Daughter lost a cuddly toy. I want to replace it with a replica. How?

June 2, 2017 5:08 AM

My daughter has had This Dog all her life (8 years). Recently, it was lost and for the last month she has been beside herself. I've looked in all the usual places, and the unusual places and it's not there.

I want to go about replacing it with the same make and model (breed?). All I remember about it was that it was bought from a petrol station either in the UK or the Netherlands. Where do I begin? How do I find the original maker? Is there a database of relevant toys? Any advice of where I can start?

posted by my-username to Shopping (14 answers total)

I've actually successfully done this with a stuffed animal my daughter got at birth, loved to pieces, and I gave her a new one when she was 25.

It started with finding the stuffed pet's tag, then going online and looking through literally hundreds of images. I eventually found one on eBay.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 5:16 AM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ebay is going to be your friend for this! Do you remember the brand or any specific markings other than the photo? I looked at ebay with search terms "stuffed dog 2009" and found these similar ones, but I don't think they are an exact match:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CALTOY-Floppy-Ear-Spot-Eye-Dog-Puppy-Made-to-Love-Last-Plush-Stuffed-Animal-2009-/262958848833?hash=item3d39919b41:g:egQAAOSwjXRXbceY

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mary-Meyer-Brown-Cream-Puppy-Dog-2009-13-Plush-Stuffed-Animal-Toy-/201940111126?hash=item2f04918f16:g:0S4AAOSw44BYN5v0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/14-Circo-Target-Floppy-Soft-Tan-White-Soft-Cuddle-Puppy-Dog-Stuffed-Plush-/201899587376?hash=item2f02273730:g:~sEAAOSwJ4hY-YTp

Good luck! I left my pound puppy at my grandma's when I was 8 and remember being embarrassed that I cried. Stuffed animals are part of the family!
posted by shortyJBot at 5:36 AM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

The close-set eyes of this toy put me in mind of Jellycat, which is based in London. Our kid was born in 2009 and we were gifted three from this brand. Here's a similar one on eBay. People say the company has great customer service -- I'd try emailing them your photo and see if they can identify it as a "retired" one of theirs.
posted by xo at 6:03 AM on June 2, 2017 [6 favorites]

Following xo's suggestion of Jellycat (which I think is definitely on the right track), the company has an index (with pictures) of their retired designs here.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 6:08 AM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

I found a stuffed animal from my childhood by searching the type of stuffie and the year I had guessed it was manufactured, and scrolling through Google image search for about 30 minutes. I was kind of amazed that it worked. If you know the name on the tag, that will also help, as will adding any identifying features ("brown white stuffed dog 2009" is bringing up some similar ones that might help on the manufacturer front; the similar ones I see are Ty and Mary Meyer).
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:08 AM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

If it is a Jellycat retiree, this one, retired in 2012 seems possible? Did it have a body patch?
posted by halcyonday at 6:44 AM on June 2, 2017

I have done what tchemgrrl describes, successfully, on a couple of occasions. If it's actually discoverable, then that sort of brute force search is, in my experience, the quickest way of finding it. That said, it might take a lot of brute force...so what about using Amazon's Mechanical Turk marketplace to get a bunch of people working on it for you? I've never actually used it, but it does seem like exactly the sort problem that you are most likely to solve by just throwing eyeballs at it (not the best imagery, but I expect you know what I mean), and the average Mechanical Turk rates I've seen quoted seem fairly affordable to me.
posted by howfar at 6:49 AM on June 2, 2017

I did this exact thing when my 3-year-old left his beloved doggie in the park. I went back through picture after picture until I found the brand tag; I searched on Ebay and found a duplicate and bought it. Then I snuck it into his bed while he was asleep. Child awoke and came running to tell me that his doggie "came back."
posted by daisystomper at 7:12 AM on June 2, 2017 [12 favorites]

I bought almost exactly this dog for my kitten to cuddle with a few years ago. The brand is Dan Dee, made in China, and I got it at a grocery store in the U.S. I don't see it on Ebay right now, but maybe you can find one similar elsewhere. (This one is related, but not exactly right.)
posted by pinochiette at 7:28 AM on June 2, 2017 [7 favorites]

I did some googling and I don't think I could find the dog but I did find a few similar ones which might be a good place to start if no exact match pops up with previous suggestions: Kellytoy (this image), TY, Commonwealth. Helpful search terms I found included "floppy", "plush", "yarn" (for the texture), and "-'black nose'".
posted by R a c h e l at 7:53 AM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

We are now on the 3rd generation of my son's beloved Bunna. After the first generation suffered from an epic wash fail, I did the brute force visual search to find a replacement - the only ones I could find were of course located in Australia, so I ordered 3. Second generation saw the most love and "went with Santa to the North Pole to get fixed" one Xmas. Third generation will likely be the last as he outgrows stuffies. Fourth generation will likely need to be vacuum sealed in something and saved for his kid at which time the entire scam will be revealed.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:47 AM on June 2, 2017 [5 favorites]

Not a direct answer to your question but possibly a relevant enduring childhood memory: I was around 7 and Daisybell was my beloved stuffed cow that mooo'ed when you turned her upside down. And then I lost her and my mom bought me a an identical replacement Daisybell who was NOT THE SAME. She was an imposter and didn't even smell the same. I'm now in my 60s and remember that. YMMV but it's something to consider.
posted by lois1950 at 10:01 PM on June 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

I lost my favourite stuffed animal last year (which is documented her on the green) and ended up doing this:

- searched online for several terms like "stuffed turtle sleeping" or "turtle plushie eyes closed" etc. until I found something similar and then went from there
- did the same on ebay and yahoo auctions (this was a Japanese animal, so it was only sold in Japan)
- did a reverse picture search with a photo of her
- once I'd found the maker, my now-husband contacted them and asked for a replacement. They only had one (!) left of the following model, which he bought and had his parents send to us in Europe (which is why I married him)

I also took photos of her and the bag she was in to the train station where I left my bag (I still kick myself for being so stupid) and offered a reward to anyone who brought her back. I tried online communities as well and made a tumblr, which people here suggested.

If you can't find out the maker of your daughter's toy, could you post a photo to online communities to see if someone recognizes it?

I hope you'll get it back or are able to have it remade.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 5:06 AM on June 3, 2017

Is it this one?
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:21 AM on June 5, 2017