My Kong Marathon is Getting Chewed Up

My dogs aren't serious chewers. Ru is the only one of the three who enjoys recreational chewing, he loves his Nylabones. Brisbane has had some of his food toys for eight or nine years, and used them regularly without any damage. Ulysses is the same way, he is only interested in getting the food out of the toy, and if it's too much work he just gives up. Both dogs have been using the Starmark Everlasting Treat Ball and Bento Ball for several months without doing any damage to the toys.

So why, after only a few uses, does our Kong Marathon ball look like this? Our original Kong Marathon toy was a small blue bone, but I quickly upgraded to a large green ball when I realized the small toys were intended for dogs under 35 pounds. Briz weighs 40 pounds and Uly weighs 50, the large toys are labeled for dogs up to 65 pounds.

It is fortunate that my dogs are gentle chewers with no desire to eat pieces of their toys, because the large Kong Marathon ball is falling apart on us. It's still pretty functional, but I could pull pieces off it with my fingers easily. It may only have a few uses left, which sucks because I've put less than ten treats in it so far.

The ball is put away when not in use, and my dogs don't chew on non-edible stuff for fun. They stop playing with the toy as soon as they get the treat out, if not before. They are normally gentle with their toys, and getting gentler as they age. I am certain our Kong Marathon toy has not been abused, or subjected to more than the most gentle chewing, but it just isn't holding up to normal use.