An Eggsiting New Dog Toy Blog: Pawsitive Playtime!

As you may know I run the dog daycare, Pawsitive Influence, in Lakewood in between St. Edward High School and Garfield Middle School. We are a smaller daycare, which means it takes more personal one-on-one time to make sure that all the dogs get enough exercise and prevent any conflicts. Running wind sprints with them all day long sounded like a good idea; except that for my lack of Olympic body and the shepherds quickly forced all of us into running in smaller and smaller and circles. I then moved into investment into toys for the daycare. How does one pick toys that a dozen dogs won't be able to turn into shreds within minutes? You could buy the fun-looking toys, like squeaky t-bones or fluffy monkeys that all the dog owners will love. You and I would have had to buy more toys quickly then. You could also start reading these articles, learn which toys really are invincible, continue to squeak and even bounce. This new Pawsitively blog will test different “tough” toys against the dogs of my daycare and I'll let you know the results.

This blog will start with possibly the most formidable dog toy I've ever come across. Petoria Inc. (www.Petoria.com) makes a product called eGGe. It is a large, hollow but hard polyethylene plastic egg. It's a little over a foot long, 13 inchesand 7 ½ inches wide at its largest point. And yes, it floats.

About a year ago, a dog product distributor asks me to try out this “invincible” toy. I agreed to give it a try. One year later, the eGGe is, other than a handful of scratches, still in great condition. It has survived everything from a hyper 85-pound Lab to puppies of every shape and size (at least puppies between 15 and 60 pounds.) The eGGe has proven to be as invincible as you could hope it to be. This is because of a mixture of three qualities: Its shell is thick and hard, it is too slick, but not slippery, and it's too big for any of the dogs to get a grip on. Basically, your average dog can't chew on it or handle it.

Now, let's talk about the reality of this toy. This is a large hard plastic egg. If you throw it at something, including a small dog's heads, it may break. Luckily, due to the reasons that it's invincible you probably can't throw it, only toss. This destruction risk also includes if a large dog jumps on its small end utilizing its slick plastic and the power of the wedge; it will shoot away careening off any random objects in its way.

The Ratings (1=lowest quality, 10=highest)

Durable: 10

They couldn't break it.

Fetch: 1

They couldn't return it.

Throwing fun: 8

Chasing after it making it shoot and spin away was very amusing to all involved. It rolls and bounces in random directions.

Bounce: 2

Chewing Durability: 10

Chewing Fun: 1

Little Dog Friendly: 1

Little dogs can't do much with it and impact can cause injury.

Big Dog Fun: 7

If they like chasing and pouncing, then they won't complain.

Destructive Capability: 7

I've seen heavier toys do more damage but its hardness raises the risk.

Apartment Fun: 4

Can cause a lot of damage in small spaces, but will slide better indoors.

Color Design: 7

Comes in bright yet not annoying colors.

If you've got the space and your dog's not too small, the eGGe can be a lot of fun for the lifetime of your furry family member.