Well, it’s that time of year again. Most of us are still holding our breath after a long 2020. We are in dire need of a bit of joy right now, so I’ve decided to share with you a toy that gave our family joy AND entertainment. Drumroll, please… The DuraPlay ball.
You are probably thinking this sounds a bit underwhelming. I mean, it’s a ball. With that in mind, I will try my hand at describing it to (hopefully) portray a better picture. It’s kinda soft and rubbery and is available in three sizes: small, medium, and large. The ball has a bacon-scented variation, which is usually NOT something you look for in a ball. By bacon-scented, it isn’t the alluring smell that fills your home early on a Sunday morning bacon scent. It’s more of a rubbery fake food smell— like a bicycle tire mixed with some form of synthetic scratch-n-sniff bacon. Needless to say, not the aforementioned good smell. At this point, you are wondering why on earth I mentioned this ball, much less listed it under Recommended. I will tell you why, but first, let me give you some background info.
Emmi once had a routine of visiting the park every day. By every day, I mean every.single.day. It was her thing. She loved going, and as these things usually go, she was the star of the show. People were less interested in her mama joining in and more focused on Emmi. She had her group of friends — a geriatric gang with older owners— hence their daily meet-up in the middle of the day. A few of the dogs were compulsive ball fetchers, but most of the group was chill, which suited Emmi fine because she is a bulldog.
One day her friend Mia, a large Golden Doodle that falls into the compulsive fetcher category, showed up with a big bright green ball. She was fetching when she missed a catch, and the ball rolled right next to Emmi, so Emmi grabbed it. Now that in and of itself is unusual because Emmi generally dislikes balls. She typically looks at them like, “What do you expect me to do with that thing??” To be fair, she isn’t thrilled with most toys unless filled or covered with peanut butter. The alternative is a soft toy she can pull the stuffing out of and eat. [Did I mention Emmi is food-obsessed??]
Back to the story… Emmi has this ball, and I immediately grab it from her to give back to Mia. By that time, Mia’s dad had already pulled another ball out and had thrown it to Mia. He then said Emmi could play with the green ball. What happened next was shocking. When I turned around, Emmi had started to fetch. It was unbelievable; as I said, she never cared one iota about fetching or balls or anything like that. In my mind, she was far too sophisticated and mature to play those silly games. Not the case. She became OBSESSED. She acted like a dog with a bone, or worse, a dog suffering from an addiction that needed a 28-day rehab stint. Emmi played with the ball the entire afternoon, but we returned it to its rightful owner when it was time to go home.
Over the next few weeks, the same pattern repeated. Then, much to our surprise, Mia gifted Emmi her very own DuraPlay ball on her birthday. She was ELATED!!! Now she had a ball to play with at home too.
Despite Emmi’s behavior at the park, I could never have predicted what happened at home. This ball was like a prized Faberge egg. Emmi treasured it like it was her mini-me. She slept with it, carried it around, fetched it, hid it, and even roosted it like a penguin on its egg. It was so bizarre, but it was also heart-warming because she was adorable to watch, AND she deserved to have something she treasured. Emmi had such a traumatic history before she came to us, so I wanted her to feel special more than anything. Truth-be-told, if that ball had feelings, I’m sure it felt pretty special too. She treated it like a queen.
To this day, it is still a mystery why Emmi loves her ball so much. She isn’t alone in that category though. Every dog that is given one of these balls LOVES it!!! The DuraPlay ball has become a go-to gift for stocking stuffers and/or that dog that has everything. Regardless of any preconceived notions about this mysterious weird-smelling ball, it is a clear winner.
Find the Duraplay ball here:
Amazon-https://amzn.to/3p8rGmt