Excellent

The dolls wear tiny choking-hazard-size shoes, so they're not for babies and toddlers. But My First Barbie clothes are easier to put on than regular Barbie clothes, and that makes this line a nice starting point for 3- and 4-year-olds and gratifying for any child who struggles a bit with fine motor skills.

Barbie never goes out of trend.

The clothes were ok. Good enough for the 3yr old. The shoes were awful. And they gave a bunch of plates and kitchen pieces. About 10 crowns. There wasn't a dress that was fancy enough to pair with a crown, much less 10. Buyer be ware.

Adorable and fun

My daughter is in love with her barbies and also loves animals. This set conquers both of her favorites and gives her a sense of barbie caring for her puppies. Barbie brand is always fun and unique to play with and gives her hours of playing. The puppies come out easily and are also easily put back in. The only thing I wish the dog was more posable.

Informative, cute toy, but puppies need improvement

I really like this Barbie and overall it's a great toy that little girls (or boys) enjoy, but I do have a few quibbles. The 'cold water' feature is confusing, badly explained and works poorly enough that it merits a star removal, but to be clear, even without this feature this toy is a big hit and was enjoyed very much!

There's a lot of different imagination games you can play with this Barbie. She can be a vet, an animal shelter worker and basically anything that might deal with birthing puppies! Be prepared to have 'the talk' though, if you haven't already, as kids get more curious about birth and life when playing with this set.

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Features and Fun
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The set comes with a Barbie, three puppies, a momma dog, a shampoo bottle, a paw-shaped bath, washcloth and a dog couch.

Puppy Delivery - This is an amazingly fun and cool feature that is very simple and easy to use. Basically, as my partner said, the dog is like a puppy pez dispenser. Push on the front legs and the tummy section opens, put all three puppies inside. Put the dog on the bed or any other surface and press down and the puppies will slide out of the open section. You usually have to press a second time to get the third puppy out. This was very popular during our play sessions and as well as being fun, you get a dog toy to go with many of your different playsets.

Colour change puppies - Here's where the trouble comes in. This feature is lacking. First of all, even in the instructions it implies you simply have to rub the cold, wet washcloth over the puppies to 'open their eyes' and show the hearts that indicate if they are boys or girls (blue or pink). If you've used it, you know this is not accurate at all.

The water only needs to be a little warm to 'reset' the puppies (for safety presumably), but as a result the water to activate the puppies must be ice cold. Ours couldn't figure it out and brought it to me and after trying a number of things (none of which worked) the only way I could get the puppies to activate was using water just out of a very cold fridge. Furthermore, even wiping this cold water on the pups or saturating the 'cloth' is not enough. I had to literally submerge them in the paw-shaped bath face down. Basically, I had to make them appear to be drowning in order to get the eyes to 'open'. The hearts that appear on the dogs back are also very small and hard to notice.

We used this feature once and not again as it was just too poorly implemented to work well. Be aware if your child wants to try this, you will need to use fridge water.

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Design
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Very, very cute set and it comes with a decent amount of accessories. The shampoo bottle can be hooked onto Barbie's hand to make her 'hold' it and both momma and pups can fit in the dog bed. The hairband is a simple elastic, which can also be used to tie her hair in a ponytail if you like.

Note that this Barbie is not as 'flexible' as some other barbies. Her left arm is permanently stuck in a 'crook' stance and neither arm is bendable at the elbows. The legs do bend at the knees, but Barbie cannot stand up on her own. She can kneel, but is a little wobbly, unless she leans her arm around something (like the dog).

The design of this set is overall good, because of the amount of accessories, level of cuteness and amount of imagination you can use with this doll. Because she is dressed casually, she can also be used in normal Barbie scenarios, apart from the dog and puppies.

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Set-up
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Set-up is pretty easy and fast compared to some sets I've used. Maybe ten minutes to unbox and unpack everything. Note for gifters, the box must be torn and items cut-free, so since set-up is simple and there are no batteries to worry about, I'd advise just giving it in box.

It does have that unfortunate thing that toys do where it's strapped down with a lot of little plastic things (like you get in new packs of socks) that must be cut-free. Unfortunately, they put these around barbies head, making them difficult to cut free without cutting her hair. For tricky ones like this, I recommend a small pair of nail scissors or clippers.

Other than that, the ties and elastic are not overly tight and it's easy to remove most of Barbie and her accessories.

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Summary
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- Ages 3+ (Seems a little young to me, especially with small parts)
- No Batteries required.
- No assemble and easy to remove from box.
- Comes with a Barbie, three puppies, a momma dog, a shampoo bottle, a paw-shaped bath, washcloth and a dog couch.
- Cute and good learning experience.
- Dog toy is very popular and kids love it!