As someone with an animal dander allergy and a simultaneous desire to have a pet, Zoomer’s Playful Pup seemed like the perfect solution.
The robotic pup is packaged with a USB charging cable, instruction book and quick start guide. To get started, the dog needs to be charged for about an hour. Once it has charged, the eyes will glow solid green.
The pup is then ready for action. A simple on-off switch is located on the belly along with another button to switch the language it will respond to. The toy will respond to the list of commands in English, French and Spanish. The commands and an eye color guide are included in each language, so for a budding language learner, it could be fun practice.
The robotic dog responds like any household pet when its head, chest or belly is rubbed. The movements do mimic a real pup; it has a jovial energy when it is powered on and the fabric tail sort of naturally wags when the robot backside moves. The barking is a small “yip yip” type sound you might hear in small dogs of the non-robot variety. But the mouth does not move when sounds are made. The fabric tongue conceals the speaker at the roof of the mouth.
To get the toy to respond to a list of 10 commands, the user presses the button on the dog’s back for a few seconds and the eyes will turn royal blue. This means it is ready to listen. Users can say any of the commands that accompany the dog and the dog will react. However, those commands need to be read exactly as written. “Sit” and “shake” will not work, but the prewritten “Puppy sit!” and “Shake a paw!” garner a precious reaction.
One downside of the toy is the noise it makes. The plastic joints are rather squeaky as it moves. I would imagine it might become disruptive if a child was playing this while adults are trying to do other tasks or enjoy some quiet time while the kids are occupied. The noise is muffled a bit on carpeted surfaces though, which is what the manufacturer recommends.
There is also a feature that allows you to name the toy so it will respond to commands by name as well.
Overall, the toy has a fun energy and could be a less time-consuming option to a real pet. It even pretends to pee by lifting a leg when prompted but there’s no mess to clean up!
Zoomer’s Playful Pup launched in early October and is available at Target, Walmart and on Amazon.com for about $100.
