The ORKA Flyer: Great Chew Toy (Just Not A Great Disc)

    In light of the fact that Valentine's was this week (and I forgot to say happy Valentine's to everyone), I thought I would make this post center around my husband.

   As many of you know, I am always on a quest for the perfect frisbee/flying disc dog toy.  Though I think I've come pretty close to finding it with the Hartz Tuff Stuff Flyer, the Tuffy Ultimate Rings and the Kong Frisbee, my all-college Ultimate Frisbee champion husband seems to think I need to keep looking.   His biggest gripe is that my soft "unofficial frisbees" don't fly "reliably" enough.  That may be true dear, but they work just fine for me...Enough with the familial discord, I invariably keep buying discs for him to test out with the Cassie dog.

   Last week, before the cold-that-will-not-end set in, we were at Target together in the pet aisle buying chewies and my easily distracted husband picked out his own flying disc that he felt "looked better than the useless one's you pick out." Such a kind and supportive man.


   His disc of choice was the Petstages ORKA Flyer and my initial reaction was impressed.  Off the bat I thought the ORKA looked durable.  It's made of a chewy-soft clear rubbery material that the ORKA brand is based upon.  I was pretty sure that even Cassie wouldn't be able to take it apart easily.   It was bendy enough not to hurt my hands/thighs when it was returned and looked easy enough to throw, being that it has a smaller circumference than a regular frisbee.  Like the Kong Flyer it lacks a hole in the middle a feature that I tend to enjoy in a dog disc, but that Chris thinks "slows the disc down" and makes it unreliable.

 The second we were in the door Chris made straight for the backyard and I waited for his official verdict on the new toy...he and Cassie were only outside a few minutes when Chris was back (demonstrably dogless).   His review (and subsequently mine) was this: the disc is too heavy to fly fast or far and the rubber came out of the box slightly warped, making it unpredictable.  That, however, was the least of his complaints.  The biggest problem was trying to get the disc back from the dog after she made off with it.  Cassie has always been a pretty good retriever, bounding back to us excitedly and sometimes slamming into us with all that Aussie energy.  With the ORKA Flyer she didn't seem to want to come back, instead she preferred to lie in the grass and happily chew on the edges of the disc.  From the video you can see that I've had to walk over to her to take it away and then when she goes to fetch it, she just stands there mesmerized (sorry about the grainy focus of my old camera).

   A week on we are still allowing her to have her way with Flyer and it still has not a single tooth mark.  It is incredibly durable and easy to clean and many other wonderful things, except a good frisbee disc.  Lesson:  If you want a great long lasting chew-toy the ORKA Flyer is a great option.  If, however, you want to play a wonderful and tiring game of frisbee with your dog...you should probably look somewhere else.

A Poll Instead: Let Me Know What You Want!

I'm trying to put together a really nice review of FitPaws for tomorrow...which is becoming a little involved... So I thought I would take your pulse and see what you would like to see a review of in future:

1)  Kong Wubbas

     2)  Frisbee Overview

      3)  Agility Equipment

                                                                    4)  Treats

Feel free to leave comments, to participate in the poll to the right or both!  I'll leave it up for a couple days and then write on the result!  Thanks guys!

Is the Hartz Tuff Stuff Line Really Tuff Enough?

   The Hartz Tuff Stuff line is widely available at most big stores like Walmart and even Giant grocery stores.  I always stop by the dog toy aisle for new stuff or bargins and have found the Hartz toys very good for short term (ie quickly destroyed) use.  The common toy manufacturers phrase: "For play only. Supervise your pet"is clearly written on all Hartz toys (translation: we are not responsible if your dog rips it up, swallows big sharp pieces and then costs you thousands of dollars in surgery to have them removed). It's true that some dogs will be able to rip up anything and should of course be monitored especially with soft toys, but there should be strong toys out there for our Super Chewers.  So, when I came across the Tuff Stuff line I was excited but dubious about the prospect of taking something home that wouldn't end up in the trash by evening.
    To my surprise, the material stands up well and Cassie has fallen in love with a wide variety of them.  Three examples:

   1. Hartz Tuff Stuff Flyer:
        This is a frisbee style disk made of ballistic nylon.  It has a squeeker in the middle, three large openings that make for great tugging and easy catching and the outer circle is lined with a flexible wire (I think it's wire) reenforcement.  So far after several weeks of use there are no complaints with this toy.  It has stood up to throwing, tugging, outright chewing, and freezing in snow and then chewing all without so much as the painted decoration coming off.  It flies well without much effort and happily the flexible wire makes the return attack in a toothy mouth less like being run into with a plastic knife and more like being hit by a fast moving teddy bear.  The best feature for me has been how much fun tugging is with this flyer. Cassie can be in a full backwards pull, over and over and not so much as a stitch will pop!  That's saying something if you've ever had a 50 lb Aussie on the other end of a normal plastic frisbee.   It's one of my top toys and I'll buy another one if this one ever gives out.

   2. Hartz Tuff Stuff Retriever:
         After the success of the Flyer I went back to Walmart and picked up the Retriever, which is really just a soft bumper with rope knots on the end.  Again the ballistic nylon body has held up amazingly (I left it out for Cassie to chew away on it without problems).  She liked carrying it around the house or chasing it down and really liked to tug on it.  The major problem I found with the retriever was the rope knots on the end.  By the end of the second day of tugging I guess some small stitch holding the knot together tore and left me with nothing but an immediately unravelled tail that Cassie then started gagging on.  I tried re-tying it with no luck and thought about cutting the the knot tails off and keeping the body,  but the tails seem to be imbedded in such a way that this can't be done and now the stuffing is starting to fall out the bottom.  The more we tugged the more the stitching that held the tails in place (and the bottom of the body closed) started to snap and pull loose.  Sad that such a small thing has made a big difference in what was otherwise a great toy.   To the trash it goes....

The Retriever: Day 2

  3. The Hartz Tuff Nose Divers (Ducks):
        When Cassie was a puppy we started her playing with the plush quacker ducks that are available now from a wide variety of companies (including Hartz).  Now, the super chewer that she is, these soft ducks quickly loose first their feet and then their necks (and stuffing).  So a tougher alternative was a joyful find.  Like the other Tuff Stuff products, the body (including beak) of the duck in made from ballistic nylon and held up well to chewing, tugging, etc.  I would have liked to see a squeeker of some kind.  The tail/handle of the duck was a thick twisted rope inside of which a flexible wire was placed to give it some body.  By-and-large these were great toys and stood up pretty well.  They were only thrown away once the beak had been successfully chewed through by miss Cassie.  I have seen photos from other reviewers who did not "Supervise Your Pet" and the ducks are basically gone, leaving some nylon and rope covered wire (see the Amazon Review for these photos).
     They were good for fetch or for playing our favorite game of "Duck on a Stick," which is a must for all herding dogs.  I've bought new ones since the old ones went kaput so I guess it was worth the money, but you do need to watch your dog with this one.