I heard recently that dogs shouldn't play with tennis balls. Something in them might hurt the dogs. Does anyone know if this is true and what's a good toy for a very creative dog?

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 23, 2000

Answers

Never heard that tennis balls were bad for dogs..have heard that about golf balls though. Choking because of the size and something about the center being pressure-sensitive..I dont know. Our Black Lab is so "creative" that he goes through twenty tennis balls/month if we are stupid enough to keep buying them at yard sales....I came up with a solution for him...I buy old dish towels for like $1 for 25 of them..I knot them together, leaving tantilizing ends and he tosses them all over the yard..what FUN.....God bless....

-- Lesley (martchas@gateway.net), September 23, 2000.

I don't know about tennis balls, either, we used to let our dogs play with them with no problems, but that doesn't mean that they can't cause problems. Golf balls, though, can come aprt with considerable force if the outer cover is sufficiently damaged. When we were children we took one apart to see what was in it (just like any normal inquisitive child!) and found very tightly wrapped rubber band- type material that let go with considerable force when cut. No injuries, but I don't think it would be a good chew toy for any dog large enough to damage the outer cover! Hope someone has more info. on the tennis balls.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), September 23, 2000.

I had a dog who would peel the fuzzy cover off tennis balls. It is just a plain rubber ball under there. She also peeled through a golfball and got those rubber bands unravelled and just a'snappin' her mouth real good. She wouldn't touch a golfball after that.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), September 23, 2000.

I read that the dye that was used in the bright yellow ones were causing mouth cancer in dogs! Don't remember when or where I read it! It seems that if the dyes are causing cancer in dogs it would be in humans too!!! I know of LOTS of kids who play with them and everyone knows that if a child plays with something, they are going to put it their mouth!!!Or their hands after playing with it! I hope someone else knows where this information came from! I'll keep looking to see if I can find it in my books!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), September 23, 2000.

My dog loves his tennis balls. He especially loves them after they have been run over by the mower and are in pieces. When we mow the lawn, he places his ball in front of the mower. We get off, remove the ball and he just gets another and keeps placing them in front of the mower. I don't know if he likes the smell of newly mown grass on the pieces or what. If there is a problem, he will drive us crazy because he HAS to have his ball.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), September 23, 2000.

I read of a large dog actually getting one lodged in his throat -- maybe a freak accident. I never thought about the dyes in the tennis balls, but it makes sense that that stuff would be harmful. Ugh. I wonder if you can even get plain old white tennis balls anymore? Probably not.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), September 23, 2000.

If you are going to buy a toy for your dog, get him a Kong. These are made of dense lively rubber and don't bounce in a reciprocal angle. They come in different sizes to allow you to get one appropriate for your dog. A dear friend who is such an animal lover gave my German shepherd his first as a "baby gift". He is so attached to it that when we board him, I have to leave his Kong at home because he will protect it from the kennel personnel and they can't handle him as easily. Nutsy dog. He likes to take it outside for walks. My outside dogs, Pyrs, aren't so interested because they have so many other toys, like buckets, firewood, any tool set down for more than 30 seconds....The Kongs come in red and basic black but the red is easier to see in the grass.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), September 24, 2000.

Tennis balls last less than 5 minutes with my dogs! I've been buying Kongs for years, the black ones made for "power chewers". Two of my dogs are Am Staff mix (pit bulls) and destroy a kong in a day, and carry around the pieces 'til I spring for new ones. I saw in a dog catalog recenly that there is a new Kong made specifically for my dogs....oh, yeah, the Kongs have an opening in the end to put treats and peanut butter in. Put in refrigerator 'til firm, and they have a blast licking it out. (Don't give it to them on the carpet, the oil will make a mess.)

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), September 24, 2000.

Okay, I work in a pet store. My boss told me that there is a chemical on the tennis ball that helps it bounce or something like that. He said if you give your dog tennis balls, you should shave the fuzz first. Now, of course, pet stores sell "safe" tennis balls for your dog. I know alot of people who give their dogs tennis balls and never had a problem, soooo... Is it real or a selling hype? don't know.

I agree that the Kong or the Tuft toys are great toys. You can even put a treat in it to make it more interesting. Some dogs don't like the taste of the hard rubber so you can put it in a bag of dry dog food for a few days to make it more appealing. There is also a rope toy that is available, some with rubber balls attached that a creative dog would enjoy. They sell these at Walmart now, too.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), September 24, 2000.

I used to dog-sit an extremely 'busy' yellow lab -- she loved empty plastic gallon milk jugs as toys, would chase them all over the yard and bite them til they were flat as frisbees. Then I'd toss them in the recycle bin. Of course, this only works if you dog doesn't eat the darn thing. My dad's dog ate all kinds of junk and got very sick -- had to open his stomach and removed rocks, plastic bags, hunks of wood, pieces of wire, an old leather glove, and some other less identifiable things. He wouldn't be good with a milk jug. I have also seen an item in some pet catalogues that is like a large heavy-duty plastic cube that you fill with dog kibble and the dog has to roll it around and pieces of kibble will occasionally fall out the holes so the dog has to work for food and keeps them entertained. Kongs are GREAT. You can stuff peanut butter into the hollow and keep the dog entertained for hours.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), September 25, 2000.

I read once that if you have a problem with a dog that gobbles his food too fast, that you could put a tennis ball in his dish and that would slow him down, because he would have to eat "around" it. I guess it wouldn't work if your dog thought of them as toys, but for a smaller dog, it might be okay.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 26, 2000.