Beating The Bore With Tug Of War (Kong Tug Toy)

Member Name: FourPaws

Product:	Kong Tug Toy
Date:	05/08/09 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Incredibly strong, very safe, durable, great fun, multi-use

Disadvantages: Looks a bit tatty after a while

*What is the Kong Tug Toy?*
This dog toy is produced by the world famous Kong company, the American manufacturers of the highly popular red rubber Kong toys. Their range also includes a variety of other items, such as dog treats, chews and various other doggie toys.

*The product itself*
Grace and Benson are quite unlike any dog I have ever owned before! The two of them are just complete and utter flaming nutcases who quite simply do not sit still for a moment longer than they feel they must! From the moment the terrible twosome wake up in the morning, right up until they are practically dropping down with exhaustion at the end of the day- they are on the go. Whether it is running about with one another, tearing about the place with their toys or generally just annoying just about anyone they get the chance to- they are up and about doing something at least!

I do all that I possibly can to knacker them out! We go on at least two walks a day, covering at least 8 miles between the two walks, they get a couple of opportunities to go swimming in the lake during our walks and 3 nights a week they do either agility or flyball, as well as plenty of games out in the garden everyday- either just the two of them playing together or with me out there too having a game with them, oh and they have their own agility set in the garden too which they use every day. So it's not as if they are poor neglected pooches who are lucky if they get out for a five minute stroll once a week! But anyway, this still isn't enough for them apparently, and they still insist on being the live wires that they are!

Now, until I figure out a way to bottle up their energy and make my millions flogging it on the internet, I'm left with one option, and that is to provide plenty of bits and pieces for them to play with and create lots of extra outlets to help burn off their excess energy!

Enter Kong toys. As I'm sure the majority of you know by now, Grace is a Rottweiler and her older ''brother'' Benson, is a Bernese Mountain Dog, so they are obviously two very large and very strong dogs, with the jaw power to match! This inevitably means that there are very, very few doggie toys that are able to stand up to the pair of them. Kong toys however, are an exception, and so far, we've found that most of the toys from the range that we have used, have coped pretty well with the roughness and strength of my canine pals.

One game they do love is tug of war, hence the purchase of the Kong Tug Toy. Marketed as representing the highest level of toy innovation, comfort and strength, the Kong Tug claims to provide an extremely durable tug toy suitable for the majority of dogs and can be used either by two dogs playing together, or for dog and owner to enjoy a game of tug together.

The Kong Tug is a figure of 8 shape style toy, made from ultra strong nylon tug rings, coated with unique ''bite grips'' made from exclusive Kong rubber on each ring, providing a comfortable surface for your dog to grip in its mouth, and the centre is also made from the unique Kong rubber, this has apparently been produced with ''Control-Flex Technology'' which enables the Tug Toy to flex whilst in use and eliminates the risk of snap back, which is a dangerous problem associated with most cheaper tugging toys.

*Packaging*
The Kong Tug Toy comes attached to a white cardboard strip which gives detail about the product and all the usual information you'd expect to find such as directions for safe use, cleaning instructions and of course, contact details for Kong should you have any questions or comments. It is worth noting however that Kong is an American company, so any queries may best be dealt with via the internet.

*Price & Availability*
This toy appears to be relatively popular, being available from various places both on and offline. I purchased our Kong Tug online from Dog-Toy (www.dog-toy.co.uk) for £8.80.

I have since seen it available from a couple of places from a few pounds less though, so if you are looking to purchase one, then be sure to shop around a bit first.

*My opinion*
As much as I appear to moan about Grace and Benson's endless supply of energy, I secretly quite love it! I'm a very active and 'outdoorsy' person myself, so to have two dogs that share my love of the outdoors and being active is a wonderful thing- I love nothing more than grabbing a bottle of water, throwing on my walking boots and heading out for a couple of hours- just wandering at my own pace whilst the dogs have a whale of a time charging about playing with one another, sniffing all the good scents and then jumping in the lake for a nice refreshing swim whilst I sit on the bank watching them. Pure bliss!

Anyway, even after all these hours of walking, the dogs will come home, crash out for a snooze for a couple of hours and then be raring to go again, whilst me.... well, I'd still half dead from the long walk! So for this reason, the dogs have got plenty of toys to keep them busy and use to burn up their extra energy, whilst requiring minimum effort from me!

I brought this Kong Tug at least two years ago, and although it isn't a particularly exciting toy to a human eye, I thought it deserved a dooyoo review purely on the basis that even after two years being battered by Grace and Benson it is still.. wait for it... in one piece! Quite some achievement, take it from me! And what's move, even after having it for such a long time, it is still something the dogs love to play with on a very regular basis.

What first attracted me to the Kong Tug was quite simply the name attached to it, in my experience, Kong toys have proven themselves to be very durable, great fun and very long lasting. Granted, they can be a little costly, but when compared to the cheap dog toys that may only cost a pound or so, but last just a couple of minutes, you can see that the Kong ones are quite good value! At the time of purchase, Grace wasn't around, I just had Benson and my old dog Ruby, and although Benson did enjoy the occasional game of tug with me, it is only since I got Grace that the toy has really been put to great use.

In terms of strength, the Kong Tug really does stand out from other tug toys available. In the past the dogs have had those cheap rubber tug toys, and whilst they are OK for a day or so- any more than a few minutes of play by Grace and Benson at a time sees them snapping completely down the middle, and that is when they have the potential to be very dangerous, as they could quite easily snap back into one of the dogs faces and hurt them, or worse still, injure their eyes. But with this Kong Toy, I've never felt the dogs are at risk from such injury, even when both of them are tugging at either end with all their might, the rubber connector in the middle simply bends, flexes and absorbs the strength of the dogs, not appearing to strain in the slightest and enabling the dogs to carry on with their game for as long as they wish.

The rubber ''bite grips'' are also a very useful and practical addition to the toy- it gives the dogs something to bite down and get hold of so they can get a good grip for their game of tug, but at the same time, it protects their teeth and gums from the hard nylon construction of the toy. They are also very handy for when I have a game with the dogs, they enable me to get a firm grip on one of the rings whilst one of the dogs has the other one in their mouth, and admittedly, it doesn't normally take long until the dog pulls the tug toy right out of my hand, but even so, the grips provide a soft and comfortable place to hold. One thing I can fault with them though is that they look a bit tatty after a while, the rubber has a tendency to flake off a little bit but in all fairness, it doesn't affect the performance of the toy in the slightest.

As well as being perfect for tug games, the toy is also ideal for games of fetch. It is lightweight and flies a reasonable distant with very little effort and it is easy for the dogs to bring back to me. I must admit I do worry slightly when they jump up and catch the toy as the hard nylon can sometimes bang quite loudly against their teeth, but so far, touch wood, no damage appears to have been done.

All in all, I really can't find much to fault with this toy. It may initially be a little expensive, but it is entirely worth it. The dogs can use it to play tug together, I can use it to play tug with them, we can use it for fetch and the dogs love having a ring each in their mouths and just charging about the garden side by side with it. It provides great exercise, helps to burn off excess energy and even helps to strengthen the muscles in your dogs face and mouth.

To conclude, another exceptional toy from Kong. If it can stand up to the demands of Grace and Benson, then there is plenty of hope for it being suitable for every other dog too!

Summary: Safe, strong and the dogs love it- what more could you ask for.