so it's not too loud when she's trying to get to sleep (there is a volume setting on the back).

Off/On - this paw will turn off Scout if you are sick of hearing him singing and talking, my kids surprisingly use this button quite a lot when they are arguing over whose toy is singing and they constantly turn each other's off - it's quite amusing watching them do this. It can also be used to turn the toy on, but this is not the only way to turn him on, press any paw and he will be activated. (There is actually an off switch on the unit inside Scout if you want him off completely).

**Thoughts**

I love this toy, and my children love this toy (Violet and Scout). It is designed for children ages 6-36 months, my youngest is nearly 2 and my eldest is 3 and a half and they both get equal enjoyment out of the toy, and it doesn't seem to be wearing thin at all. I think the thing that is most appealing about it is that it is so personal to the child, with their own names being spoken and the fact that it likes the same animals, food and colour as you child, it is just so exciting for young children.

Scout and Violet go everywhere with us, I can safely say that Scout is the favourite toy of my youngest daughter, he comes to the shops with us, to Granny's house, he goes up to bed with her, and down for breakfast in the morning, and he shares lunch and tea with us as well. She loves him so much, and he has actually been through quite a lot, such as being dropped out of the buggy and run over numerous times, thrown down the stairs, left out in the rain...and he is still in great condition and functioning 100%.

I think this is one of those toys that, if a child really takes a shine to them, has the potential to be a favourite for a long time. It's so much better than a plastic monstrosity that they tire of in less than a month, and it comes with my full seal of approval.

If you're stuck for things this Christmas....this is a great idea for a present. I would recommend for a child above the age of 1, and then they will be at an age where they can really appreciate it.

You can get a purple version called Violet and the green version is Scout. Both are priced at £19.99 and I have seen them in Toys R Us and Tesco. They are currently slightly discounted on Amazon.