The Distressed Heart Spank-Her Paddle is a leather paddle made by Ruff Doggie Styles. I love Ruff Doggie Styles products, so if they come out with something new, I almost always end up purchasing it. The paddle is about a foot long and at the widest part of the heart, it's about six inches long, so it covers a good amount of area. The paddle itself is covered in a texture which includes grooves all over the body of the paddle. The leather is a strong, firm leather, and the paddle does seem to be made up of two separate layers of the leather which are held together with quality stitching and are polished on the outer edges for a beautiful look for the paddle. The paddle includes a hanging strap to make storage easy.

This paddle doesn't really come with any sort of specific packaging. Ruff Doggie Styles, like usual, includes a little paper tag that's easy to cut off. The tag, aside from announcing the product name, doesn't include any instructions or anything else. This paddle, because it's so firm, can easily be stored out anywhere you'd like without any adverse effects. The hanging strap is the best, and most recommended, form for storage though.

The neat thing about this paddle is the fact that it doesn't feel like leather. At all. I was reading Rayne's Review when I was choosing to order it, and I didn't believe her when she said it felt wooden instead of leather. She, however, was completely accurate. It amazes me how much like a wooden paddle this feels. There is absolutely no flexibility in the body of the paddle at all. It's like it is made out of a piece of wood. The handle is not flexible at all either, so there's no flopping around or anything like that.

The handle makes this very easy to control. The handle fits comfortably in your hand, and it's nice and light. It swings easily, and you could probably go for a very long time using this paddle because of how light-weight the paddle is. It's very easy to aim, and beginners won't have any problem hitting their mark. There's no flexibility to the paddle, so the paddle will come down pretty stingy in sensation. As the handler, you must understand that even a little bit of force is going to come across as quite a bit of sting, and you must swing conservatively. (Hit your own thigh to get a good idea of what pain you're causing.)

The paddle has two different sides, but the sides pretty much provide the same sensation. One side of the paddle has a bit more of a rounded side to it while the opposite side is completely flat. You will not notice any sort of a difference in sensation between the two sides, and it's a very, very minor difference visually as well.

This paddle definitely feels like a wooden paddle as well. You should expect some serious stinging. Even when used very lightly, you get a very slight stinging sensation. There's no way to use this without the stinging sensation. For that reason, I would probably only recommend this paddle for intermediate players, advanced players, or beginners who know they are going to like the stingy sensation. Basically, if you enjoy the hand spankings that leave the "ouch!" type of feeling after the hit, this paddle will be an okay choice for you.

Because of the texture of the paddle (which is actually embedded in the paddle as opposed to elevated), the skin of your body actually will get "trapped" between the cracks and will cause a bit more pain than if this paddle was completely smooth. This only works on areas with fat. (Buttocks versus the upper back) When there's no fat, you shouldn't be hitting there, and there won't be nearly enough skin to move around enough to get pulled up into the cracks. During use, you can't actually feel the texture on the paddle though; you just feel the extra stingyness that the texture just happens to provide.

This paddle covers a decent amount of area as well. My boyfriends a skinny guy, and it covers about the entire area of his butt. On my larger butt, it would cover an entire half, so it doesn't end up feeling like one of those tiny paddles that doesn't actually cover anything. Instead, you'll definitely feel like you're getting the "bang for your buck" which is nice when you don't have to do three hits instead of one.

We haven't found that the paddle leaves too much in terms of prints on the skin. It will leave some of the prints on the skin if you manage to get in one good hit that lands perfectly, but the point of using a paddle is to hit multiple times, and after you hit multiple times, your lines tend to mix up, and it just ends up looking like a neat texture instead of the texture off of the paddle. This paddle also, because it hits with no sort of flexibility to it, makes quite a bit of noise that can easily be heard through a closed door. Depending on your walls, it might be audible through your walls as well. (Use music. If loud music can't be heard, then the paddle probably can't.)

The paddle's cracks do, unfortunately, provide an interesting cleaning dilemma. Yes, wiping down the paddle with a washcloth would clean most dirt and ickies off, but it won't get into the cracks enough for me to be comfortable recommending this for multiple partners. This, partnered with the fact that leather really can't be easily sterilized, makes this a fluid-bonded toy, so this is something I would leave at home when attending play parties. Try to keep it away from bodily fluids as well. Cleaning would require a slightly damp washcloth and leather cleaner.

I like the Distressed Heart Spank-Her paddle. It's cute. It is, however, definitely stingy, and this is not something that I would recommend to most beginners or even most people. Unless you know you that you enjoy stingy sensations, you might find that you dislike this paddle. However, if you like stingy feelings, this paddle has quality, looks cute, provides an interesting texture, and is amazingly easy to handle.

I still like this paddle, and it's a sturdy little guy! Even after sitting in the drawer with all of the rest of the paddles, it still is holding up really well and shows no signs of being in storage. It still is one of the stingier paddles that we have, and I usually use it pretty lightly for that reason - it can pack a good punch though!