D.Y. TOY - The Original Weasel Ball, Interactive Motion Toy

Well, first I bought one years ago for my cat. It paid no attention, oh well. Then it broke somehow, and weazel off it - and then it was just a ball. I now have a 3-4 lb chihuahua. I pulled it out, hoping I could get it to work. No luck, it was very old and broken. But, he loves to run that old ball around and around, chasing it, rolling on it, trying to stand on it, growling as he goes. So I purchased another one - weazel & working action, brand new. The dog is beside himself! He loves this toy SO much (both, the old non-working, and the new - but especially the new working one). We have a raised porch where I keep him most of the time and all his toys, so I have a tub where I keep this, and only bring it out when I'm out there and/or playing with him, since it would eventually roll off the porch, and he's too tiny to jump down to get it. Great thing is, I can turn it on then sit on the porch and watch, get out my tablet and do my email, while this keeps him busy. Tail-wagging the whole time, he tosses it, and runs around with it. Then when he lays down to chew all on it, if he stops for a moment or looks away - it rolls off and when he turns around - he's all charged up again - LOVE THIS. I'm sure the weazel will be gone in short order, but he will still love it as he does the ball that no longer even works! And it's nice to have interactive toys so that it gives me a break from playing tug with him. To be honest, my dog will play with ANYTHING. I give him a piece of rope, and he's in heaven. I tied a string of jingle bells from Christmas onto a couple of weird little cat toys, and he's in heaven. I give him an "approved" sock, and he's happy as a clam. So, some animals may not like interactive toys, but for mine - it gives me a much needed break, and it's hilarious to watch!

Cats love this!!! Keeps the kittens on their toes!

A couple of things to be aware of if you buy this: 1. This is really, really cheaply made. The weasel is attached to the ball with two little plastic bits -- the same type that hold a price tag onto a new shirt. They break FAST. The weasel's eyes pop out VERY easily, which poses a potential choking hazard not only for a pet, but also potentially for a child. The weasel's fur sheds and gets all over (which could be a problem for people with allergies). 2. The battery chamber has to be unscrewed in order to open and put the battery in. While this is good in that it keeps the battery in better, it does mean that you will need a screwdriver in order to be able to use the toy. There are two screws to unscrew; they also happen to be different sizes. I used a tiny philips head screwdriver to get the one out and then had to use a larger flathead to get the other. Bit of a pain that they weren't the same size at least. 3. The ball does not move around very well with the weasel attached. I bought this for my toy poodle and she, frankly, found it very dull after about 30 seconds. However, after I yanked the weasel off, the ball moved much better and became far more entertaining for my dog. It still doesn't move as fast or well as some others I've seen, but I think you cannot expect too much from something that sells for this cheap of a price. All things considered, it's still a fun toy for my dog, now that I've removed the ferret -- so I think it's worthy of three stars. The eyeballs on the ferret, as I mentioned, do come off way too easily, so I had to capture them and throw them out. Now my little Daphne enjoys tossing around the ferret and gets a kick out of chasing the mysterious ball that moves as if by black magic.

I have no idea why the manufacturers of this product chose to make THE most unnecessarily complicated and poorly-crafted battery and power mechanism I have ever seen, but it rendered the item useless right out of the box. In order to make the weasel work, you unscrew the two halves of the ball (easy enough), and then (this is where it gets stupid), you go find a tiny screwdriver to unscrew the supposed on/off switch from the top of the battery compartment. Once removing the tiny screw and the plastic on/off switch and putting the battery into the compartment, you quickly realize that you need about four hands for the process. The battery must be pushed into the compartment and held there, or it will pop up out of the compartment. It is supposed to be held in place by the screw which, after putting in the battery, must be replaced where it was. So you have to push down on the battery as you place the small, plastic on/off level over the tiny hole for the tiny screw, and then you must hold the tiny screw into the tiny hole, hold all of this still, and screw in the screw. Then you discover that the screw doesn't QUITE fit the hole. Twenty minutes later, I had removed the screw three or four different times, trying to get it to seat properly in the hole so it could be screwed in. Each time the screw was re-adjusted, the plastic on/off switch would fall off, and the battery would pop up. The screw took forever to reach its destination, and it came in crooked. Being that, for some ridiculous reason, the bottom of the screw must touch the top bulging part of the battery in order to make the connection and allow the item to work, if the screw won't go in straight, the screw will not connect with the exact right place on the battery in order to form the connection. Furthermore, since the screw won't go in all the way, the on/off switch would not sit securely on top of the battery compartment, so as I was holding it with all the fingers I could spare and trying to figure out how I could rig it to work, I saw that the switch was going to flail around turning itself off and on. I tried using tape to tape down the entire thing, but given that nothing was tight, the screw would slip off the battery, and the stupid thing would stop working. It's a double A battery and a very simple creature attached to a ball. This should not be rocket science. Why they needed to make the connection so incredibly complicated and requiring so many hands is beyond me. The item should have a simple interior on/off switch and a simple way to place one battery in the toy and make it work. Terrible design. If I could give it zero stars, I would. Waste of money. I will be returning it.

First I should mention that you can't just turn this toy on and walk away. It will randomly move in all directions and in no time end up under your couch etc. Also the dog thinks this is something alive and will try to kill it by pinning it on the ground and biting and pulling at it. Don't worry they don't try to kill it at first, they are bewildered by it the first several times you use it. So have an alternative (dog biscuit, treat, etc.) to distract the dog while you rescue the toy and put it aside for another day. This toy is not something I would say is a fun toy but rather it arouses their hunting instincts and once they discover that it can't be killed they loose interest in it. So once that happens move on to other toys for a week or two until they forget the immortal nature of the toy. The one thing I would like to see added is a switch to turn it on and off. The way you do that now is by unscrewing the ball into two half's and removing the battery while the motor continues to try to spin (battery compartment, motor,and all).

I bought this for my dog. He had one a few years ago that he loved. It finally died after a couple of years. This one has an external off button which is an improvement over the first one I had. You had to open up the first one to shut it off. The weasel is only attached by 2 pieces of plastic barb so it could be destroyed easily by an overzealous dog. Mine does not tug on it too hard & he only weighs 30 lbs. I also supervise his playtime with the toy. If he gets too aggressive with it then I will take it from him before he destroys it. He tends to start to destroy any toy after 5-10 minutes (he is a tenacious terrier so this is too be expected) so I supervise him with any toy that I don't want destroyed within 30 minutes. I buy stuff animals (no beads inside & remove any small parts ) at the thrift store for him to play with unsupervised. He has great fun tearing them to pieces within a very short while. No problem as those are very cheap. Overall, for the price it is a good value in my opinion. The battery is a little difficult to replace as you have to remove a very tiny screw inside to put in the battery (it does not come with a battery), so put in a good one initially so you won't have to replace it again anytime soon. You will need a micro screwdriver to turn the screw.

Low quality product. The ferret toy is held on by a plastic clothing T. It rolls around like a dead animal getting dragged in a circle. Not good quality at all.

Great toy! My cats love it!