Everyone in my family loves this walk along, waggy-tailed pull puppy! I bought Hape Walk- a- long Puppy for my then 1 year old son's birthday thinking his 2 older sisters wouldn't want to play with this "baby toy". I usually like to buy versitile toys that will grow up well and have play appeal with all 3 kiddos. I also TRY and stay away from battery powered toys because..just so many reasons - endless $$$, the inevitable drama that ensues when batteries die, annoying glitches, battery acid corosion, can't leave them outside if it rains, no bathtime play usually, etc. Nonetheless, thinking that my babe might not get a ton of mileage out of this one, it looked so darn cute, my husband approved (he's extremely anti-bleeping/noisy toys) and my kids are always trying to drag something long behind them - rolling baggage, long ribbons, each other. Should have known. I was so wrong! My now 23 month, 3 and 5 year olds have all been *ahem* 'taking turns' almost every day for the past year, walking this cute-n-happy lil' guy around the house and outside. (Pup is made out of wood and is probably not designed to be an outdoor toy, just a heads up.) It's a simple, cute, well designed, classic wooden toy that apparently doesn't ever get old. My grandma probably had one of these kinds of toys back in the horse-n-buggy days. Of course, her father probably whittled her pulltoy himself from some leftover scrap wood and haybail twine laying around the farm, maybe taking weeks to finish. Kinda sounds like a lot of work..the olden days must have been like, so hard without Amazon Prime. Anyway, this is a Hape wooden toy so it's crafted quite well, anything but scrappy and it took just 2 days to get to our home with Amazon Prime..which is freaking awesome! It arrived packaged nicely, tucked away in an openface cardboard box that wasn't too difficult to unwrap. So, when gifting this to your child, they will be able to touch it immediately after unwrapping, though may need a little help removing their new pup completely. Parents will have to help those with tinier, less dexterious hands, so be prepared with your Swiss Army knife, Kraftsman, machete or whatever. There's a bit of a glossy finish to the wooden parts which are painted quite nicely with orange spots and orange ears. Light-colored, natural wood shows through beautifully where it's not orange, so it's anything but an eyesore. The red pull string is thin, ropey, not too long, not too short in my opinion. My 5 year old is super tall for her age and manages to take Hape Pup for walks easily, without crouching down to keep it rolling flat on the ground. Just as much fun and possibly played with more often than my kids' various robotic pets. Go figure. Best part - no batteries required, yet it still moves all around, kind of like a puppet on a string only the entire house is the stage. You can sit him up so he 'begs for treats', lay him down on his back to 'play dead', make his head nod up and down while he 'drinks from his doggie bowl'. Plus, his tail wags as he gets pulled along, which is my favorite feature. I will definitely be purchasing more Hape pull along toys this Christmas and/or for my January beebee's 2nd bday. Thinking the crocodile and duck with floppy feet next.
