The Quest for Indestructible Dog Toys: A Dog Owner's Tale

Hello, this is Maurizio Stella, co-founders at Ballistic Fun, and very proud owner of Harvey, a beautiful white and brown Border Collie.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll know that keeping our furry friends entertained is practically a full-time job, and, let’s face it, our beloved pooches can sometimes have a talent for turning their toys into confetti. Mine for sure has been a very good toy obliterator so far, so I started purchasing chew toys instead. Cool, they last, but do they give our dogs the same kind of satisfaction? Do they serve the same purpose?

I quickly came to realise that soft toys and chew toys are nothing alike not only in terms of materials, but in terms of what dogs want to do with them, so I started experimenting with prototypes made of various fabrics, which eventually led to the launch as Ballistic Fun, with soft toys that can withstand incredible forces.

In this post I don't mean to delve into the details of the toys, rather, I want to share with you what my intentions were and still are.

What we expect from a Dog Toy

1. Saving the Pennies

First up, it's no secret that constantly replacing shredded toys can make our wallets weep. Yes, a really sturdy toy made with exceptional material does cost more than the average toy, but if you sum up how much you spend in replenishing you toy box every month, you'll likely start realising how much money goes, well... in the bin. This is the first reason for trying to develop our super toys.

2. Safety

Has your dog even swallowed loose threads from rope toys, or stuffing from soft toys? Mine has, and as a dog parent, we worry and pledge to be more careful next time. Reality is though, that our furry friends are really good at doing stuff while we're busy doing silly things in life like working, sleeping, socialising etc... so we need better toys that won't harm our friends.

3. Goodbye, Boredom!

Some of the toys I brought into the household just didn't trigger much of a reaction. Others, seemingly equivalent instead did, so I started wondering why, and researching everything dog related, from sense of smell, sight, instincts etc, and I very quickly learnt that, for example, dogs have a dichromatic sight, meaning that they only see shades of grey, blue and yellow. Yet... when you walk into a pet shop and look at the toy shelves, the vast majority of toys are red, green, pink, skin tones, etc, which dogs essentially see as grey.

It's funny, but if you think about it, those are exactly the colours that mostly appeal to another animal species... HUMANS!!

Most of the toys are made to be purchased by humans, they are not truly dog-centric, and they have not been designed specifically to encourage set behaviours, which brings me to the next point.

Also, if you're interested in understanding how you dogs see the world, take a look at this article we wrote: Dog Eye Vision & How our Furry Friends See

4. Play Style

What does your dog like doing? Tug-of-war? Fetch? Wrestling? or is it circumstantial? For example, indoor they prefer to play tug of war, outside they prefer to fetch and play in water although they may hate bath time, like mine?

Dogs need different toys to encourage different play styles and of course a toy for internal use can be plushy, but imagine taking the plushy toy on a walk in the woods. For sure it won't look that pink anymore after play time, so again, toys need to be dog-centric and designed for their intended purpose. For example, they need to be easily wipeable, washable, somewhat water repellent and durable!

Have you ever tried to play tug of war with a toy that's been in your dog's mouth for a while, after a good run? It's slippery and soggy to say the least. Not very pleasant for us humans.

I felt the need to find solutions also to these very simple problems. So, for example, the Stick toy has a hole to clip it to the lead, not only to have a better grip when you play tug, but to avoid carrying with your hands after the play session!

5. Water Sports

Harvey (my border collie) is a fan of water, but not necessarily a brave heart or a good swimmer, so to help him play also where the water is not so shallow, I made sure to design toys that will float, so that he can easily spot them, and so that he can take advantage of that extra buoyancy when the paws stop touching the sand.

6. The Quest Ahead

We're not done improving our products. They are absolutely worth the money, but we know that we can still make improvements, and thanks to your purchases we'll be able to carry on investing on research and development to bring to market toys that will be progressively both tougher and softer! There are materials out there which can't be purchased in low quantities and only with more clients we will eventually be able to purchase large enough quantities for the toys to also remain affordable.

Technology has evolved so much over the last couple of decades. We're heading to Mars, our skies are full of flying machines that weigh hundreds of tonnes, we're exploring the depths of the deepest oceans, we have robots that dance, yet... we can't make a toy that our pooches won't obliterate??? Really?!

This is the beginning our our journey, and we're committed to leveraging every industry we can get access to, to deliver the most amazing toys our furry friends have ever seen.

Stay tuned because we're going to have a lot of fun together!