VTech Infant Learning Skippy the Smart Pup

My 1 year old just received this toy for his birthday and after we've played with it for an hour now I'm perplexed to see all the negative reviews. The dog does a pretty good job of finding and following his bone. I could see how on carpeting or non-open spaces it might not do so well, but I'm wondering what everyone is comparing this to? By the way everyone is talking they've all got I, Robot units sitting at home serving them martinis. When I was a kid we had Teddy Ruckspin, so this is basically a miracle. There was some comedian who talked about people who complain about lack of wifi on flights. All he would say to them is "You're flying through the air at hundreds of miles per hoursomething that nobody else in the history of humanity has been able to do. It's a miracle of engineering, and you're complaining you can't check facebook while doing it?" Anyway, for $ I think it's a pretty fun, functional toy. To the detractors, I challenge any of you to explain how any element of this toy actually works.

My son got this Smart Pup for his 2nd birthday as he is hugely into dogs. It wasn't what I was expecting. The toy claims that it will follow it's bone but it does not. By the time a kid would know how to use the remote, they would already know their body parts.

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Many of these reviews seem to be based on a grown-up's expectations, and I think that it's not considering the child's perspective which is what matters. Yes, it is absolutely fair to be disappointed that a clearly marked feature does not work as expected. Oh well. What matters is how does your kid like it? I got this as a hand me down from a friend whose daughter was afraid of it moving. I have a 4yo and a 1yo. The 1yo enjoys the remote most, but she definitely spends time playing with the puppy. I don't really think that this would help learn body parts, but it's nice. The nose button has a satisfying click that she loves. The 4yo will send the puppy in as a giant killer dog sent to destroy his lego/matchbox/block town. This thing has been dropped a fair share and it's still going. Fresh batteries help. Lighten up, it's a toy. This is not a reason to get all fired up.

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I never write product reviews, but this one frustrated me enough to do so...

My wife wants to throw the toy out since it annoys her so much. Because it was a gift from my brother I decided to sit down and figure the toy out so I could defend it. Here are my findings:

1) The toy promises to "Find the Bone" which means locate where the remote is (presumably in your child's hand). In short, it doesn't. Ever. Even when the remote is directly in front of the child.

2) The slider on the remote appears to do nothing. All three buttons initiate roughly the same state. "Say things with song".

3) There is NO volume control, and it can get pretty loud.

4) When your child becomes bored and walks away, it will say something every six seconds! It does this four times before shutting off!

5) Some of the songs don't have words.

6) It repeatedly gets stuck, even when there is no logical reason why it should leave the wide open area and go towards furniture.

7) The "Learning" words aspect is weak at best. It knows... "Front Leg, Back Leg, Tail, Nose, Ear, and Head". It doesn't indicate Left or Right.

We ultimately allowed our son to keep the remote since he likes that part the best, and we'll be throwing out a brand new dog toy since there is no way to make it go silent and without batteries it is just another thing to trip over.

I'm sorry I'm so negative, as a tech geek myself; I would have loved to enjoy this toy with my son. Keep your $30 dollars and purchase something else.

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This toy is SO annoying, but my 17 month old son loves it. The pup follows the bone for the most part, but not as well as the description makes it sound. I don't have any problem with this toy other than I wish I could turn down the volume haha!

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