★★★★★ 5
Brindle Boxer and yellow lab, 2 different approaches
Style: Talking Babble, Size: Medium
Our Brindle Boxer absolutely loves this toy! We got one of the small babble balls from a friend and "Baron" took right to it. Very funny watching him, once he realized that when he bumped or otherwise jostled it, it would talk!
After about an hour of him tossing and "nosing" it around (not bad on carpet but on our hardwood floors, it can get a little grating), he started chewing on it. We're like, "OK, here we go, how long is this thing going to last now?". To our surprise, it's holding up pretty well. He's a chewer that can really munch down when he gets into a "groove" and it is taking a beating although it is not indestructible so keep an eye on it.
There are 2 screws that hold the door in, which is crafted very well but be sure they are always in there tight. To avoid any issues, once we replaced the batteries the 1st time, we took out the screws and glued the door in and left the screws out. By the time the batteries are dead this time, the ball will be ready to throw out for sure. Not bad for longevity IMHO. Our dogs can chew a Kong ball up in a couple days once they get a crack in it. if there's a weak point on a dog toy, our dog will find it!....:-)
Our other dog is Dusty, our yellow lab. Sweet loving dog with that "lab" mentality", all love and slobber :-)
He looks at the Babble ball with mild amusement and walks on past it. Every once in awhile, he'll pick it up but that's usually only a ploy he uses when we're petting the "other one" (A name, we're sure Dusty uses when he refers to Baron). I imagine he would actually like this toy more, had Baron not taken it and cuddled it like his own new born baby the second it hit the floor and commandeered the 2nd one just as fast!! :-)
The Small size one (A little larger than a golf ball) has ridges on it and takes a beating. Once it started looking haggard and the batteries started to die, we would put it up and only bring it out for short periods to prolong the life of it until we could find where these were sold. Baron had become "addicted to the darn thing! :-) He would whine and stare at it on the shelf for what seemed like hours until one of us would get it down and give it to him. Since the small one seemed just "bit small" for our Boxer for our tastes and surely too small for our lab, we decided to get the next size up. The Medium one has a smooth surface which also holds up very well although, that once "smooth surface", will start to resemble a Tennis ball after a while but it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!
The "Talking" is amusing for us for about the 1st hour but it is a little loud with fresh batteries and can be annoying when watching TV or talking on the phone. After about a week though, the batteries start to drain some and the volume goes down a bit. Baron will only pick it up a few times a day from there on out so when he gets in the mood, he'll toss it around for about 15 minutes then leave it alone for a while. I can work with that. :-)
All in all,
We are impressed with the quality AND the "FUN FACTOR" for both us, and our Puppies!
We're Babble ball fans for life! (Can we get a discount, if we buy them by the case? :-)
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Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2011
