October 17th, 2008:

I always knew that the New Zealanders were different to everyone else.  These are sensible people, they are throwing their politicians to the dogs [^].  Unfortunately not quite literally!

The New Zealand petfood company, Mastepet has create dog toys modelled on the two leading Kiwi political leaders – the incumbent Helen Clark and challenger John Key.  The sales of the toys will be used to unofficially track voter sentiment in the lead-up to the 8th November election.  The toy that gets thrown to the dogs the most wins.

 The website has also issued some guidelines for the use of the toy:

Remember your purchase is part of a political poll – your vote counts

Wear suitable ear protection when supervising your dog’s playtime with the toy. As with real politicians, the squealing can become quite deafening.

Keep dog on a leash if around real politicians. Masterpet does not accept any liability for dog toy mistaken identity.

When choosing a toy, take your dog along with you. Man’s best friend doesn’t like political ideologies thrust upon him/her more than the next person.

If your dog destroys the politician in the first five minutes don’t hold this against your dog – the media do it every week!  (Source:kiwiblog.co.nz [^])

Many comenters on the site have complained that the “Hulun” Clark toy has been made to look less unattractive than the real-life version.  Is this so that the dogs don’t get scared-off?

Clark & Keys Politician Masterpet Dog Toys

The "Real" Helen Clark - 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand