If you have a dog, large or small, a chewer or not, old with bad teeth or a chew-hardy puppy, buy this toy. Don't flinch, and don't you dare whine about the price. You could buy $100 worth of tennis balls, and leave them broken, torn, and ruined at the park and in the trash. And your dog wouldn't like them half as much as this one ball that will outlast everything else in his toy basket. I hope I am being clear, and don't leave you wondering... Here's the story about Sandy and his favourite ball -
Our dog was our foster dog before he was cleared for adoption and adopted us, much to our delight. He had been hit by a car and had a shattered lower jaw. "Take care of this 6 month old lab mix puppy, but don't let him put anything in his mouth"... right! He had pins from the jaw bone out to a thick metal rod that held the pins stable to allow the bone to heal, like braces through the skin down to the bone. Sounds gory, but it did (eventually!) heal, and after 6 months of soup-like food and no toys, or chewing, or anything in his mouth, he was cleared by the vet to be the puppy he wanted to be and chew safely. You can imagine that he is making up for lost time... and boy does he love to chew! But that bone is still not as strong as it would have been if never broken, so I don't like him chewing on anything really hard, like a tennis ball, or a hard rubber ball, or any of the other balls I found out there. He wants to fetch and run, so a soft, stuffed or fuzzy ball won't do. They just won't fly or bounce right.
Then, the heavens parted and I found this ball. (Also, these comments apply to the ball made by a division of Planet Dog, called 'gus' which is almost the same ball, but doesn't glow, is in a lime green colour, same minty, bouncy, squeezy idea.)
This ball flies like a tennis ball, bounces like a rubber ball, loads into a wand to throw it a very long way, and has a hole to make it a treat dispenser. It is as though it was made specifically for my Sandy. It crushes and squeezes easily, so I don't worry about too much strain on his jaw. It tastes minty and he loves licking, carrying and chewing on it. It washes clean like a dream, inside and out, so I can get the mud and crud off it after the park. It is soft enough to play inside without marking walls or breaking anything - and yes, it has been rebounded off the tv screen more than once. I wish I had bought a barrel of these, Everyone who sees it wants one, and at the dog park, any dog nearby takes it for a spin and a chew. It has been 3 months of daily play and abuse and it is like brand new, except the adorable printed message washed off the gus ball - "I dig the earth".
I want to leave a rating for this ball that is 13 out of 5. It is a fetch ball, a launcher-wand ball, a play-by-yourself ball, a chew toy, a treat dispenser, an indoor toy, an outdoor toy, a washable toy, a flavoured toy, a quiet-time toy, a rowdy-play toy, a whistling ball, a floating water toy. Sorry if I left any out. The only thing this toy isn't is stuffed.... unless you stuff it with peanut-butter!