Product Review: Bionic Urban Stick

The Bionic Urban Stick is an extremely durable chew toy with stuffable end cavities. It is dishwasher safe, recyclable, and covered by a 30-day guarantee. If your dog manages to destroy this toy, Bionic will trade you for a different one and use your destroyed toy for product research. The Urban Stick comes in four sizes for dogs up to 90 pounds.

Photo by Erin Koski

Brisbane isn't a serious chewer, he doesn't like gnawing on anything that isn't edible. However, I like having nigh-indestructible toys around to give my foster dogs while I figure out what type of chewer I have on my hands. I was totally unaware of the Bionic company until the Urban Stick arrived in our monthly BarkBox. It was one of the first toys I let Ulysses have unsupervised.

Briz thinks the best thing about the Urban Stick is the hollow ends. This makes the toy slightly less durable for super power-chewers. (If your dog succeeds in destroying a Bionic Toy, the company would like to enlist him as a product tester.) Those stuffable ends make this a perfectly stuffable toy, and it is part of the collection of toys that live in my freezer. I stuff the Urban Stick with peanut butter or cheese and let Briz spend all day emptying it.

Pros: This toy is dishwasher safe, recyclable, and it floats. It is durable enough to rank up there with Nylabones and black Kongs.

Cons: Not for insane monster chewers, like pretty much everything out there. The bottoms of the treat wells are pretty narrow and deep, so they're difficult to clean when Briz fails to get that last dab of peanut butter. The guarantee only lasts 30 days and requires a proof of purchase to redeem, so I will be out of luck if a new foster dog destroys this thing.

Bottom Line: I like the Urban Stick and use it regularly. It's one of the few toys I'm willing to give new fosters while I'm figuring out how much they like to chew.