Herding breeds with no sheep will find something else to move, and it is usually your ankles, a jogger or the vacuum cleaner. A ball bigger than the dog changes the game entirely: it cannot be picked up and carried off, so the only way to move it is to push, and pushing is the part of the sequence they are actually after. Ten minutes of it costs more energy than half an hour of fetch.

The bouncy inner ball sits inside a zip-on cover made from 1680D fabric, a heavy denier more usually seen in luggage bases and motorcycle panniers than in dog toys, and that is what stops a claw or a canine ending the afternoon in the first five minutes. The cover unzips so the ball can come out for cleaning or storage, and it takes the abrasion from gravel and paving that would otherwise scuff the ball itself.

• Four sizes: 45cm, 55cm, 65cm and 75cm
• Zip-on cover in heavy 1680D fabric
• Cover unzips for washing and storage
• Two colours, blue and grey
• Encourages pushing, chasing and herding play
• Big enough that a dog must push rather than carry

On sizing, which is the whole decision. The ball needs to be too big for the dog to get their jaw around, because they will try, and that is how covers and balls both fail. A collie-sized dog is happiest on the 55cm or 65cm, the 45cm suits a terrier and the 75cm a large breed. If you are between two, size up rather than down. This is a garden toy, not an indoor one.

Who it's for: Collies, kelpies and other high-drive dogs with a garden, whose owners have run out of ways to tire them out before dark.