Tough Dog Toy Hunt: Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball

I am back with another post in our series of Tough Dog Toys. This is a series where I review products that are on the market as durable dog toys, and put them to the test with Diego. Diego is by no means a Pit Bull, but he does love the challenge of destroying toys so if he can beat it, it's not up to standard.

I originally got the Planet Dog Diamond Plate Ball back in April of 2015, from Amazon when I grabbed a bunch of toys that would hopefully stand up against Diego. Diego immediately was infatuated with this ball, and would not let it leave his sights, ever. I was continuously going under the bed to grab it for him when it happened to roll under there. Somehow we ended up losing that ball, and it was a sad day for all. Fate would have it though, that we stumbled upon another at a local market where someone else had purchased the ball online but it was too big for her dogs. The ball was back in action, and Diego was still as infatuated as the first day he got it.

This ball is strong, it is bouncy and it smells of mint, what more could you want? This ball is rated by Planet Dog as a five out of five for their scale of durability, and is made from their special Orbee-Tuff technology. This also makes the ball super bouncy, by far the bounciest of all our balls at the moment. The other great thing in the design of this certain ball is that it has a hole right through the ball, meaning that when a dog chomps on it it will not deflate or puncture. It is similar in size to a generic tennis ball, meaning it is a perfect size for a wide variety of dogs.

When I say it is Diego's favourite ball, I mean it. He has played with it daily since we got the replacement ball, so that is roughly about four to five months. He wakes up in the morning and scouts it out, and will know its exact location all day until the end of the day when he brings it to bed with him. If he finds that it is out of his reach, he will cry at the spot for hours on end until someone finally gives it back to him. I once left it in my car and multiple times a day he would go to the car and cry outside of it. I didn't realise why he was doing that until the next day when we got into the car and he immediately had it in his mouth.
No other toy has held Diego's love for this long, or with this much excitement. 

Now, even though Diego plays with this ball at every available opportunity, there is minimal signs of damage to the ball. There is a few slight cracks in the silver coating when you press the ball, but this is merely cosmetic and doesn't effect the ball at all. Diego can destroy a tennis ball within one game of fetch, so it is a huge accomplishment that he can play fetch multiple times a day and not have any sign of damage with the Diamond Plate Ball. As you can see from the photo, when the ball is squeezed hard, there is minor scratches and tears around the hole, however these have been there for multiple months now and haven't been further torn. I believe that this is due to Diego pressing the ball, not from him tearing at it.

Bad points about this ball.... the major one is that it gets slobbery, fast! Within a couple of rounds of fetch the ball will have a film of saliva all over it. Diego is not an excessive slobbery dog, and I have found that this happens when any dog plays with the ball. It isn't enough to put me off buying the ball again, just something to be aware of if you are wearing clothes that you want to remain nice. Other than that I cannot think of any other bad points about this ball.

I rate this ball highly. If you have a chewer, or an obsessive ball dog, I would recommend this toy over any other toy we have tried thus far. It is safe to say, that I will be purchasing more of these, and they will be a constant in Diego's life. I would also like to mention, that nine times out of ten, if I have a photo of Diego looking excited at the camera, it's because I am holding this ball beside the lense. The Diamond Plate Ball is also quite inexpensive, when you compare its longevity to how many replacement balls you would have to be buying with a different ball type. Planet Dog has also just come to New Zealand, meaning it is super easy to get your hands on one of these amazing balls at www.planetdog.co.nz.