The Hartz Angry Birds Flyer Dog Toy Gets Dogs And Their Owners Playing!

The Good: Soft so it does not hurt dogs, Durable for play, Easy to clean, Fun
The Bad: Squeaker is very difficult to activate
The Basics: My wife and I eagerly engaged Myah with the Hartz Angry Birds Flyer Dog Toy and had some mixed results.


As I reach the end of the box of products that Hartz provided me for review, I come to the Hartz Angry Birds Flyer dog toy. This was the product that, when I saw it in the box, I was most excited about playing with Myah with. The Hartz Angry Birds Flyer is basically a glorified Frisbee for dogs, but I instantly though it was cool when I saw it. Unfortunately, while my wife and I played with it with Myah, it was a dog toy that was very hard to keep Myah engaged with.

The Angry Birds Flyer is a 10” in diameter disk that has plush faces in the center. The outer ring is stiff, but flexible and by the sense of touch it implies a wire beneath the polyester surface. The surface of the Flyer is rougher than most the Hartz Angry Birds plush products, reminding one of burlap. Myah did not seem to mind the way the Flyer felt. In fact, she eagerly pulled the Flyer out of her toy box and began jerking it around in her mouth. When she did that, we figured it was a good time to take her outside and do our product testing with her.

The Angry Birds Flyer is red on one side, puke green on the other. The red side is the iconic red Angry Bird and it features a bright yellow beak. The eyes for the bird are silkscreened on, as opposed to embroidered. One suspects with extensive play, these will eventually wear off, but after a few hours of play, they have not chipped or degraded yet! The green side of the Flyer is the malicious pig that captures the birds in the Angry Birds game. It has a lighter green snout that has nostrils silkscreened on it as well as bright white eyes.

My wife and I took Myah outside and began tossing the Flyer between us, with Myah in the middle. She was instantly eager to chase the Flyer and we let her catch it several times and intercept it (just knocking it down) a few additional times. After the first fifteen minutes, though, Myah was done with it. No amount of coaxing would get her to play with us. That did not stop my wife and I from continuing to play with the Flyer.

We were tossing the Flyer between us for half an hour before we discovered the squeaker! The Flyer does have a Squeaker that is activated by pressing the red bird’s forehead. The squeaker is arguably the best protected squeaker of any dog toy I have ever encountered. While this is great for durability, it is unfortunately bad for play. I write that because while we were able to entice Myah into playing for a minute after we found the squeaker, that was it. Myah batted down the Flyer and began leaping upon it. Even with her thirty-five pound frame jumping on the Flyer and smacking at it, she was not able to set off the squeaker once. After that, she lost interest in it.

The Flyer is a well-made toy, though. In tossing the Angry Birds Flyer between us after Myah had given up, my wife and I had a lot of fun. We also discovered that the Flyer is very well made for big dogs. Myah began sniffing around while my wife and I played and in the process, my wife beaned Myah once in the side with the Flyer. The Angry Birds Flyer is flexible enough that Myah barely reacted to having it (accidentally) tossed into her side. That level of durability and cushioning is impressive.

Also cool is that the Angry Birds Flyer is very easy to clean. As an indoor/outdoor toy intended for a dog to bite at, this Flyer could get dirty fast. My wife and I were playing with Myah outside on a day after it had rained two days prior. Between dog saliva and mud, our Flyer should have been filthy, but it washed off very fast and was dry within six hours!

I was tempted, I’ll admit, to knock this toy up to a 6/10. The toy has great playability and durability, which are exceptionally important for dog toys for large dogs. I couldn’t justify the theoretical, though; in actuality, Myah was not consistently engaged by the Hartz Angry Birds Flyer dog toy, making it a tougher sell than it should be.

For other Hartz animal products, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Hartz Angry Birds Plush Ball With Sound Chip Dog Toy
Hartz Quackers Dog Toy
Hartz Angry Birds Running Bird Cat Toy

5/10

For other pet product reviews, please check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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