Product Review: Sprong Cone and Dome

The Sprong Cone and Dome is a foam-filled squeaky ball with a fuzzy velvet texture. The manufacturer's website doesn't say that Sprong toys float, but the packaging for ours specifically mentioned it. Our Sprong is a large Cone and Dome, there are a dozen different shapes to choose from, and several of those come in different sizes. Sprongs come in a ton of different colors.

Photo by Erin Koski

These things are kind of cool and unique, I haven't found anything with this texture before, and I love the fun shapes. I don't think there are any other toys out there like this. I particularly like the fuzzy velvet texture, I've always found foam-filled smooth latex toys to feel kind of weird. The Sprong has a great squeak, not terribly long or annoying or loud.

Briz isn't totally in love with the Sprong, but he'll play with it if I initiate. We actually have it because Josie picked it out at work. She was a shameless shoplifter, and it was usually easier to just buy the bully stick or rawhide she grabbed rather than pry it out of her mouth. This was the only non-edible toy she ever showed an interest in, so I immediately purchased it. She ignored the Sprong from then on, apparently toys are only fun when they aren't ours.

Sprong toys are made by R2P, Ready2Play. The company actually owns quite a few pet brands, but I've never encountered any of the others before. It's possible I just haven't noticed, I'll be watching for them now because I'm kind of strange like that. There is also a cat line of Sprong toys specifically intended for nighttime play when cats tend to find the most obnoxious object in the house to bat around. For my cats, that thing is a small and extremely resonant piece of metal that fell off a windchime.

Pros: Fun-to-squish texture, firm yet supple. Fuzzy surface reminiscent of those furry My Little Ponies that were such dirt-magnets. Tolerable volume and pitch when squeaked. Lots of fun colors and shapes and sizes. Visually appealing to humans. Pretty darned durable, ours spent several months laying out in the yard in the sun, got peed on, and still scrubbed up quite nicely.

Cons: Probably not super durable for destructo-dogs. Might be more fun for humans than dogs, probably shouldn't leave within reach of toddlers.

Bottom Line: If my dogs loved these we would be swimming in them. I've been very impressed with the one we have. The dogs don't find it nearly as attractive as ratty old tennis balls for some reason. Anyway, I think it looks really cool so it can lay around on the floor with the Mighty Dinosaurs as part of my decor.