Varsity Ball Questions

[amberdyan]

Hello All! I searched through the forum, but I didn't see many mentions of anyone using a varsity ball. Is there anyone on here that uses one? Does your dog like it? What sort of games do you play with it? I know it's advertised as
"needing no human interaction" but I like interacting with my dog, lol. I thought it could be fun to teach my pup to "herd" it into different set up spaces or something?

I just hoped to hear some first-hand opinions on them before I dropped 40 dollars on one! Thanks!

 

[Snark]

Don't have a varsity ball, but I do have a Push N Play Jolly ball, which looks about the same. I sort of play soccer with Riley, (with my heavy barn boots so I don't kill my toes kicking the darn thing). Don't direct Riley where to push it, except to tell him to keep it out of the underbrush and bring it back towards me. Riley's not obsessed with the Jolly ball, so I can leave it out and he'll ignore it until I ask him to play. He'll usually keep playing until I call a halt.

Edited to add: I bought that Jolly ball back in 1998, and out of all the dogs I've had, Riley is the only one who has ever shown an interest in it. If your dog hasn't attempted to herd a large ball (the cheap kids' plastic balls), I might invest in one of those first to see if he'll herd it.

 

[amberdyan]

Thanks for sharing. I think I'm going to go ahead and try it out. He'll probably enjoy it, he's chased and pushed around a big rubber I was kicking until he popped it. : p

Riley looks cute using it, too!

 

[Snark]

Thanks, I think he's cute, too (until he sends the ball into the underbrush for me to retrieve, then he's a stripey dork). Riley was really good at popping the cheap plastic balls, too, although I did find a kid's ball that looked like a huge tennis ball (complete with fuzz). That took him a few months to puncture (and I had to put it up when we weren't playing, to keep him from chewing on it).