Getting to know a new friend is fun with the Puppy Grows & Knows Your Name Poodle from Fisher-Price. This interactive toy puppy comes complete with curly white hair, a pink plastic collar, a bone-shaped treat, and a brush. More than that, the puppy actually "grows" over time, and it can be programmed to know your child's name and it's own name (which you pick). With this puppy, children 18 months and up can enjoy having an interactive pet all their own.
 | What We Think
Fun Factor: 
Durability:
(what this means)
The Good: Puppy really grows and "learns" new sayings
The Bad: Hard body isn't padded beneath the soft fur
In a Nutshell: Kids are sure to love having a pet that calls them by name | At a Glance Ages: 18 months and older
Requires: Windows PC with a CD drive and USB port
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Puppy is smallest when you first open the box. (Poodle version shown) View larger. |
In four days, puppy is fully grown. (Poodle version shown) View Larger. |
Cute, Cuddly, and Easy-to-Program Before your child adopts this puppy, an adult will need to program the puppy and make sure that four AA batteries are installed. Programming is fast and easy. Simply insert the included CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive, follow the directions to complete installation, and open the user-friendly application. This lets you select your child's name, check the pronunciation, pick a name for your puppy, and upload the data to your puppy using the included USB cable.
Now "Pickles," "Snowball," or "Chi Chi" is ready to meet your child. The first time we touched her back, our puppy wagged her tail and said, "Hi, Tony. How are you? I'm feeling happy today." A few seconds later, she said, "Let's play, Tony." Try sticking the bone in her mouth to hear crunching sounds, or petting her soft fur.
Have Fun Charting Puppy's Growth
Puppy has more to offer than just fun, interactive movements and sayings. Over the course of four days, this puppy actually "grows." Watching the puppy get taller right in front of our eyes quickly won us over. And, unlike a real dog, Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name can go back to being a puppy, so you and your child can watch the growth cycle all over again. Our puppy didn't come with a set of instructions, so we had to figure out her pattern of growth on our own.
The included chart helps kids measure and track the growth of their puppy. Plus, puppy has something new to say each of the four days, which makes it seem like she really is learning as she grows. Part of this learning process includes singing two songs that feature your child's name, which are sure to delight little pet owners.
This puppy is recommended for children as young as 18 months, but younger children, who are sure to love the way puppy speaks right to them, may not be as interested in measuring growth and watching puppy mature. Plus, since Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name is battery powered, she has a hard body underneath her furry coat. We felt that a little more padding would make this her a much more huggable friend.
While the programming CD requires a system running Windows 2000, XP, Vista or higher, the puppy can still be fun even if you use a Mac or don't have a computer. Without programming, the poodle simply calls itself "Puppy" and your child "Friend." And even though a wide variety of names, including David, Geronimo, Sharif, and Zelda, appear in the list of names your puppy recognizes, if your child has a very unusual name, you may not be able to "teach" it to the puppy. Setting the puppy to speak to a "Friend" or "Buddy" instead of using a single name can also be an excellent solution for children who share their puppy with siblings.
Overall, Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name is a great pick for children who love dogs but can't have a live puppy of their own. She's sure to inspire lots of creative interaction, and parents are sure to appreciate that they don't get stuck walking the dog, buying food, and picking up messes.
What's in the Box
Puppy, bone, brush, tape measure, growth chart, birth certificate, 4 AA batteries, USB cable, and programming CD.
