If your dogs are anything like mine, Happiness is a Tennis Ball.But a hard game of ball has been known to cause a few injuries.
And it makes sense: running, jumping, twisting, grabbing, and landing - all of which is done while going "full steam ahead."
Hell, the game of Tennis is rough on human participants simply because of all the running, jumping, twisting, and landing.
Obviously, the tennis ball is designed to have a fair amount of bounce. So when we use'em to exercise our dogs we're accepting this fact, and IMO, the trade off is worth the risk.
That said, I don't know how many times I've seen my dogs, and other people's dogs, go up for a ball that took an odd bounce only to land in an awkward position.
Clearly, the fun part must be chasing the ball with a reckless abandon.
C'mon, would a good dog really have it any other way?
So, in all my experience playing "ball" with energetic and athletic dogs, I have found that cutting a slit in the ball can cut back on the "bounce factor."
Is it a cure-all? No.The ball still bounces, and the slit isn't a 100% guarantee against the ball taking a "bad hop."
But time, and time again, I have noticed that this simple procedure reduces the amount of bounce in the ball, which in turn, requires less jumping and twisting of the dog.
So for those of you out there looking for a way to keep your wild and crazy ball hog on the road a little bit longer, and still have fun playing ball, I hope this post is of some use to yah!
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