As a pet writer who frequently (and honestly) reviews dog products, I’m fortunate to have two partners in crime: my black Cocker-cross Victor who is a picky eater – therefore, dog treats he likes come with a discerning recommendation. His best friend, Sasha, a lab-cross eats everything.
Toys, however, are a different story.
Sasha demolishes everything easily. (Check out our review of GoDog toys here). So, when a company claims its toys are durable and they survive her jaws of destruction, that’s saying something.
So, while Victor carefully selects what he’s going to eat or not, I’m tossing a K9 by Zeus tug toy (from the Hagen Group) to Sasha to see what happens.
She loves it. This is the ideal toy for her. It’s easy for her to grasp and tug (with me) and doesn’t fall apart immediately like others. The soft flexible plastic is easy on her teeth. A week later when I visit her again, the toy is still in tact. That’s never happened before.
Throw and retrieve is her favourite game and this toy works for that too.
What I didn’t know until I researched K9 Fitness products is that dogs see shades of blue and yellow, so dogs can find K9 toys in the environment they are playing in – not something I thought of when I was throwing toys in the backyard.
Next up, the Bomber by Zeus with flashing L.E.D. light. This one’s for Victor.
Ok, it’s for me as much as him because I thought the flashing light was totally cool at SuperZoo 2018 and had to have one. Or, I mean, Victor had to have one.
Toss it, it lights up so perfect for evening play in the backyard or at the cottage. The light is designed to get the attention of dogs perhaps less likely to get active. The cord – or ‘fuse’ – is a tug grip.
What did Victor think? Well, the lights appealed to me more than him. At first, he didn’t know what to do with the big red ball and ran around it watching me. I had to show him the black cord – then he figured it out and grabbed it like a tug toy. He played with for a few minutes, until he noticed I was taking photos. For some reason, he hates photos.
The Bomber easily held up to his size and strength. It would take a lot for him to wear this toy out.
Think your dog can handle The Bomber? Enter to win one below…. (or click here to find it on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca) Affiliate links
WIN! A blue Bomber by Zeus from Hagen with L.E.D. flashing light AND a handmade fleece dog blanket, just for fun. (See how-to instructions here).
Just leave comment below – Does your dog a tug or retrieve?
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My adopted Border Collie girl tugs AND retrieves. She is fetching fiend 🙂
This is a good tug toy! Thanks for posting.
My Golden Retriever mix loves to fetch and tug. Our husky mix doesn’t fetch, but loves to play tug. We are so blessed to have adopted them into our home.
Good to hear it – rescues are the best.
My Great Pyrenees rescue, Lily, is a swatter. Even though she’s 4ish she’s still figuring out the whole playing thing. She enjoys swatting at toys that make noise. Maybe with this being a light up ball she might swat it around and actually chase it.
Is she a cat? Funny to hear how differently dog play.
Lol, nope not a cat. We’ve had her for almost two years now and she is so different from any other dog I know. Just last month she started chewing on branches even though she sees her friends doing it all the time.
My dogs are both tuggers and retrievers. My border collie and minature pincher beagle mix both love to play tug with one another and both highly enjoy retrieving frisbees, and tennis balls
I wonder if little dogs tug more. My little guy will run after balls but not always bring them back.
Hi can you please email me a mailing address to stelenko@hotmail.com. Thanks! I’ve been trying to contact you via the email you listed on this post.
My dog loves to tug but she’s way stronger than any of us so we mostly play retrieve. On special days we’ll get the long rope toy out and tug to her hearts content but not too often.
Strength is an issue. Maybe it’s better in big ones don’t tug.
I have three rescued Treeing Walker Coonhounds. All three love to tug, and they do lover to chase toys I throw (especially my girl, Megumi). This toy sounds like it would be perfect for them as our back yard gets very dark at night and they could see it more easily.
That’s another good point – you can find this light up toy in the dark or dusk.
Hmm, mostly retrieve, but with a hope that I will tug for a while, which I don’t.
Awesome. Thanks for posting.
Two of my three bull terriers love toys. They tug with each other and play fetch too. I too have a hard time finding toys that stand up to thier rugged use and strong chewing!
That’s a challenge … these seemed to work. Plus the ball lights up.
My Boston Terrier will retrieve to hand and tug. He’s the best boy.
That sounds very cute.