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4.5
*Update- Day 2 of brushing with a regular brush and also manipulating and squishing the cotton stuffing around has made it look more like a dog. Toddler is still in love with it. Bumped up to 3 stars. Look out parents of younger children, this toy is going to take what little energy you have and laugh on your face*Got this for my daughter(3yrs old) for Xmas, in part because it was on sale and partly because I like the idea of pet rescue/animal help that goes with this product focused at teaching tiny humans. Or well, I thought it would be a learning thing...hahaha.So we open the packaging to find a mangled ball of stuck together fur. She wasn’t interested, of course, so I said ‘hey, let’s give it a bath and make it feel better’..she loved that part. I was a little creeped out at how it unfolded into an animal but, again, I get the idea behind it because reduced pets can look a little scary but be awesome after some care. So we pressed on. We scrubbed and washed this thing for what seemed an eternity in toddler terms, but still couldn’t get all of whatever it was that made the fur stick together out completely. The toddler was losing interest so we stopped and started the drying process.20 minutes is a lie. It took way more than 20 minutes. It took a hair dryer. It took leaving it on the heating vent. It took 3 hours. Whatever, it dried. Finally figured out it was the dog. My daughter was over the moon. Yay..doggy!Then the brushing started. The toddler lost interest within the first 30 seconds. So that meant I got to do the brushing. The toy brush is less than ideal, but the amount of fuzz that was layering my leggings as I brushed it convinced me to not use a real hair brush on this thing. So I continued to use the toy brush. Omg so much brushing. My arms hurt. The fuzz flew. I discovered spots where we had not washed it properly and the fur would not be untangled. I put it under the sink again. I dried it again I brushed it some more. All the while my daughter is long gone, playing with her other toys that were considerably less labor intensive.Finally, the thing is dry and brushed. My daughter comes back and is ready to put its collar and it’s bow on. The collar was a Snap for a 3 yr old. The bow...dear lord..that bow. I could barely get the thing open and bent my nail back trying to open it.But the collar was on, bow was in, and ...toddler LOVES it! That’s why this gets 2 stars. But I can’t imagine how anything about this toy is worth $20(current list price on amazon). Im posting a picture...it’s supposed to be a dog. It literally looks like my daughter is carrying around a large pink hair ball. It’s pretty cheap and warped. This is after a monumental effort on my part to brush this thing out. So it’s fun if you lower your expectations.My six-year-old has been agitating for one of these little scruffy dudes for literally months, having heard about them from the same place all children with access to youtube do. There was a miscommunication around christmas, and so when amazon put them on sale, I snapped one up for her and she was DELIGHTED.The thing arrived, we pried it out of its box and her empathetic little heart immediately spilled right open as she cooed at it about how it didn't have to worry anymore because we would take good care of it and love it and how could anyone be so mean as to abandon such a cute creature. Honestly it was ridiculously endearing.So this little lump of fur and eyeballs went into a mild detergent and warm water bath where we both scrubbed together to get the fur up and cleaned, then i rinsed it under the sprayer and we dried it carefully. Not owning a blow dryer, we dried it by hand for a while, scruffing up the fur and brushing it out quite a bit as it dried. It looked ok; not as fluffy as the photo, but after the Kid carried it around for days, it went all... wow. scrufftastic again but now also dirty. So while she slept, I threw it in the washer, then put it in a pillowcase, dried it for a little, then hung it up to finish drying. Brush brush, fluffed out a little. A couple of days later, it was back to stringy scruff.My kid however has stayed in love with the thing, and it's in the rotation of her favorite stuffies, so I mean. The money was well spent, but it's not quite as advertised. Perhaps a hair dryer would have helped? Idk.I got the pink one for my 6 year old niece. She loves to pamper and care for stuffed animals and dolls so I knew she would enjoy making over this little furball. I must admit that the process was harder than I expected. This thing needed to be washed and rinsed very thoroughly twice then brushed, then bow dried while being brushed more. It took a lot of time but my niece enjoyed every second of it.The pet still doesn't look like a fluffy, brand new stuffed animal but it's cute and my niece adores it. Her mother was not as pleased since she had to help with washing and blow drying but it is a good bonding experience. The price is lower than when I bought it and, for $10.00, it's a fun toy as long as you know that you will have to work at getting the "stray" to look decent.Pics are not attaching. I will add them when I can.When my 6 yr old opened the box for the first time she was scared of the Scruff-a-Luv. It was a ball of matted fur with big eyes staring at her ?. As a result she didn't want to go through the steps to wash it. However, she did eventually join in with drying and brushing, which she thought was fun.I washed it with a small amount of baby shampoo. Rinsed well with clean water. Wrapped it in a towel and squeezed out the excess water. Then, put it in the dryer on low for a 30 minutes. It still wasn't dry so I then dried it with a blow dryer.It takes a bit of work to get it to look cute and soft. I recommend using a fine tooth comb gently and not the brush it came with. If you are using the brush it came with try brushing upward to fluff out the fur while getting out the tangles.Once the process was complete my daughter really fell in love with her Scruff-a-Luv (she got the cat). She enjoyed "adopting", naming and accessorizing her doll. Now it's her favorite toy to snuggle with. Overall, it takes a bit of work, but once it's all done it's a really cute toy.*expect to re-brushOur third! Desperately seeking the kitten.This toy seems silly, but the kids are taking this adoption very seriously and it keeps them occupied grooming life into the fluffy balls of ratty fur - who knew!Bought this for my grt niece birthday.sent it straight to their house.as they were on holiday it was not opened when it arrived.the fluffy toy looked like it had been washed and there was no accessories that were suppose to come with it.i have a very upset 5yr old.Do not buy toy is just poorly made teddyEl concepto es bueno, pero al final, el perrito nunca quedará como en La foto. Yo lo intenté, más por necedad que por diversión, por más de una hora, y no quedó así. Mi hija perdió el interés, porque hay que usar una secadora y ella no puede a los 5 años. Tal vez sólo fue mi caso.I was SHOCKED when this tiny ugly stuffed animal showed up . Super duper over priced . Probably money Gouging because of Covid-19 but still it looks like a dollar store item . Actually no the dollar store stuffed animals are better !
