Friday 3 October 2014

Sumo vs Kong...the clash of the dog toy titans!

I recently temporarily mislaid* one of the terrible twosome's red Kong toys, and while giving two dogs one Kong and expecting them to share is a recipe for disaster, I wanted to acquire another one to keep them amused for a few hours while I was on a series of conference calls. Minor disaster struck when it turned out the local pet shop had run out, so in an attempt to find something similar we ended up with a Ruff N Tuff "Sumo" (like this one listed on Amazon - Ruff N Tuff Sumo Large Treat Dispenser, though doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment. It's also not over a foot tall, despite the description's claims. It's just about the same size as a "large" Kong)

First impressions were that the Sumo is not a great substitute for a Kong - it's much less flexible (so less "chewwy"), and the hole in the base of the toy is much larger, so you need to be more creative in terms of what goes into the toy to make it challenging for the dog to get out. My smaller dog (Daisy) initially lost interest very quickly, as her snout was little enough to be able to shove part of her face into the hole and easily extract the treats within, and even the big dog figured out that just grabbing and shaking meant lots of treats everywhere

However, once I'd thought about it a bit, and put some longer chew strips folded inside the toy so the treats were wedged into place the sumo really came into its own. The pups threw that thing around the place like it was alive - they absolutely loved it! And the more vigorously they chased it, the more strangely it bounced and the more excited they got about chasing it about.

Cybi waiting for the sumo to start flying around the room, after a pause to refill it

So a worthwhile purchase, albeit a dismal failure for the original purpose, which was to keep them quiet while I was working. In fact, things got so excited that while on one particular skype call the guy on the other end wanted to know if I needed to "go break it up". Fortunately he is also a dog lover and has big dogs, so was pretty familiar with large, playful chaos, but still...embarrassing while trying to appear professional!



*it wasn't me, but I don't know who it was that caused it to end up inside my welly boot

12 comments:

  1. Thanks! I see Sumo at Walmart, but wasn't sure about picking it up!

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  12. Hi I too definitely would recommend the sumo dog toys my dog was a male staffie and he loved it when I'd fill his Kong or sumo with treats. He would pretty much completely stop eating when ever near by females were in heat. So one day I got the idea of putting his complete dry food in it to try get him to stop obsessing about females and eat. Now he wouldn't even eat the complete biscuits on there own so I'd have to mix tin meat with them to get him to eat them. But as soon as I put them in the sumo he would eat ever single bit that was in sumo. It was like his brain was tricking his mouth because hed refuse them out a bowl. So a great way if like my Male dog refuse to eat at all when local females where in season. A brill work around as I'd fill the sumo a few times and he would happily eat things he wouldn't if in bowl.... sadly he had be put down couple weeks b4 crimbo 2020.he was 15 and a lovely natured dog kids could jump of couch onto his back and all sorts and wouldn't bat eye lid at them. Ace by name Ace by nature. Hope this helps some one out there who's dog dosent have biggest appetite because they have to work for what they get out the kong/ sumo works with both to as long as u tightly pack them in the sumo so they dont all jst spill out if he tips it right way.

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