#nintendogs merch

[catswampy]

nintendogs plush I got from ebay!!

I'm naming him Rex (after one of the NPC dogs in Nintendogs+Cats that you see on walks😭😭)

[gummibug]

Hey everybody! It looks like I've got a lost toy line mystery on my hands, and I'd love any information anyone has.

I found this in my local thrift store:

And I wanted to know what specific Nintendogs merch it is, so I could figure out what it's supposed to do (it's partially robotic and barks, turns its head side to side, and wiggles its ears when turned on). So, I set to googling it. I got a lot of similar Nintendogs dalmatian plushies, but none were exactly it - wrong collar, different accesories, different functions, wrong fur texture. I only found two pictures that matched: one an ebay listing, and one on the site for a company called Blue Square Innovations:

So, it's called a Wave and Play Pup, and you're supposed to press the paw button and wave in front of its nose to activate the barking and motion. However, I can't seem to find mention of a line of Wave and Play Pups anywhere, and even the nintendogs merch wiki doesn't so much as mention them.

I asked on r/helpmefind, and it seems besides these two pics there is only an old youtube video that briefly shows them in a Toys R Us. I've also asked on the Nintendogs merch wiki itself, but no comments there yet.

Does anybody have any further info, or even one of the other toys from this series?