If you have been on Instagram or Facebook across the Christmas/New Year period I am sure you have seen these ads for this great toy that helps your dog entertain itself by playing tug of war with this suction cup ball toy. We had to check it out and run it through our tests to see how these claims stack up and if it could be Dog Approved.
First Impressions.
The Suction Cup Tug of War toy comes in very minimalist packaging (always a tick for us). We ordered a blue one for our tests.
On the first inspection, it is impressive in its design. The suction cup is a big solid piece of silicon/rubber and looks like it will do the job of securing itself to a variety of surfaces. The ball with the rope threaded through it, is soft and spongy, but solid. It looks like it will take some punishment.
The rope itself is high quality and of a thickness that gives us some confidence in longevity.
The Testing
We have several floor surfaces; wood and tiles. On both surfaces, we had trouble getting the suction cup to initially stick. Like any suction device, the surface needs to be really clean so you need to give any surface a wipe before trying to get the suction cup to stick to your floor. Once the surface is clean, the suction cup is large so that you can use your foot to push down and attach it to the surface. This gives a good seal and affixes the toy securely to the floor.
Not sure on the footage we see on some of the ads on Instagram where this is attached to cupboards and bookcases. This would be quiet difficult given the force needed to attach the suction cup seal.
Both dog testers Rocky and Woody are introduced to the ball on the end of the rope.
Adhesion to the surface. You can see in the video above the toy is very well fixed to the floor. She applied a lot of side to side and straight pulling force to the ball on the rope and the toy stays fixed to the floor.
Self-entertainment. Both dogs love tug of war with a standard rope toy and with encouragement played with this toy. We did a couple of sessions with them to encourage play and left the toy attached to the floor. Without our interaction, there were only very short sessions 10-20 seconds of playing with the ball independently. You can see in the video above Rocky enjoying the toy when interacted with. We could not replicate the claims of long independent play and being a dog boredom buster like claimed in many Instagram ads
Summary
Pros
- A strong well-built toy that will last
- Affixes to a surface securely and will challenge medium to large size dogs to remove it
- Given the soft but durable silicone ball, it is easy to clean
Cons
- Takes some training to get independent play
- Could not replicate the long independent play as per the Instagram ads
Final Verdict - it is Dog Approved 😊
The Suction Cup Tug of War toy is a good quality toy that will be fun for your dog with some encouragement/training. Some of the claims in some of the high rotation Instagram ads appear exaggerated based on our experience.