Built because Huckleberry needed a job
Huckleberry is an Australian Shepherd × Border Collie cross. The kind of dog that needs work, not entertainment.
In August 2020 the Santa Cruz Mountain wildfires forced our family out of the house. Six months displaced. No yard. An anxious working dog pacing a room with nowhere to put her energy.
We looked for something big enough that she could not bite it, and tough enough to survive her trying. Nothing on the market was both. So we built it.
What we ended up with
Two layers, each doing one job.
Inside, an inflatable ball with a needle valve holds the air and the shape. Outside, a cover in 1680 denier ballistic fabric takes the teeth, the claws and the ground. Double-stitched seams with heavy-duty nylon thread. A double zipper with a detachable puller, so there is nothing loose for a dog to work at.
The important part is not the materials list. It is that the two layers come apart. When something fails, you replace that layer instead of the whole product. A sealed gym ball gives you no such option — one puncture and it is waste.
The original, and the copies
We launched the first fabric-covered inflatable herding ball in June 2021. The first copies appeared on Amazon that November. There are dozens now.
We take that as the compliment it is. But it is worth knowing what you are comparing. Most of what is sold as a herding ball today is a single sealed layer with a printed pattern — the shape got copied, the two-layer build did not. That is the part that decides whether you are buying something once or every few months.
Since 2021
The design has not fundamentally changed since the first one we made in San Francisco. Over 1,000 orders worldwide, and a community of around 62,000 on Instagram at @_collieball — mostly people posting videos of their dogs doing exactly what we hoped they would.
Now in Europe
We ship in Europe from a warehouse in Zagreb, Croatia. Same product, same build, same standards. Designed in San Francisco, dispatched from Croatia.
What we will not tell you
We will not tell you the ball is indestructible. Nothing a determined dog can reach is indestructible, and any brand claiming otherwise is either lucky or not being straight with you.
What we will tell you is how it is built, which part gives out first, and what it costs to replace. That is the whole pitch.