I like the Apple TV; I really do, but that slightly larger than a pack of gum remote control has got to go.

It’s not that the remote doesn’t work. It does. While no one will ever think it a smart piece of design genius the way people do TiVo’s peanut shaped remote, Apple TV‘s remote is easy to handle and makes using Apple TV’s menu and basic fast-forward, reverse, pause and play functionality a snap.

Well, if you, like yours truly, has small hands anyway. I could see how someone with a size 12 ring finger might find it hard to handle.

No, the real problem with the Apple TV remote is that it’s too darn small. In the few weeks I’ve owned it, I’ve managed to lose it in the couch’s pillows twice and in my big box of remotes once.

Worst of all, though, is that it’s the perfect size for Twiggy, my Shih Tzu puppy, to use as a chew toy! I was able to save it just before he chomped it into bits. It still works, albeit it now has some interesting teeth-shaped dents in the front, but in another minute I would have been ordering another remote.

Now, I wonder just how long it will be before my cat, Tobias. T. Tom cat, decides that it will also make a dandy toy for swatting.

No, the Apple TV remote is just too small for me to see it lasting for long in my household.

The best solution would be if I could simply run the Apple TV from my Logitech Harmony 676 remote. Unfortunately, Logitech doesn’t include it their Harmony database yet. I have no doubt that they will, but for now, you have to work it out on your own.

Thanks to a thread started by MobyIck on the MacRumors forum I was able to get my Harmony remote working with Apple TV. Be certain to read the entire thread before giving it a shot yourself. You’ll pick up some useful hints along the way. If you’re like me, you may still have to do some tinkering, but at the end of the day, your Harmony will work and you’ll no longer care if the cat is hiding the original remote behind the couch from the dog.