If you’ve ever wanted to cut a hotdog in one motion the Dog Dicer might be the product for you. It’s similar to an egg slicer but it is specifically made for hot dogs. But does it really work as shown?
Overview
Children that are toddler aged and moving from baby foods and into solid foods are at risk for more potential to choke. This is because they’re giving bite sized food but still learning what it means to chew the food up until it’s able to be properly swallowed.
The Claim
The makers of the Dog Dicer say that in just one chop you’ll render a dog into several different pieces, none of which will be big enough to choke on, and will be ready to serve to your little one. They also say that you can slice up soft foods like bananas, grapes, or strawberries. Anything harder than than these types of foods is going to get stuck between the blades or is going to be too hard for the blades to cut through.
The Hype
The hype here comes in the form of scare tactics being used to try to sell the product. While it’s true that hot dogs can represent a choking hazard, they make it appear as if there are headlines every day featuring a choking child. They even go so far as to show a child acting as if she’s choking on a hot dog in order to drive the point home. This sort of advertising shouldn’t be allowed, especially when it shows children pretending as if their lives are in danger.
The Cost
The Dog Dicer is $18 with standard shipping included. They have it set up so that if you want additional units you pay $5 for their shipping but you aren’t required to buy two, you have the option to just buy one.
The Commitment
This should reduce the amount of time you spend getting a hotdog ready to serve, but how much time it saves you is up for debate. It could end up costing you more time just having to get it out to use it. If you’ve already got a knife at the ready, you could have the hot dog cut by the time you get this gadget out and ready to go. They show a woman cutting her finger while cutting hot dogs, but they’re one of the easiest things to slice, so this is a bit of an exaggeration.
Evaluation
The Dog Dicer is pretty unremarkable in what it actually does and the problem it attempts to solve. It might save you few seconds from cutting a hot dog a few more times, but really, it’s not enough of a task to merit buying a product made almost exclusively for this purpose. They show that it can cut other things, like grapes, strawberries, and bananas, but these foods are also easy to cut with a basic knife, and the time and effort savings would be minimal.
Final Dog Dicer Review
Overall, the Dog Dicer definitely works to cut hot dogs into have circles, but so does a knife, and in roughly the same amount of time. Just cut the hot dog lengthwise, and then cut it into pieces like you normally would. The same thing goes with grapes and bananas, you’re simply trying to avoid giving your child pieces of food that are in the shape of a circle and the size of their airway. If you’re a kitchen gadget nut that likes to have lots of different items for each different food you prepare, this might be a good buy for you.
Our Recommendation
This is one less kitchen gadget you’ll need to make room for, and it doesn’t really serve much of a purpose in most homes that have a cutlery set. If you take an extra second or so to make a cut down the length of the hot dog you’ll avoid giving your child pieces that might lead them to choke. You can also teach your child to chew their food well to further prevent a choking hazard.
I have always thought that gadgets like these are a total waste of time, resources, and money. I mean, how lazy can you be? Unless you need your hot dog to be sliced absolutely perfectly, you can really get the same exact job done with a knife. I consume veggie dogs only because I am a vegan and I would still never consider getting this product. I do not even quite understand why anyone would need to cut up a hot dog in the first place. If it were for sausage and veggie sausage, I think it’d make more sense.
$18 to do the same job as any knife in your drawer? This is the kind of thing that gets purchased for that friend or relative you know who already has everything and doesn’t really have any noticeable hobbies, because, for crying out loud, there is surely no reason to buy one for any other reason, surely? Okay, maybe you have very particular standards by which you measure the slicing of hot dogs. I don’t know. I’m sure there is such a person. I imagine the dog dicer os for them, and no other. But what do I know. Maybe the world has been crying out for such a device.
I saw a similar product in Walmart for $10. It was cuter too because it was in the shape of a dachshund. However, I see one key difference in this product and that is that it not only cuts a bunch of times horizontally, it also makes one long vertical cut. This step is very important because kids can still choke on the little circles made when only cutting horizontally. That makes this product unique.
I can see the convenience of the product, but we don’t eat hotdogs often enough to make it worth the $18. And if I really wanted a hotdog slicer, I’d probably buy a cheaper one, slice the hotdog lengthwise with a knife, then put it through the slicer.
You took the words right out of my mouth here! Yes, seriously, finding this product in your drawer would probably take longer than using a normal knife to do the cutting. And then what about the time required to clean this thing? Also, it’s not like hotdogs are a healthy food for toddlers, anyway. I wouldn’t want to encourage anyone to feed their kids this kind of food often enough to make buying this contraption worth it. As for kids wanting their food cut in pieces that are all exactly the same, I would say this could be an opportunity to learn that sometimes we can’t have everything exactly the way we want it.
Why would anyone pay $18 for this item? I’m all for easy and convenient, but really? It would take less time to grab a knife and chop up the hotdog in tiny pieces than it would to pull out this product, place the hotdog inside and press it down. Oh…I guess I’m saying the same thing as the reviewer. What it comes down to is that I totally agree – it’s definitely not worth the cost.
The Dog Dicer is probably great for parents with kids as the cuts are in small even portions, but I don’t know why anyone would spend twenty dollars or more for this when a good paring knife at a discount store only cost five dollars. It is a cute little gadget. If I had it, then it would be tossed into the junk drawer with among the many other gadgets that I never use. We rarely eat hot dogs and when my family eat them it is on the grill and I don’t want them cut into pieces. I want it on the bun. Cute product, but just not for my family.
I never thought that I would be buying a dog dicer, but I did. I have a banana slicer that I use for my grandson Zach. Every morning he wants to eat a banana and it has to be perfectly sliced. One day when I was fixing beans and hotdogs for lunch he asked me to cut up his hotdog for him. He was upset that the pieces weren’t even. Later that day I saw an infomercial for the Dog Dicer and bought it! The deal was actually two for one price (and of course extra shipping and handling). I gave the second dicer to his mom to keep at their house.