Review: AlphaPup from LeapFrog

The cute and appealing AlphaPup from LeapFrog, is the 2014 version of those little wooden dogs children from the 60s and 70s used to pull along – albeit made by a different brand. But though AlphaPup is much cleverer he still manages to capture that innocent appeal that Fisher Price’s little wooden Snoopy did back then.

The stripes on his dog coat are buttons that sound out letter names and sounds to help young children begin to familiarise themselves with phonics.

The dog’s lead when pulled sings out cheerful tunes or the bone button triggers doggie phrases.

While the main body of the toy is plastic, AlphaPup’s ears are soft fabric and his tail wags in an endearing way when he walks.

Bristol based childminder Amanda, tested out the toy with her own child and mindees.

Amanda Says: “I Love how colourful it is and all the buttons for the children to press. I think they missed an opportunity to make the toy more touchy feely by not making the nose a different texture like the ears are.

“I like the way it only plays part of the song and encourages the child to keep moving it, but only having 3 songs is very repetitive. The quiet loudness setting is loud enough and the loud setting is far too loud. Don’t want to cause ear problems from noise!

“I think the dog’s lead needs to be longer as my little girl isn’t tall and when she gets bigger will be lifting the front of the dog off the ground to walk quite soon.

“I also like the way the dog wobbles when the children are ‘taking it for a walk’ they found it quite funny at first.”

8/10

AlphaPup comes in the colour pink or green and is priced around £15.

Available from toy shops and supermarkets nationwide.

For more information, visit: www.leapfrog.com/en-us/store/p/alphapup/_/A-prod19241