As a child, I always wanted to have a dog of my own. My step sisters had a dog at their mother's house but I didn't have one and I guess that always made me a bit on the jealous side. One Christmas, my step dad then decided he couldn't put up with the winging any more and bought me a robotic dog, which was probably the best present I received that Christmas.

It wasn't exactly a big thing, only being about 30cm tall and having a remote control attached to it (I always stated it was a lead, though, not a remote control!). It was clearly nothing like a real dog at all. Sure, it had four legs, a tail (that I think actually ended up snapped off) and a head with floppy ears, but it was plastic which meant that you couldn't really sit there and stroke it or play with it.

Still, it served the purpose at the time and I was quite happy with it. For the few months that I played with it non-stop, I guess it was worth the money, which I am told was about £10 at the time. What added to the cost though was the fact that the batteries would wear out at least once every week. Whether this was because of the amount I was using it or simply because it wasn't very economical with batteries, I don't know. But I would say my parents probably resented having to pay out a further £10 or so to keep the thing going.

I would say that the recommended age for this product is probably about 6-10 years, although the 6 year old would most probably get more out of it than the 10 year old as it simply doesn't do enough to keep an older child amused for long. I think I was about 8 or 9 at the time when I was bought one of these, and it was a great present for me at the time as someone who wasn't all that interested in playing on the computer or watching the TV - it gave me something new to play with that was a bit more interactive than the ordinary cuddly toys I had - but if your child is more interested in gaming and TV I would imagine it wouldn't keep them amused for as long as it did me. One of my friends had the same robotic dog at the same time as me but he soon ditched it in favor of his play station, anyway.

I'd give this product 3 stars out of 5 because of the fact that it ate batteries way too quickly and didn't really do much that should've really taken the batteries so fast either.