My dog loves when I stick a tennis ball inside a long sock and bop him on the head with it. I always supervise him with toys, by the way. If I throw it he runs after it happily.

My Doberman's favorite toy (and quite possibly his favorite thing) is a burlap bag that he carries around everwhere, ocasionally shaking it like mad. He comforts himself by just holding it in his mouth when he's napping. My Greyhound really loves to play catch with his soft frisbee, and will do all manner of spectacular arial manouvers to grab it. The problem is once he has it he just runs away with it! Greyhounds don't really "fetch", I geuss I'm looking forward to trying the Orbee ball with my Dobe.

My manchester terrier actually plays with kibble (although, we're switching to raw soon...poor girl). I've never seen a dog do this before, she actually tosses it into the air, and then chases it around the kitchen. I should make a video.

My vizsla mix will play with absolutely anything. He likes playing "what's that?" though. I point to something and say, "what's that?" and he sniffs it like crazy and then looks up at me wagging his whole body (we had to have his tail docked for medical reasons, so now he wags his whole body)

I use a chuck it with tee balls for both of my dogs when we are going for a run....female (Gretchen) loves the two ball method and the male(Hossinpfeffer) is just a single ball dude...i run the female first, with chucking one ball which she retrieves and running back to me i throw the second ball the other way and then she drops the first ball we do this like 10 times after she is exhausted or tired she doesnt drop the ball she keeps it in her mouth and finds the second ball and starts to kick it...yes i said kick the ball with her feet....

we will play kick the ball as i chuck the ball for Hoss till he get tired...

and inside we use stuffed animals and squeeking balls. The local Goodwill store has stuffed animal which usally you can buy for a dollar...stuffed animal everywere in my yard...

i have never seen or heard of a dog that kicks the ball ...anybody ever seen there dog do this or is my Gretchen just special

David, you ahould find another dog that kicks the ball , maybe your dog and theirs could play soccer

I thinks that's pretty cool,our king Charles attacks his stuff animal and acts as if he is in a fight with it , it's pretty hilarious, even our GSD's look like they are watching a fight in progress.
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r77/cadogancna/

Yeah, my GSD kicks the ball, or frisbee, or whatever. He does it when he's playing with anyone other than me. He'll bring it about halfway back, then give it a half-assed kick in the general direction of the pitcher, like "sorry dude, that's as far as I bring it-you want it, you go get it." Occasionally, he'll run by and kick it away from you too, just to be a punk, I think. He seems to find this amusing, as it's the happiest he ever looks. So, yeah, my dog kicks too. Good to know he's not the only freak out there; maybe he and Gretchen could hook up .

He's one of those dogs who needs ALL the toys; I tried the two toy method to get him to retrieve it. It went like this: I throw floppy frisbee. He catches said frisbee. I show him tennis ball, thinking he'll bring frisbee back to go retrieve tennis ball. He stands there w/frisbee, about 15yds away. I decide to teach him a lesson, and throw the ball right at his face, thinking he'll be forced to drop the frisbee quickly and catch the ball. He stands there and at the last possible second, just as I'm sure he's gonna get whacked in the nose, he catches the ball...right on top of the frisbee (in his mouth-the ball did not just land on the frisbee). I was humiliated. I'd been outsmarted by my dog. Thank God for the privacy fence. The 2 toy method was a failure.

My guys love air brake chamber diaphragms:

http://www.v-belt.com.cn/automobile_rubber_parts.html

Fly like a frisbee and hold up to tug of war games and are reasonably resistant to chewing (but can be chewed). You can get them at any semi truck parts shop and they are about 3.50 a piece.

I agree about the tennis balls- I never use them. They get destroyed too easily anyway and even 1/2 a tennis ball can block a throat and kill a dog in a short moment.
My dogs LOVE Orbee "Planet balls". They just love them - the medium and especially the large size. And the balls last a LONG time, even with aggressive chewers (of course they are not allowed to take them into the kennel and chew them aggressively) - but for normal play, training, biting running/catching and knashing them all the way back - they will last a very long time. I highly recommend them.

the other ball that is completely indestructible and my dogs used to love them before the Planet Balls took over - is the red Kong Ball. They are solid rubber and really tough. But the Planet balls are way better in my dogs' opinions.

molly

My GSDs love the "Chuck-It" (or maybe it's me that appreciates not having to pick up slimey balls). I don't use tennis balls with them, as my older girl breaks them in 2.2 seconds, but I did invest in the rubber balls that are the same brand. They have held up really nice, even with my older girl who likes to wander around and chew on the balls.

I also like the Orbee products & the Cuz. My pup loves anything with a squeaker...on rainy days I throw out a dozen squeaky balls in our family room and let her go to town...she's in heaven for this special treat let me tell you.

We have a variety of toys on hand for our dogs, of which we have 8 of at the moment (we raise working GSDs). The favourites include Kongs, Nylabones, cotton ropes, solid rubber balls... and of course sticks are always a favourite too.

Kong makes a great solid rubber ball, which we use this for training and its virtually indestructable.

Generally speaking all of our dogs love Kongs (sizes and variety used depends on their age and personal preference). I find the younger dogs seem to favour the softer rubber Kongs (ie: blue puppy kong or red rubber). Contrary to popular belief Kongs are not indestructable, we've had many of them chewed to bits in our kennel. One female required surgery to removed an obstruction in the bowel which resulted when she ate the top half of a solid black giant Kong off and appearantly swallowed it whole!!

Our dog toys are checked daily for wear and tear, generally a Kong will last our guys (depending on the dog) anywhere from 30 days (min) to a year (max).

They all have thier preferences though. I have one old boy who is absolutely insane over the Kong when used in training sessions, but couldn't care less about it as a chew toy in his crate.

Of course we also have a variety of jute tugs, which the dogs love to play/train with. They also really go nuts for old rags, burlap feed bags (which I tie in knots), or a length of natural fibre cotton rope (also tied in knots).

Another things which works really well for our guys is a piece of old fire-hose or even a piece of garden hose (cut to appropriate lengths)!! These are big time favourites too.

In the kennels our dogs also regularly get raw meaty bones (which of course is thier number one favourte) and occasionaly they will get naturally cured raw hide (although you have to be extra cautious about obstruction when feeding raw hides so try not to let them eat the whole thing at once).

Anyway use what your dog enjoys but the best advice I can give you is to check anything your dog puts in his mouth regularly for wear & tear!! What's safe for training isn't always safe to be left in the crate.

Hope this helps... good luck with your dog.