UPDATED 2/3/24: Unfortunately, this product is no longer available. However, a valid 4WD replacement toy may be the Amicool Remote Control Car for Kids.
When we first saw the Go Go Dog Pals remote control dog toy, we thought it might be just a simple remote control children’s car with a cute shell on top. Turns out, it’s a lot more than that… This is a super-charged, four-wheel-drive interactive dog toy that is bound to get any dog with a natural prey instinct on a fast-moving run through the yard.
The GoGo Dog Pals device is essentially a high-speed remote control vehicle with an armored shell in the design of a cat (we think it looks more like a skunk), a groundhog, or racoon. You can purchase new accessories to make the shell into any creature you prefer. Your dogs won’t care what color it is or how it looks – they only know that it runs away and it’s their job to catch it!
As you know, our dogs are not exactly hunters. They enjoy their lizard hunts and stalking the occasional bird, but they don’t enjoy killing wildlife (thank goodness!) and I wasn’t sure how they would react to this toy. But I found that once you engage that natural instinct, there are very few dogs who won’t chase after this toy.
Disclosure: We received a Go Go Dog Pals toy for review with our pets. This has not influenced our review – the opinions expressed above are our own. We use affiliate links where possible. Thank you for using these to help us keep our site free from cluttering ads!
Who Should Get A Go Go Dog Pals Toy
Its tough to think of spending $229 on a pet toy, but once you read about all this can do, you’ll see the justification for cost.
- Techies: Anyone who enjoys gadgets is going to love this toy. It’s fun, interactive and requires a bit of skill to maneuver at 20 mph!
- Kids: Our nephews and nieces love this toy as much as our dogs do! At one point, we had our nephew chasing the skunk alongside of the dogs.
- Dogs with High Prey Drive: This is a fun toy for any dog who enjoys chasing and hunting things – without inflicting any injuries to some poor innocent rabbit or groundhog.
- High Energy Dogs: This is a great toy for high-energy dogs with low-energy owners (like us). I’m not a runner, I don’t enjoy biking or jogging, so this is a great way to make sure my dogs get the workout they need without me trying to keep up with my active pups.
- Overweight Dogs: It’s also great for dogs that are a bit overweight. This toy will get them moving!
Here’s Achilles having fun! (Turn your volume down to avoid barking)
How it Works
You’ll want to give yourself an opportunity to learn this before you put your dogs on it. Why? Because it’s incredibly fast. It can travel up to 22 mph in forward and nearly that fast in reverse. It’s four-wheel drive (although it works best on flat surfaces). We tried it out on several surfaces: Concrete, pavement, tall grass, gravel, dirt lots and short grass.
With a long range operating control system (up to 350 feet) you can relax just about anywhere while your dog chases down the toy. It’s good thing, too – our dogs got pretty rambunctious while chasing it! It’s powered by an internal Ni-Cd battery that can be recharged using included battery charger, but we found to have a very long-lasting life. We managed to get almost two days of playtime on it before we had to charge up again.
The remote control has a simple trigger button and a small wheel for steering. It’s a very simple learning curve. It does, however, require 8 AA batteries to function (so plan on buying in bulk). However, the charge lasts a long time and even after two months of play, we haven’t had to replace the batteries yet. The base unit works on a charger, so when you’re done for the day, just place it back on the charger to re-energize!
It also comes with a second “tail” – and you’ll be glad for it. This is the one part of the toy that the dogs will destroy regularly. Here’s Bree having fun barking at the strange creature (turn your volume down to avoid barking)
Surfaces
Out of all of those surfaces, the only one it didn’t work on was the thick, tall lawn. It works best on concrete, pavement, short lawns and dirt lots. Our preference was for the the short lawn and dirt lots. This toy is fast. Did I already say that? It maneuvered easily, and had i been a better driver (a sentiment my husband echoes), we don’t think the dog would ever have been able to catch it.
Our Dogs Reactions
We tried it out on our dogs first. Cheiss took to it immediately, but he’s an old pro at chasing things down. We had to coax Brock and Bree into playtime, but only because we negated learning how to drive it first and we accidentally ran it into Brock (this is why we support you learning how to operate it before you try it with your pets). But, he quickly overcame his fear after we drove it away from him for awhile. As it circled the yard seemingly of it’s own accord, he decided it was worthy of chasing with his sister.
The big test was with our friend’s giant German Shepherd, Achilles. Achilles got so into it that we had to use his German-based language training to keep him quiet until we could give the toy a head start. It wasn’t long before he grabbed it up anyway and proudly trotted back over to us with it hanging from his mouth.
This showed us how durable it really is. We easily popped the dents back into place and beyond the occasional puncture wounds, it looks brand new.
We feel that it maneuvered very quickly and it was a wonderful way to encourage physical activity with hard-to-motivate dogs!
Product Specifications
The Go-Go Dog Pals
- Patent pending RC long range variable remote
- Dual motor: 280mm high torque motor
- 4WD
- Double suspension system
- Built-in electronic speed control system
- Long distance 2.4GHz digital radio control system
- 7.2V 4000mAh, rechargeable Ni-Cd battery<
- Top speed of 35km/h
- Size: 320mm274mm190mm
- Weight: 1.76kg
- Tote to carry your go-go dog pal