Dog Blog - Dog Product Reviews

The Pawzzle Ball is a hard plastic 10-inch ball with large holes in it. Inside, there’s a smaller ball made of a softer material, which dispenses treats.

The Pawzzle Ball was tested by two German Shepherd Dogs, 83 lbs and 71 lbs. They are indoor dogs, but play outside at least an hour a day.

We left the ball outside and they enjoyed playing with it. It’s one of the few toys that they can play with together, so I would recommend it for people who have two or more dogs. It’s big enough that one dog can’t “hog” the toy by lying on it or keeping it in his mouth. The holes in the ball provide grips for dog mouths or human hands.

I didn’t see my dogs reaching their nose or paw into the outer ball to play with the inner ball very much, although I suspect smaller dogs would do this. But they seemed to enjoy the inner ball, because when they carried the ball in their mouths, they would shake it back and forth. They most often carried it by putting their lower teeth into a top hole, so the ball hung down in front of their necks.

The ball has held up very well. I’ve left it in the yard, and it has not become bleached or faded by the sun. There is not one crack in the ball, although eventually, they managed to the get smaller ball out. You’re supposed to put kibble in it. I think that’s what made them tear it out of the larger ball. (Before it was removed, I also had fun filling the inner ball with water and letting them play in the back yard with hit.) Still, both dogs love the Pawzzle Ball and head straight for it whenever I let them out into the back yard. Trixie, my female, loves to roll on top of it, splaying all four legs and presing her chest and tummy down onto the ball.

After a few weeks, the rough play resulted in some scratching of the surface, but the ball is intact and actually, the roughed-up plastic adds texture that may be helpful in cleaning teeth. You just have to watch it if you play tug-of-war with it; the rough texture can be hard on hands.

We are very pleased with the ball and would recommend it to anyone with high-energy dogs. It is safe to leave at home with your dog when you leave the house (if you think your dog will remove the inner ball, do so before leaving him alone with hit unsupervised). It’s a great toy for giving hyper dogs an outlet for their energy.

Submitted by Karen Altman, Dover, DE