When I got a chance to try this ball, I thought it would be a Kong-like rubber. Where you have give and bounce, plus safety. The minute I took it out of the box, the ball felt like a hard rigid plastic and has zero bounce. It is the kind of plastic that cracks when it breaks but would maybe not fracture all the way, however any break/fissure would create a pinching hazard. I knew by the weight and feel that if the dog did not end up breaking something on herself, it would definitely create harm to the surroundings and others.
Later, I took the ball out and I start tossing it back and forth between my hands, but never lifting it off the ground, sort of rolling it back and forth, to get her interested. She starts going after the ball like she does her other rubber ones and just when it made a slight impact with her snout, she backs away and seems offended by how it felt. She then does not want me to pick it up or have the ball even near us. My dog was trained to never bark and she has only barked when stung by a hornet. What I mean by never barking, is that she never barks at strangers, other pets, squirrels, or anything else! People even ask me if she ever makes a noise. We wanted a dog for companionship and she really sucks at guarding anything anyways. Our dog growled and let out the most ridiculous barks when the ball went near us. She keeps her front paws tucked in and looks like a seal just growling and barking (and her bark sounds like a puppy one even though she is 13 years old). I think the “paw tucking” is because this ball is so hard that it hurts her paws.
I try on the second day and she again has the same negative reaction and my Husband mentioned that he felt the holes were unsafe. The ball is hard and has no give and a dog’s instinct is to grab with it’s teeth. Well, that means a tooth could get stuck. She finally had it with the ball and what we now call the “orange demon”, and she went to grab it and let out a cry. Her fang on top and the one on the bottom went into the holes and prevented her from letting go. Jaw was stuck! We quickly said “Stop!”, and she did, and my Husband unlocked her jaw slowly. The hole’s size are not the problem but there was poor thinking when it came to placement of one hole from the other (i.e. distance). Our ball does not look like the others I see posted. It looks like someone got happy with a drill and just went crazy in making holes everywhere and so close to each other. I can see the ball’s mold maybe being modified to have ridges, so a dog could grab and no teeth or nails could get stuck. Our dog uses her dewclaw a lot and I know she could cause harm if it got stuck in a hole too.
Retail Price Point: $28.00 via the website or $32.88 via Amazon.
My only positives is the ball does float because we tossed it into the pool after trying to get her to play. It remains indestructible because she would have to want to actually play with it, to destroy it in any way. Our dog had more fun with a wooden stick I picked up later, and played “take away” with until she obliterated it. She dislikes the ball and becomes agitated when it’s present. This dog may be 13 but she still plays hard, wrestles, plays tug-of-war, and loves to destroy balls until they pop and she then tries to get to what we call the “nibbly bit”, the air hole used to pump air in with. Because balls can always die more in her book until she makes Frisbee pieces and ball confetti. How the ball ever got a patent or approved for play is beyond me but I felt other owners should know of our experience with the product.
I wanted to like the ball but it has way too many negatives. All our neighbors have dogs and I feel it’s so unsafe, that I won’t even opt to give it away or donate it because it’s a hazard for both the animal and any surrounding.
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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Unbreakoball. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.
WOM-derful 