Woo-hoo!

I just got my Leerburg order, and part of it were two of these:

http://leerburg.com/788.htm

I got a small and a medium.

The big and small dogs all love them already.

I wanted them because I'm afraid of tennis balls and any ball of that size and smaller. Not just the tooth-enamel damage from both the glue (when it combines with saliva) and the tooth-enamel abrasion of the felt covering, but the number of dogs I have read about who die, owner right there and unable to get the slick ball out, with a tennis ball stuck in the windpipe. (If the dog is able to opening his/her mouth enough to chew a ball with molars, then it's a risk.)

But that's the size ball the dogs want to pick up and carry!

This is perfect. The string that runs through the soft ball is just what I wanted.

Plus even with the string, the ball throws, bounces, does everything you want a ball to do.

Seems like a small thing, I know, but around here, sturdy toys are a good thing to find.

P.S. Of course, I don't ever leave any toys out for unsupervised play. Toys are mine. And if I was going to let a dog chew on a ball (still in my presence), I would choose one that the dog could not get into his mouth far enough to use his molars on. I would have ordered larger ones.

I have a question about these.

If the string comes undone or is chewed in half, which can happen in a heartbeat with my two alligators can it be re-strung through the ball?

I seem to remember buying a similar of not the same ball with the strings and having a problem with not being able to re-thread them.

I will try it.

The knotted part is inside the ball where the dog's teeth aren't. But I certainly see how it could be chewed outside the ball, leaving two loose strings (one hanging out of each hole). Would that be a problem, though?

I guess the knot inside the ball could somehow come un-knotted, even if I can't do it.

Threading the string through the hole looks very simple.

I don't have a Mal, so to me this string looks extremely durable.

Didn't I see a thread on here about someone who replaces the string all the time?

I replaced the strings on all of mine. If you scroll down on the orbee page linked above, Leerburg recommends that you re-tie the string anyway. It will come apart inside the ball very quickly if you do any tugging!

 Quote: Sarah Mandler

I replaced the strings on all of mine. ...

So they are easy to re-thread? It certainly looks easy. The string is not tight in the hole.

 Quote: sarah mandler

.... re-tie the string anyway. It will come apart inside the ball very quickly if you do any tugging!

Ah! I hadn't thought about tugging.

We've been playing fetch with these, and I love throwing a ball with a "handle."

Yes. The string they come with is really heavy-duty and stiff, too, so that helps.

 Quote: Sarah Mandler

Yes. The string they come with is really heavy-duty and stiff, too, so that helps.

Well, very cool to know that, because these have become new favorites in just an hour.

And you can just run them under the faucet when they get covered in mud and slobber!!

(We kinda like them here, too. :grin