Friday, April 5, 2013

Product review: The Kong Air

After our success and Elka's enjoyment of the Kong Squeezz, I thought we'd give another of the Kong line a try.

The Kong Air squeaks in much the same manner as the Kong Squeezz, which is far less abrasive than some squeaky toys. That's a definite bonus! It also has a fuzzy "skin" on it like a tennis ball, a clear plus in Elka's eyes.


Every time Elka gets a new toy, any toy, she's super excited about it. She takes it very gently, though, and then takes it away from everybody, puts it on the floor, and examines it. After that, the play!



The Kong air lasted quite a long while. Yes, past tense. I bought it last August, and gave it to her in supervised sessions. There's inevitably a point at which I need to do something, and need to occupy Elka in some way so that she stops bugging me, and I give her a squeaky toy. I can keep track of what she's doing by the squeaking and/or licking (there's always a "lick the squeak hole" portion of the exercise. I'm not sure what the deal is.) I'm not right there to say "Don't peel the fuzz off that", though. And so off came the fuzz. On Twitter, Silas' mom said that they had the same problem, but it was just fine without the fuzz.

Before I show you the shocking final pictures, I do want to remind you that whenever I bring anything into the house for Elka, my thought is not on if she will destroy something, but when. The Kong Squeezz products no longer squeak, but she'll still play with them on occasion; they are intact.

The Kong Air.....is no longer intact in any sense of the word. She peeled the fuzz, which I belatedly realized had been a poor purchase plan on my part, knowing her proclivities. After enough biting and stomping and perhaps also bite stomping, the remaining toy got a breach in it, and no longer squeaked. And she will invariably find the weak point in a toy and continue to worry and chew on it.






So. You were awesome while you lasted, Kong Air. Maybe I'll try one of the squeaky fake Kong sticks next time.

13 comments:

  1. Wow - she really did a number on that one, didn't she? Oh Elka... I'm so glad Bella has decided to stop chewing everything she can get her teeth on. :]

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    1. Every dog has his or her own "special" skill, I guess ;) I'm just glad that Elka pretty much just chews her toys nowadays. Perhaps tears up the occasional paper towel.

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  2. Oh Elka, the Kong air must have been a success! BOL
    Snuggles,
    Benny & Lily

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  3. Oh YEAH!! See, I likes to do the SAME THING!! (that's why Ma doesn't allow me tennis balls, BTW) Butts she does allow me some of the Kongs cause some of them have a solid inside. I like the ball, I tore all the fuzz off of it, and the center was a really cool ball! The down side (according to Ma....) is that the squeaky was quite annoying....yeah, right...
    Good job on that Elka!
    Kisses,
    Ruby

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    1. Yeah, I guess fuzz peeling is one of the best parts of this kind of toy!

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  4. Elka sounds like our dogs in terms of being a toy destroyer. Poor Kong Air. We have the squeaky kong stick and ring and bone - and all of them have held up for about 6 months now. They even still squeak! And, we let the dogs have them all the time (not just in supervised sessions). I'm a total convert to the kong rubber squeaky toys!

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    1. I'm really a fan of the Kong toys. The stuffable ones are great, and the squeaking ones last far longer than anything else we use.

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  5. I am shocked, I tell you! I desperately wanted Silas to tear up his Air Kong, because it was *so loud* once he defuzzed it, and it just lasted and lasted and lasted. I think I finally threw it away after well over a year.

    It may have helped, come to think of it, that Silas still had his puppy teeth when we got Air Kong. By the time he had the jaw strength to really tear it up, it was old and boring.

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    1. Hah, yes, the squeak after the defuzzing is particularly horrible. Especially the intake squeak...you know, when it reinflates after being squished? Really, Elka just loves her toys TO DEATH. I wonder if she thinks there must be good stuff inside everything, because of our Kong experience.

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  6. Wow, Justus is proud of your work, Elka. He says good job destroying the Kong Air.

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    1. Thanks, Justus! Elka crafts some fine destruction, it's the truth.

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  7. I haven't seen those before but will definitely look out for them!

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