Need Tennis ball recommendations

[Wendy and Sophie]

Our five month old goldendoodle loves tennis balls!  We've been buying the Kong Squeakair variety, but she is now consistently tearing the felt off of them.  It's by far her favorite toy, but they are lasting less and less time and we don't want her eating the felt, of course.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a tough tennis ball? I'd love ideas on something durable.

Thanks so much!

Wendy

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I'll always remember Karen and Jack, bringing up a point about tennis balls and many dog toys in general.  There are no regulations with dog toys.    Human tennis balls contain NO LEAD but tennis balls made for dogs do.  Go figure, as most humans ( none that I know ) walk around with tennis balls in their mouths, but dogs do it constantly.

Watch what toys you give your dogs. Especially the inexpensive and dollar store brands as they can contain many harmful chemicals, not just lead

[Deborah Brown]

Regular tennis balls hold up well around here.  If the cover starts to get loose, however, Penelope will work on it until she gets it totally removed.  I have bags of them in my basement because I get them from people at the end of tennis season.  Used balls don't have enough "bounce" for tennis but are great for dogs.  Check freecycle if you have it in your area or call a local tennis club.

[Rica + Margot]

We were avoiding tennis balls too because of the felt. Margot got some for Christmas and so we let her play with them - they were an instant hit. Unfortunately, they weren't so sturdy and only lasted for a little bit. We think that our mini likes the size of the tennis balls better for fetch. Our other balls were slightly larger and rubber. Anyways, I found that she likes the Planet Dog tennis ball. It's the same size, but rubber. She doesn't go as crazy for it, but she'll still play fetch.

http://www.planetdog.com/orbee-tuff-tennis-ball

Finding appropriate and fun toys can definitely be a lot of work and $. And just like most things, each toy has a drawback. Choosing which risks to take is one of the harder things I've had to do while raising this pup!