When he first created it more than 15 years ago, Bruce Lund’s idea was a game to teach kids how to take care of their dog.
But the result that hit toy store shelves in May was much funnier.
Doggie Doo, invented by River Forest’s Lund, is a game played with plastic shovels, fake dog food made of clay, and a dog on a leash that “poops” when it’s fed.
Lund said the game fits right into a long history of gross but successful toys that mostly appeal to younger kids.
“Adults take things way too seriously,” said Lund, 60. “Kids love this kind of gross humor.”
The object of the game is to get three pieces of “dog mess” on the shovel. Players take turns feeding the dog and pumping the leash until the mess appears, and the player who pumps it scoops it up. The dog even passes gas, with the sound getting louder and louder the further the food goes down the digestive track.
Everyone laughed at the idea when Lund and others working for his company first presented it at least 16 years ago, he said, but they couldn’t find a company that took it seriously. Like some of his other creations, Lund thought Doggie Doo might never be sold and decided to stash it away—until a couple of years ago.
Goliath Games was interested, and the Dutch company began to develop and produce the game.
David Norman, president of Goliath, said his company has a history of picking games the so-called experts pass up. The company was riding on the success of one such game, Pop the Pig—where players feed hamburgers to a growing pig until his belt pops—when they found Doggie Doo. The game did “incredibly well” during testing, Norman said.
After hitting the shelves in Europe, Doggie Doo was nominated for top toy of the year in the Netherlands in 2010 and in France this year. In the U.S., Doggie Doo can be found at stores like Target, Walmart, Kmart and Toys R Us. It sells for $29.99.
At Geppetto’s Toy Box in Oak Park, where the game has been stocked for a couple months, owner Eric Masoncup said even people who don’t appreciate bathroom humor can’t help but giggle.
Masoncup thought the game was hilarious when he saw it at a tradeshow, and “the kids absolutely love it.” It’s been a popular gag gift for the office or for people’s adult relatives in addition to kids, he said.
Lund, whose curiosity about invention began when he was a child himself, attributes its success to kids’ sense of humor, which he said they are not given enough credit for.
“There’s an element in a kid’s psyche that, if mom might not like it, that makes it all the more desirable,” he said, adding his own kids, now 18 and 16, loved the game when they were younger.
Now, Lund said, “they’re a little embarrassed that their dad would come up with a game like this.”
