What is it with Tennis Balls.

[Val MacQueen and Jasper]

Jasper practically has a tennis ball either in his mouth or being thrown for him to catch or chase from morning to night. The first thing he picks up in the morning is the ball. He drops it in front of the cleaner when DH is vacuuming or the mower. If your gardening it's dropped there, if you ignore him he makes little "raff Raff" noise and his mouth quivers. He has about 6 of them, we hid some of them the other day but made the mistake of leaving the bag they were in on the floor while we found something else and they were gone. He will sometimes put the one he's finished with back in his toy box and get something else but tidying up is no, he has been known to tip the box over if he can't find what he wants. He so funny though when he drops the ball in your lap and backs back almost in a hunting stance. Are there others with a one toy 'obsession'.

[Val MacQueen and Jasper]

Haven't heard of these Chuck-it balls in Oz. Can you put up a pic of them and I'll see if we call them something different when I'm at my Pet Barn next.

[Val MacQueen and Jasper]

Street Hockey is not a game played here so it would be hard to find these balls so I'll work on the Chuck-it ball and see how we go. Our Pet Barn dose sell a smaller version of the tennis ball and it's harder and not so furry, he has a couple of these, in red and green.

[Dori & Rua]

Rua is not into tennis balls at all.  Her "fav" is "pinky".  Her little Skinneez pink flamingo.  I can throw the ball and she just looks at me like "what? you think I'm to run after that, no way, you do it"!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Murphy loves his tennis balls, and retrieving is probably his favorite thing to do (besides terrorizing his brother).  Karen taught me early on to always make our "tennis games" on my terms, so that he didn't torment me (and everyone else in the house).  I've tried to do that, but there are times when he just won't give up until I throw the ball to him a few times.  He does do that "hunting stance" when he's getting ready to catch....it's pretty cute.  I'll have to try to get a picture.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Haley is totally obsessed with retrieving the ball.  We had to quit using tennis balls early on as he also liked to shred the cover and was very quick at doing it.  After going though several indestructible balls I found the Chuckit Ultral Ball (3") which Haley got for Christmas along with a Kong Rocket (for me to use for throwing the ball).  He is only allowed this ball when outside as he has gotten to big too chase balls in the house.  This time of year I spend quite a bit of time outside gardening.  It goes like this: pull a weed - throw the ball - pull a weed..............start to plant a plant- throw the ball.  This all starts with a retrieving session of 5,10, 15 minutes until Haley takes a break but as soon as I start to do something he is right there with the ball.  He sort of tosses it at me and jumps back and into the ready stance.  If I ignore him he will pick up the ball and slam it down in front of me or worse right into a flower.  I am resigned to "pull a weed - throw the ball - pull a weed - throw the ball".  Haley's job in this world is retrieving the ball; mine is thowing the ball!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I read recently about a young dog who was operated on because of a half eaten tennis ball (apparently it's very common) and I want to buy some balls but am slightly worried about which may be the safest to start with.  I guess if you have an older dog who is used to the real thing then no problem but just concerned starting out.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

The ChuckIt ball is indestructable and comes in different sizes.  There are very few things that Haley cannot destroy and this ball is one of them.  He has had it since Christmas 2010 and the only thing that has happened to it is the squeeker quit working after a few days. (I bought it on Amazon.)

[Lindsey]

Oh Wow, our Molly LOVESSS tennis balls too. She will freak if there are two balls out at once, she keeps one in her mouth and whines while trying to paw at the other one, then she'll drop the one in her mouth and pick up the one at her feet and start whining again. She's a mess.
I didn't realize tennis balls were bad for them :-( That breaks my heart for Molly. We have the Chuckit ball and a Kong ball, the Kong ball is hollow and (used to) sqeak. I think maybe I'll look into getting her a safer alternative to her beloved tennis ball.
...she just recently decided she likes frisbees too, for playing fetch, but she just loves to carry her ball around in her mouth.

[Fred, Sheila and Baxter]

Baxter is the exactly same way.  He never tires of fetching the ball.  He does not like rubber balls or plastic balls only tennis balls.  He does like the ones they sell at the pet store that are supposed to be like a tennis ball but not abrasive.  They squeak and he loves that.  He likes to catch it and play soccer with the ball.  It is amazing the coordination he has to catch it.  They are fun to watch but get sooo tired of throwing it.

[Pat and Traveler]

Trav loves to catch balls too.  The cheap tennis balls from Petco--$0.99--get destroyed very quickly.  Yesterday I tried having two balls, throw one and when he comes back with it, throw the other one.  He isn't very good about dropping the ball once he gets it.  But when he got both balls, he was trying to keep them, one in his mouth and one between his feet, and actually growled at me when I tried to get one!  That ended the game. 

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

I cannot relate to this-mine don't know what fetch is. Chloe will chew and eat them, Myla has a favorite red ball tha she would sleep with if you let her, she just carries it around and if she wants you to throw it she will be across the room and drop it right in front of her! If you go to get it a lot of times she'll grab it and run away-more like chase. Outside though we have 2 because I get too tired running back and forth.

So cute that they have this tennis ball fetish! Also that he tips the box over!

[Lindsey]

I just got the Chuckit Ultral (hard rubber) I got three actually, they had a set of two and the third was free. I'm going to replace her tennis balls when I get home.
I did see a tennis ball made by "tuff balls" that is suppose to be okay for dogs, does anyone know if they are any better than normal tennis balls?? My girl doesn't have a problem tearing the ball up, she just chews on them all day long.