Balls Balls Balls. Balls.

Stella has many toys that she loves, and the top two would be rope toys and balls. I'm trying to steer her away from the rope toys because tug of war tends to make her really mouthy. But I'm in search of some good balls, and good balls, my friends, are hard to come by.*

Stella really likes the Kong tennis balls with squeakers in them. But there's a problem Here's the progression:
They start out smooth and pretty and new, and then she starts skinning the poor balls, and then I have to trim the fuzz off of them so she doesn't eat it. And I say things like "Uh oh Stella, looks like your balls need a haircut!" That's just awkward for everybody. So these haven't lasted very long.

Tonight we went to the pet store and found a few balls that will probably be better for a dog who wants to chew and chew and chew. The first one was a "virtually indestructible" (right) purple foam ball, which her needle-sharp teeth sink right into. I see that lasting for maybe a week. It was cheap, no big deal.

Then we got a rubber purple squeaky ball that is just a little too big for her (and therefore easier for me to wrestle out of her mouth and keep throwing). She really likes this one because the squeak is super loud and really easy to do. Here's a blissed out puppy:
I know you can't see her eyes, but she's staring dreamily into space just gnawing on her ball. Nice.

Maybe the best ball I found is the Petstages Orka Tennis Ball, which is made of translucent blue soft rubber. First of all, it is all one piece so it can't come apart too easily. Next, it has a texture on it that must feel really good to Stella because she loves chewing on it. When I throw it, it really bounces around, but because of the texture the bounce is unpredictable. And it's a little heavier than a regular tennis ball so it gets some momentum and moves around faster. If Stella so much as nudges it, she has to do a lot of running around to catch it again. According to the packaging, it also floats.
Excellent dog toy! It would be great if this is turns out to be a solid plastic toy she'll actually chew on. She's not wild about Nylabones and she either doesn't like Kongs or hasn't figured out that she can chew on them as well as eat peanut butter out of them.
And the girl does love her peanut butter.

*How many "that's what she said" moments can you find in this post?