Ball danger

While we are on the subject of giving dogs potentially dangerous things-----is it just me that cringes at dogs playing with balls that appear too small?

I am phobic about it and IMO tennis ball size is too small for most collie size and up dogs. I use the large foam balls or the slightly larger than tennis ball, treat balls, (rubber with a hole in them) and it is only Etta and Pippin who get tpo play with the smaller tennis ball size balls which fit in the chuckits.

Having been involved in a GSD getting a tennis ball size rubber ball stuck in her throat no way would I risk it.

rune

No it is not just you. I know of two dogs that died needlessly in the past couple of years who were TOLD to use bigger balls and ignored that advice and their dogs paid the price.

I also will NOT allow tennis balls to be used with my dogs because they are notorious for being swallowed and the bits sitting in the gut till they kill a dog; this happened to a famous WT competitior a few years ago.

I always make sure the balls I use are the biggest that they can hold in their jaws and they ALWAYS have a rope on so that if necessary it can be used to pull the ball out.

I also remove the stupid bells that some manufacturers put in their balls (what a stupid idea).

The best ball I have found is the memory foam ball with a very good rope; it can withstand my GSD pulling on it.

Too small for anything bigger than a Collie? Are you serious? My current Wire Vizsla (and a previous Lab) fetches tennis balls. He's never even come close to swallowing the ball when playing with it, it just wouldn't happen!

Larger breeds fair enough, but I think to say anything bigger than a Collie is a tad extreme tbh.

Life's too short to be paranoid imo!

Must admit ours favour tennis balls especially the squeaky ones. Ours go through a multitude of them as Harvey chomps up & down on them so by time play is over they are broken up & will never bounce again

Ours are never left with balls of any size, once play is over the ball goes away.

Katie has a football but would much prefer her tennis ball anyday - they dont like the bigger versions, we have several & they are never played with

Supervised play

Unfortunately the two dogs that died were also supervised, but their owners insisted on throwing balls that were too small for them.............

Taking reasonable precautions does not = paranoia

I really hope not for his sake.

rune

The GSD was supervised as well.

rune

Well when I was a kid our dog got a (quite large) bouncy ball stuck in his throat and had to have a very expensive operation to get it removed - so the risk is very real.

I think giving a Wire Vizsla a tennis ball is a reasonable precaution so thankfully I can breathe easy!

Let us hope your dog can!