Product Description

The Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name magically grow up to be a full-sized dog in only four days. Just as easily, the dog can magically become a puppy again as puppy grows, it learns to know your name, its name and when it is fed or groomed. Plus, each can even sing songs using your name with the programming CD and accessories which is also included.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17955 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Fisher-Price
• Model: M9796
• Released on: 2008-06-01
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Windows
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: 14.10" h x 12.00" w x 8.30" l, 4.15 pounds

Features

• Puppy grows and knows your name magically grow up to be a full-sized dog in only four days
• Just as easily, the dog can magically become a puppy again
• As puppy grows, it learns to know your name, its name and when it is fed or groomed
• Plus, each can even sing songs using your name
• Programming CD and accessories are included

Amazon.com Review
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

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.

Customer Reviews

usb cable needed to go online with the puppy not included
We purchased this puppy for our granddaughter for Christmas. She had been anticipating playing with it. We were disappointed that the usb cable needed for the puppy was not included. She had to wait until one was purchased to be able to play with her new toy. For the price charged for this toy, it should have been included.

Fun, but not as easy to operate as the information suggests
This is a neat toy, but you have to load software to get it to work properly. This was not as easy as the information makes it out to be.

Cute, but...
This puppy is the only thing my 6 year old wanted for Christmas after seeing it in a catalog. I thought she wold be too old for it, but she really thought it was cute and really wanted it, so we got it for her. It is absolutely adorable, and while it doesn't walk around or move much, she still sits and plays with it for long stretches. The only (big) problem with it: after the first day, it completely stopped moving it's head, and something seemed to happen to it because it wags its tail for a long time, long after it stops talking, sort of weird. It is disappointing to her that it doesn't move its head anymore, she feels like she broke it, and the fact is, she is SO gentle with it. I wish it was more durable. Other than that, it is just so cute, there are tons of kid names to choose from, not as many dog names, though, and the songs and things the dog says are really, really cute. Oh, by the way, the cd worked fine, we just used the usb that connected to our printer and had no problem at all downloading the info to the puppy, we never had to buy a new usb cord.