Lucie received "My Pal Violet" as a gift. I thought it was cute, but when I opened it up, I saw it had to be connected by the USB port to the computer. Thank goodness you only need to hook it up to the computer to program or reprogram as needed. It should not stay hooked up to the computer during play.
When you connect the dog to the computer, you have to first download the software from the leapfrog webpage. I thought that was quick and easy. Then, you can choose your child's name, favorite animal, favorite color, and favorite food for customization. The name, animal, color, and food are chosen from preprogrammed and prerecorded words on a list. There are many uncommon names I had never heard before in the preprogrammed name list, however, I was able to find a name that was not listed- the name of one of my littlest cousins- Saskia. The closest name they had was Sakinah, a name I had never heard before, so probably equally uncommon. The animal list is quite extensive as well, and includes animals such as aardvark, buffalo, and butterfly. You can also add up to 5 sing along songs, 5 instrumental bedtime songs, and 5 instrumental day time songs.
Once you are done programming the dog, you can unplug it from the computer for your child to play with.
When you press the paw with the green music notes, it will play either a sing along song or one of the instrumental daytime songs. It even customizes two songs- one which spells your child's name, and one which talks about your child's favorite things.
On the opposite paw is pink a rolling ball. When you press that paw, the dog says a phrase, for example, "Meow... Can you guess what I am? I'm pretending to be a cat! [Insert your child's name] meow with me! MEOW!"
When you press the belly of the dog, it says other phrases like, "I'm feeling silly. [Child's name] can you make a silly sound? Ooogaly Boogaly!"
The best paw, and my favorite, is the one with the blue moon and stars. When you press it, it says "[2, 5 or 10 -depending how many times you press it] minutes of bedtime music. Snuggle up [child's name]" then it plays up to 10 minutes of instrumental music to lull your child to sleep.
This toy gets an A+ rating from this mom. You can purchase My Pal Scout or My Pal Violet from Amazon.com through the links below:
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