Half the frustration of fetch in a park is losing the ball. Standard yellow vanishes into long grass and dead leaves, and the game stops while both of you hunt for it in the wet. Bright colour solves a problem that sounds trivial until you have spent the back half of a walk on your hands and knees combing through a hedge bottom.

These are built the familiar way, as light hollow felt-covered balls that bounce high and unpredictably, which is most of the fun as far as the dog is concerned. That bounce makes them good for more than throwing: they roll far enough for recall practice in a garden and they are soft enough not to hurt when a dog catches one badly. Keep a couple in the car and one in the walking bag, because balls have a way of going missing.

• Bright colours that stay visible in grass and undergrowth
• Light and bouncy for fetch, catch and chase
• Useful for exercise and for recall practice
• Works indoors on hard floors and outdoors in the garden or park
• Easy to keep spares in the car or the walk bag

On safety, properly. Tennis balls are not chew toys. The felt is mildly abrasive and grinds tooth enamel over years of heavy chewing, and a ball that has been chewed into pieces, or one small enough to sit in the back of the throat, is a genuine choking risk. Pick a size your dog cannot fit fully into its mouth, take the ball away between games, and bin any that split.

Who it's for: Active dogs and owners who play fetch often enough to lose balls, and anyone doing recall work in a field where a yellow ball simply disappears.