Cheap but tough balls for dog

cepheus

I've been trying to find some dog 'tennis' balls which fit three criteria.

1. As durable as a genuine tennis ball (rather than those awful dog ones which fall apart)
2. Coloured differently to vegetation so they can be seen in the undergrowth (red, orange, blue, not yellow or green)
3. Less than a quid per ball including postage so if I do lose them it's not too expensive.

Ideally they shouldn't be made of enamel rubbing felt. Kong make some dog friendly ones, but I expect I'm asking too much.

krlyr

They're not tennis ball style, but I found "Fendaballs" stood up brilliantly to my Rottie x. We were getting through about 3 doggy tennis balls a day so it was getting ridiculous, even buying them from pound shop type places!

They're made from the same material as buoys apparently, and she's only ever managed to chew through one. I don't throw balls for her now (arthritis and old age catching up with her, amongst other reasons), but they were very useful at the time. I may even have a few still in packaging if you were interested, I loved them so much that after losing the only one I had (she dropped it mid-walk and I didn't notice), I tracked down the nearest stockist and bought about 20!

They do break the £1 budget, they were about £1.50 to buy I think, but as I say, she only ever chew through one (fluke chomp or slightly weaker ball, perhaps?) so they were definitely much more economic.

krlyr

Here's one of the dogs having a chomp on one of them. Being red, they were much easier to spot in the field (another cost of tennis balls, the ones that weren't destroyed were dropped and lost amongst the greenery!)


One thing to consider is the size of them, though. They are tennis ball size - fit into ball flingers perfectly - but this might be a concern if you have a bigger dog. I never had any issue with them with my dogs, but I know some people choose to go slightly bigger, or balls on ropes, because of the choking hazard.

I think the manufacturer is a company called Best Friends Pet Products or similar, I emailed and they sent me a list of shops that had ordered them within the last year so I could phone around and see who had stock (my original one was from my local petshop but they couldn't get hold of them after changing wholesalers). It was actually a garden centre that had them..I think I looked crazy going to the till with nothing but a basketful of these balls!

happysaz133

Kong do coloured tennis balls

http://www.medicines4pets.co.uk/p-3089-kong-sports-balls-medium-3-pack.aspx?gclid=CM76s9eJ8scCFQpAGwodk1YGOQ

They do not squeak like the SqueakAir balls, and personally I've found them to be slightly more tough than them, and definitely more tough than the usual dog ones!

cepheus

happysaz133 wrote: »

Kong do coloured tennis balls

http://www.medicines4pets.co.uk/p-3089-kong-sports-balls-medium-3-pack.aspx?gclid=CM76s9eJ8scCFQpAGwodk1YGOQ

They do not squeak like the SqueakAir balls, and personally I've found them to be slightly more tough than them, and definitely more tough than the usual dog ones!

I might give them a try, but we seem to lose a lot. Hopefully the colour will help.

rising_from_the_ashes

I use the bright coloured sponge type ones

Like this http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/-p3396--1?i=18&orderBy=1#

B&M Bargains have packs of 4 for £1.99 or the £shops usually have 2 packs for £1

A lot are flourescent so great for finding in undergrowth!

Cuilean

Chuckit rubbery balls have survived many attempts on their lives by my power chewer hound. We bought a pack of 2 in November 2012 (I just checked my Amazon history) and she's not got through the first one yet.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chuckit-17001-Ultra-Ball-M/dp/B000F4AVPA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442087716&sr=8-1&keywords=chuckit+dog+balls

You can also get other styles and sizes of Chuckit. We've just invested in a giant sized squeaker one, which was never an option before. As soon as she heard a squeaker, the toy had to die, but this one hasn't even got a mark on it. Don't bother with any of the brand's fabric stuff though - despite their claiming it'll withstand chewing, it definitely will not.

I can also recommend the Zogoflex range. I don't know what they make their toys out of, but she's yet to kill anything except the thin, flimsy part of the frisbee. Plus, if the dog damages it, they'll replace it free of charge. This is their ball, the Jive. My hound wasn't overly fussed by it, if I'm honest, but that may be because it didn't have a squeaker!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Paw-Design-Zogoflex-Jive/dp/B0070S62PM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442087912&sr=8-1&keywords=zogoflex

Feral_Moon

Another fan of Chuckit balls here too. Bought this pack of three almost a year ago now and still have two left. One got lost in the river! Played with daily by a large GSD and Staffy playing catch with one of those throwers. They're standard tennis bowl size so fit all standard ball launchers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009O35NLK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

lauralouise90

We've got a lot of dog toys from The Range recently and they seem to still be in one piece! I've also got a bright green quite strong ball that I picked up from Tesco. The Kong balls are good too, but we've tried the 'tough' brand toys and they're not tough at all!

gettingready

again Chuck It - medium size is the same as tennis ball, Zara being a chewer did not manage to destroy those



Yes, a bit pricey but last ages (until she looses one) - I lost count of haw many extra touch tennis balls for dogs I bought - they are all same rubbish..

Chuck it only

On Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chuckit-17001-Ultra-Ball-M/dp/B000F4AVPA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444575259&sr=8-1&keywords=chuck+it

teddysmum

What worries me about those solid balls (and especially about the one held by the lovely dog in the photo , above) is that they are an ideal size to get stuck in the throat and cause choking.


This happened to a dog in a James Herriot story (he saw the accident and saved the dog) and in front of someone who ran a training class I attended. Luckily , he had read the Herriot story and was strong, as he used the same method to save the dog.


Sadly , this was not the case for large breed puppy, whose owner attended a different training class. The dog school owner, put up a large warning poster telling his story ( He choked to death on a ball, in the time it took his owner to make a very quick toilet visit) and advised customers to only use ventilated balls or ones too large to get stuck.