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Ummm..... From my personal experience.... they aren't that durable, not that you want shadow chewing up anything now anyways..... but if they do get chewed (IN MY EXPERIENCE) they don't last all that long.... My Shelby is a very picky ball dog and will only bring back the Air Kong Squeaky Balls, she doesn't care if they squeak or not, just that she can squeeze them in her mouth.

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I bought the Tuff brand industrial strength balls from Petsmart - but found River's canines (she's only 22mos) aren't pointy anymore - and she only gets to have a tennis ball while we play fetch. So a few months ago I switched to the Chuckit ultra rubber ball. It bounces a bit more then a tennis, but I lean towards preserving River's teeth. I also only play fetch with a chuckit (when using that size ball) and that's the only time she can have the ball.

 

14137_5f2ab.jpg

 

I would think any pet purpose made tennis ball would be what you are after, but honestly, I wasn't pleased with the one I got.

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I mainly get the Kong tennis balls because they won't wear down his teeth and they squeek. They seem to hold up ok, but mine isn't a bad chewer.

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The nearest Petsmart is.. hrm... 18 hour drive away =/ We just have a local pet supply store here. They had these balls on $4 for 6, and the kong ones are $15 each. I can order stuff from Petsmart, but the shipping and hadling is massive (they asked $27 S&H for a nylon collar :rolleyes: ). Are these Zanies ones safer for her teeth than actual tennis balls? All the dogs do now is peel the fuzz off the balls with their front teeth, and leave a mess for me to clean up LOL. Shadow hasn't gotten the idea of picking up the ball after I throw it to her yet. :D Normally they lay with stuffed squeaky toys like the loofa dog.

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

If you want plain tennis balls, you ought to go for real tennis balls. Penn, Wilson, Dunlop, etc. The real tennis balls are the only ones that'll hold up to a dog's jaw for any length of time (usually). Anything made for a dog (even rock-hard tennis balls) is broken in half instantly in my house.

 

Personally, I really like the rubber Chuckit balls that RaisingRiver mentioned. They aren't cheap, though, so when you watch one float down the creek as 8 dogs look on, none of which saw you throw the ball, it makes you a little sad.

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If you want plain tennis balls, you ought to go for real tennis balls. Penn, Wilson, Dunlop, etc.

I agree. We just use regular tennis balls, which are quite durable. We don't let Daisy have them in her toy bin, they only come out when we are playing fetch. I wouldn't advise letting a dog chew on them. I've heard that regular tennis balls aren't good for teeth, because they may have silica in the fuzz for durability. However, since we play at the beach, every ball we use will always have lots of silicates (= sand) in its fuzz. If Daisy were chewing them, then I'd worry, but since she's just catching them on a bounce or two and then carrying them back to us, I don't think that her teeth are at risk.

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but since she's just catching them on a bounce or two and then carrying them back to us, I don't think that her teeth are at risk.

 

I disagree, I think your dog's teeth may be at risk since that's the only way River uses a tennis ball. For her first few months of life, we used regular and $1 tennis balls and her canine tips are flat. So I switched to doggie ones, but still wasn't satisfied (or paranoid) so switched to the rubber. I'm not a scientist, but based on my dog, I wouldn't risk it. I had heard it takes a few years, but River's was pretty quick as she's only 22mos, so maybe she just has softer teeth. She used the tennis balls about twice a day for about 10min fetch sessions.

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

My dogs play flyball and chase tennis balls daily and so far, none of them have worn canines. I check their teeth routinely. My 6 year old's canines are still perfectly sharp and pointy. So it may have something to do with how hard the dog actually clamps onto the ball. My dogs don't have balls out for their personal pleasure. They only get them when we are playing flyball or fetch. The initial clamp is what breaks the cheap balls but otherwise they don't chew the balls as they bring them back or have them crushed in their jaws. So, it might just depend on the dog?

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

I have heard of tennis balls being abrasive to teeth and to routinely check a dog's teeth if they play with tennis balls. I do, and so far, not much wearing going on.

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Regular tennis balls is what we use.....generally they don't lie around (but some always seem to find a hiding place) and I don't see anything wrong with the teeth. I'm afraid the doggie tennis balls are made from crappy rubber....anyway, they smell awful and I suspect they put off more post mfg fumes that would otherwise be inhaled.

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We use these rubber balls from the kid's toy section of pretty much any dollar store:

 

IMG_1925.jpg

 

They do bounce quite a bit depending on how you throw them. They're cheap, though, made of soft (ie. non abrasive) rubber and they last us for a couple of weeks of intense fetch.

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I'm with RR here ... it's a no-brainer that tennis balls wear teeth. The fibers of tennis ball collect dirt and grit and behave like sandpaper on the teeth. I switched to road hockey balls a long time ago, but the damage has been done and both my older dogs have indication of wear - RD's teeth are real bad in this regard.

 

Right now we are playing with tennis balls though because I gave all my hockey balls to Alaska and have not had a chance to replace them!

 

RDM

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I think RDM found the key here. Dirt on the tennis ball. I live in the Pac NW which means rain 9/12 months a year. So River's whole puppyhood was in the rainy season, so her ball was constantly wrapped in wet dirt from fetching in the yard (which is precisely why I got a chuckit) - which must have amplified the sandpaper effect. I guess if your balls are always a pretty bright yellow, then you are probably fairly safe. All our tennis balls were matted smooth (water) and brown (dirt).

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I slowly replaced all of Ouzo's tennis balls with rubber and now (thanks to my recent trip to Canada), with the "magic" orange road hockey balls (bought a few... let's say... 12 actualy :rolleyes: ). Yay for Canadian Tire (which of course I first thought it's a tire place, like Goodyear or so - made me wonder why do Canadians need so many tire huge stores :D ) He's in heaven, and I can rest assure they are not abrassive to his teeth. He poped the first one I bought in half (the hard type), so the next 11 I bought are the flexible ones (I remember RDM's advice and Tweed's preferences)

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Guest TheRuffMuttGang

Are the road hockey balls (we have them in the US, too, guys) the hard kind or the semi-squishy kind? I would think the hard ones would break teeth! I've played many a road hockey game and those things HURT.

 

I do keep an eye on my guys' teeth since they play with tennis balls, but alas, no wear from the balls so far. Could the irritant be sand? RDM, I know your guys encounter sand a lot and it probably sticks in tennis balls readily so maybe that is it? Or maybe the sand at least contributes. We normally use the rubber Chuckit balls now, anyway, but due to the recent influx of rain and the inability of the city to mow our field, we have lost both of our good balls to "The Swamp." Obviously, my dogs use tennis balls for flyball.

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Debbie, the ones I bought are semi-squishy! I saw some harder ones for sale at other stores (Canadian Walmart :rolleyes: ), but I passed on them for justifiable fear of popping out my poor boys teeth when catching the ball in the air!

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http://www.petedge.com/Zanies-Fortune-Ball...ter-ZW13134.pro

 

Kyrah loves these, and at about $0.41 each I really don't care if she loses them!

 

Do they fit in the Chuck-It though?

 

Ikea used to sell these super cheap really awesome balls but they were too small for the Chuck-It. And hockey balls do fit in the Chuck-It.

 

And yes, we buy the softer road hockey balls.

 

I recently bought Woo, for whom balls hold no interest, one of these:

 

https://waggle.com.au/product.php?product=9...backtosub=13%22

 

He loves it, as he loves all discs, and I love it because it doesn't break. It is remarkably durable. It floats. And it was a lot cheaper than this website is advertising it for!

 

859740602_089cc59a91_b.jpg

 

RDM

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