Which size? It is the first thing people ask before ordering, and it is the right question. A herding ball is sized differently from every other dog toy. Too small and your dog picks it up, carries it around like an oversized tennis ball, and gets bored inside half an hour. Too big and they cannot get low enough to push it, so they give up. Either way the ball ends up sitting in the garden.
This guide covers how the sizing works, the numbers for all four sizes, and the awkward cases: mixed breeds, puppies, and dogs that measure between two sizes. If you only want the table, it is on the size guide.
The mistake most owners make
Sizing gets treated like a preference. It is closer to a mechanical requirement: your dog should not be able to pick the ball up. That single constraint is what moves the behaviour out of fetch mode and into herding mode, which is the pattern a Border Collie or a German Shepherd inherited from generations of working livestock.
A ball that is too small gets mouthed and lifted, and then it is just a football. The instinct never switches on, so the novelty runs out fast.
Too large is the opposite problem. The dog wants to work but cannot get underneath the ball, and after a few frustrated attempts most of them walk away.
What you want is a ball your dog can nudge and steer with chest and nose but cannot lift.
Breed first, then height and weight
Start with breed. Each of the four sizes was built around a group of working breeds, and for most dogs the breed alone gets you to the right ball without measuring anything.
Mixed breed, unlisted breed, or a dog that looks like it sits between two sizes? Then take two readings: shoulder height and weight. Height tells you how tall your dog stands. Weight tells you how much dog is behind the push. Read together, they describe your dog at chest level, which is the height the ball has to work at.
When the two readings disagree, take the larger size. There is more on that rule further down.
How to measure shoulder height
You need a tape measure and a dog willing to stand still for two minutes.
Step 1. Get your dog standing square. A sitting, lying or stretching dog gives you a number you cannot use. Two people makes this easier: one holds a treat at nose height so the dog looks forward, the other measures.
Step 2. Find the withers. Run your hand from the base of the neck back along the spine until you feel the bony ridge where the shoulder blades meet. On a standing dog, that ridge is the highest point of the back.
Step 3. Measure straight down from the withers to the ground, not from the top of the head. Measuring from the head is the most common error, and it can put you a full size out.
That number is your dog's shoulder height, and it is what you check against the table below.
The four sizes
| Size | Shoulder height | Weight | Typical breeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 cm | up to 37 cm | up to 11 kg | Corgi and other small breeds |
| 55 cm | 38–50 cm | 11–23 kg | Border Collie, medium herders |
| 75 cm | 51–62 cm | 23–34 kg | Australian Shepherd |
| 95 cm | 63 cm and up | 34 kg and up | German Shepherd, Malinois, Rottweiler, Dobermann |
All four sizes use the same construction: a ballistic fabric cover around an inflatable inner ball. Because the inner ball is sold on its own, damage to it does not mean buying a whole new ball. There is a fuller explanation of the build on the page about what a herding ball is.
45 cm, small herders
Built for Corgis and other dogs that are short in the shoulder and close to the ground. At this size they can get behind the ball and steer it rather than standing underneath it. A Corgi's herding instinct is every bit as strong as a Border Collie's, so the only thing that changes is the scale of the ball.
55 cm, medium herders
Most Border Collies land here, along with other dogs in the 38–50 cm shoulder range. Tall, rangy Border Collies are the exception, so measure before you order the 55 cm ball, because a few of them belong in the 75 cm instead.
75 cm, full-sized working dogs
Australian Shepherds and other dogs with a deep chest and a longer leg. Aussies in particular do better a size up. The drive is intense and they want something they can genuinely lean into.
95 cm, large working breeds
German Shepherds, Malinois, Rottweilers and Dobermanns. If a 75 cm ball looks small under your dog's chest, you want the 95 cm herding ball. Scale does useful work at this size: the bigger the ball is relative to the dog, the harder it becomes to get a jaw around the cover at all. The large breed cases get more room in our guide to herding balls for large breeds.
Questions owners actually ask
My dog is between sizes. What do I do?
Size up. If you remember one rule from this page, make it that one. A ball that is slightly larger than ideal still triggers the herding instinct, and your dog adapts to it within a week or so. A ball that is slightly too small stops functioning as a herding ball at all, because your dog can lift it. Of the two errors, the big one costs you far less.
I have a mixed breed. What size?
Go by the body rather than the name. Pick whichever breed your dog most resembles, then check shoulder height and weight against the table. If your mix measures and weighs like a full Australian Shepherd, order like one. Pedigree has nothing to do with it.
My dog is still a puppy. Buy for now or for later?
Buy for the size your dog will be in twelve months. A puppy grows into a 75 cm ball quickly and then uses it for years. Very small puppies are the exception, and a 45 cm is a sensible starter there, though expect to want a second size once they are grown.
My dog has destroyed every ball I have bought
Then sizing matters twice over for you. A cheap gym ball rarely survives a determined dog getting its teeth into the surface. A herding ball is built for that treatment: the ballistic cover is the layer that takes the teeth and claws, and on a correctly sized ball your dog cannot get a proper grip on it in the first place. Nothing is indestructible, and if the inner ball is ever damaged you replace that part on its own. Sizing up helps here more than anything else you can do. For a comparison with the other things people try, we wrote about what holds up and what wears out.
If in doubt, size up
Worth repeating, because it settles most of the edge cases. Land exactly on the line between two sizes and you go up. Buying for a puppy who still has growing to do, same answer.
One size too big costs you a slightly clumsy first week while your dog works out how to handle it. One size too small costs you a ball that never works as a herding ball.
A note on inflation
The ball has to be fully and firmly inflated for the sizing to hold. A half inflated 75 cm ball behaves like a 60 cm one: soft, slack and easy to grab. Inflate it properly before the first session.
Inflatable balls also lose a little air over the weeks. That is ordinary physics. Check the firmness every couple of weeks and top it up when it starts to feel soft.
Still not sure?
If you have measured your dog and you are still torn between two sizes, send us the breed, the shoulder height and the weight, and we will tell you which one we would pick. It saves everyone a return.
All four sizes are in the shop, and the size guide has the same table with measurement diagrams.