Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Reese here, reviewing one of my favorite purchases from Amazon in the past year. If you are reading this review, you shouldn't need any explanation of why a dog might need a stroller, but just in case you're on the fence, let me explain to you about my dog. A few years ago my 25 pound dog developed herniated discs and had to have spine surgery. During a strict month of crate rest with absolutely no walking or activity, I purchased a basic dog stroller to be able to take him for walks to get fresh air but keep him immobile. He greatly enjoyed them. Fast forward a few years later, and he's now a senior dog with some serious health problems, and recently became blind. He can still walk ok, but he is hesitant to walk long distances since he's blind, and it is much easier to transport a blind dog around the city in a dog stroller rather than expecting the poor pup to navigate as easily as a seeing dog. So, late last year I decided to upgrade his stroller to one of the fancier, jogging strollers. I spent days and days reading every single review, and comparing different brands and models. I treated my choice of dog jogging stroller like a life or death decision. Finally, I ordered this one, and crossed my fingers. When it arrived, I was hugely impressed with the quality. It came in an absolutely GIGANTIC box, like the size of a small refrigerator box. But the nice thing was that the stroller was largely assembled. All I had to do when I opened it was attach the wheels, and secure some of the fabric to the frame. As soon as the stroller was assembled, I took him out in the city for a long day of socializing. Right away I noticed how incredibly smooth pushing this stroller is compared to my basic one, because this one has real, rubber tires that you inflate (the stroller comes with a basic hand pump). My basic stroller has plastic wheels that, although they have held up for about 5 years, aren't as sturdy as rubber tires and are definitely not smooth when going over bumps or uneven paths. This stroller is much heavier than my basic stroller, however, which made it more difficult at times such as when a subway station did not have an elevator, or the elevator was broken. When my dog could see and that happened, I would fold the stroller and carry it up/down the subway stairs, and my dog would follow me. But now that he's blind, he can't navigate strange subway stairs at the drop of a hat, so I keep him in the stroller and carry the entire stroller up and down the stairs. It isn't a big deal for a few steps, but it can be very challenging if it is a full flight or more - and in some cases I had to carry him 3 flights of stairs because the elevator was out of order in a main subway station - ugh! Beyond the increased weight, there were several improved features from my older, basic dog stroller, that made up for the increased weight. For example, this dog stroller does not close by zipping it closed, rather, you clip the front closed with a latch. This is much easier than fumbling with a zipper. Second, this stroller is much roomier inside for my dog. He doesn't need all of the room, but I am glad it is roomy so that when he wants to lay full out for a nap, he can do so. I originally thought that I may be able to put both of my dogs in this stroller - one is 25 pounds, and one is 15 pounds - but my smaller dog isn't good at sharing, so unfortunately that won't work. But it could most definitely carry 2 dogs easily, if their total combined weight was 40 pounds or under, let's say, and they would be perfectly comfortable. If they are dogs that like to snuggle with each other, even better, they will do great together in this stroller. Along with the positives, there was a major negative when I first used the stroller. After using it for just 1 day, the next time I used it, I got out into the busy city, many subway stops from home, and it started not working on me. It wouldn't push the right way, and the front wheel kept turning the opposite way that I wanted to go. It was literally malfunctioning before my eyes. It was extremely maddening and frustrating, because there was nothing I could do, yet I had this pretty heavy stroller, and a blind dog, and I had to navigate stairs and broken elevators, etc. When I got home, I immediately contacted Amazon and explained the problem. They offered to exchange the stroller for a new one, if I sent the defective one back. As much as I would have loved to do that, the stroller is extremely big, and I had thrown the box it came in away. There was no way I could locate a box large enough to pack it and ship it back to Amazon, and if I brought it to UPS or somewhere, the cost would be more than I had paid for the stroller. Unfortunately, I was chatting with Amazon customer service who must have been located in a foreign country, because she kept repeating the same unhelpful information over and over again. It was like she didn't understand what I was saying. Finally, she said this one time they would make an exception and told me to keep the defective stroller and they would send me a new one. I very much appreciated that, as it was impossible and illogical to return the defective stroller to Amazon, I just wish it hadn't taken 40+ minutes for the customer service rep to understand what I was saying. In any case, the replacement stroller has been working great. It does not have the same problem with the front tire and wheel mechanism malfunctioning, so I am very happy. One final note about this stroller - the cup holder is completely useless. It is so shallow that you cannot put any drink in the drink holder, because it will immediately fall over. I made the mistake of putting a latte in there, knowing full well that it was too shallow, but thinking it would be ok for a few minutes because I was actually parked with the stroller trying to do something, yet somehow the latte still knocked over and ended up all over me. So keep that in mind and don't use the cup holder. I have actually purchased a couple of stroller ad-ons like organizers and cup holders, to make it more functional. Concerning the attached photographs, some show my 25lb dog in the stroller, and others show my smaller 15lb dog in the stroller.