The Good: Clean, Easy to use
The Bad: Dogs are utterly indifferent to it, Potential laser damage problems, Uses batteries.
The Basics: Out of twenty-four dogs I tried to play with with the Doggy Laser, only one was responsive, making this a lousy dog toy!
One might think after my glowing review of the Vroom Around The Room Kitty Laser Toy (click here for that!), that I would absolutely love the Vroom Around The Room Doggy Laser Toy. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. While my cats love their laser toy, our geriatric cocker spaniel, Mitzie, does not budge when I shine the laser near her. I was concerned that this might have something to do with her age, but I took my Doggy Laser toy in to Pet World and gave the poor captive dogs there a chance to chase the glowing red dot, but out of twenty-three dogs I tested this on, only one Pomeranian chased the laser dot.
The Vroom Around The Room Doggy Laser toy is a remarkably simple product. It is a laser pointer designed to be used to entertain dogs. As a way to keep this distinct as a dog toy, the Vroom Around The Room Doggy Laser is shaped like a small dog! Three inches long, 1 3/4" tall and 1 1/4" wide, this toy appears to be a hard plastic dog. It is yellow and green with big, open eyes and a black nose, with floppy ears hanging down. It is detailed like an animated dog, including its tongue sticking out playfully.
But the real toy is not the physical dog toy that one holds easily in their hands. No, behind the dog's ears on the back of the head is a big green button that is very easy to press with one's thumb. This activates a laser beam which comes out of the dog toy's nose. The laser shoots out as an invisible (unless one has dust, steam or chalk falling through the air) red laser beam. When the beam comes into contact with a solid surface (wall, floor, curtains, etc.) the laser light coalesces into a small red dot. This dot is supposed to entice dogs and make them want to chase it. However, my old dog did not care and the poor imprisoned dogs at Pet World seemed content to let the dot move around without attacking it (they were almost all more interested in physical dog toys).
The Vroom Around The Room Doggy Laser is simple to use; activate the laser, get the dog's attention, and move your hand. This causes the beam (and dot at the terminus point) to move and ideally, your dog will chase it. More likely, your dog might roll over and look utterly bored with the red dot. Outside the Pomeranian, one dog followed the red dot with her eyes, but she showed no interest in chasing it.
Usually, I try to be thorough about cleaning, maintaining, etc. dog toys, but because this is so strongly a "not recommend," based on my experiences, I can't see why anyone would bother with it. Dogs generally don't play with this the way cats do, making it a pretty worthless dog toy!
For other products for dogs, please check out my reviews of:
Redbarn Bacon N Cheese filled bone
Millers Forge 2-in-1 Adjustable Pet Comb
Science Diet Immunity Support Wafers
2/10
For other pet product reviews, please click here to visit my index page!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission
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