The stray that swims... but not very much! (Rescue Pals Swim To Me Puppy)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	Rescue Pals Swim To Me Puppy
Date:	09/01/09 (313 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great idea in theory.

Disadvantages: Broke after one use.

One of my sons "main" presents off my mum this year is the toy I will now review, which I was really impressed with in theory, unfortunately the execution left a lot to be desired!

The toy I will now review is - "Rescue pals, swim to me puppy".

The toy itself is an oversized dog, this toy is about the size of a cat funnily enough! It's head and face isn't proportionate to the rest of it's body, giving it a very cute and doe eyed look to it.
The body and head is made from smooth but rigid plastic, the legs are jointed this lets the dog walk and swim. Finally the dogs ears are soft and floppy, there is no specific reason for this, it does look sweet with them bobbing about on the surface of the water though!

With the toy you also a dinky pair of green goggles for the dog and a small terry towelling white towel.

The idea behind the toy is that when the small heart pendant on it's necklace is pressed it can walk across the floor, including carpet which is were some toys will struggle.
Once immersed in water there are two little metal sensors just below the necklace, once these sense the water the legs start kicking and the dog effectively swims in the bath, swimming pool, deep puddle....... Wherever the child see's fit to immerse it in!

Now as I said this a great toy, in theory, but in reality it is a not as much fun at all!

The walking part of this toy there is no problem with, it does just as it's supposed to, but the swimming element is not so good!

As I said the dog senses the water and kicks it feet to swim, the instructions do say that to keep the dog balanced you should immerse the dog under the water, there is a small hole on the dogs back that fills with water for balance.
Now what they don't say is that the dog will not stop kicking it's legs until completely dry, inside and out! When we took this toy out of the bath I had to wrap a towel around it to dry it and to stop it from moving, I think this may have been killed it!

Once the dog stopped thrashing around, which I took for being dry rather than conked out, I removed the towel ready for the next bath time, how disappointed was my son when he realised the damn thing didn't work anymore.

This toy does take batteries, the small LR44 ones, but the toy comes with these ready installed and due to the fact that this isn't one of those toys that be endlessly played with on the shelf of the toy store, they are reasonably well charged when you get it.

As I said this toy was my son's "main" present from my mum, this cost her £30.00, bit extreme for only one play!
Unfortunately this was purchased from Woolies, so obviously I can't take it back for an exchange or a refund!

For more information on the "stray that swims all day" visit - www.rescue-pals.com

Thanks for reading x

Summary: A great sounding toy that left a lot to be desired.