So who is making the safest bumpers?

[PhilS]

Will do... I've got the "nearly final" draft of the manuscript on my desk right now. I'm confident it will be published soon.

[Ken Bora]

I see I'm a little late to the discussion, .............
If anyone has questions, I'll try my best to answer them. Either post them up or shoot me an email (phil.n.smith@gmail.com).

Happy Holidays,

Phil

and Happy Holidays and (ya got 4 rtf posts) Welcome to the RTF and thank you for thinking up such a study. The article says you train your own Labs. What are there names? Do you test or trial at all? I try not to let, but I have lost a bumper or two over the years to flossing. and the hours of drill work alone, gosh!

so my humble question

They tested orange and white bumpers from two unidentified makers. The bumpers subjected to simulated chewing leached more BPA and phthalates than brand new bumpers and those left outside to weather for a month.

1 - how did you simulate chewing exactly and did you soak in dog drool / slobber? I wondered if the drool hasened the leaching? Chessies I have, you know?
2 - would you know the country of origin of the unnamed bumper makers? would you tell us if you knew, at this time?

[7pntail]

The answer is simple. Go green. The world we live in.

The ultimate bumper: a hybrid of sorts, tofu in the core, with an impervious outside layer of Nori (seaweed). Not trying to be a smart a@@@ but c'mon. Tired of ridiculous studies.

BTW ---I love my dogs too. Studies, even in humans can become very redundant and confusing.

Quandary: Coffee (caffeine) in the morning or not? It has been maligned and touted as a life extender.


Sticking with my traditional, possibly toxic bumpers. I hope there is no mold on them.

[Codatango]

So now the dogs that are very birdy and don't care much for bumpers are actually just extra chemically sensitive and being "smart"?!
(if those dogs could talk, that would be their comment on the 'boring' bumpers!)

[Paul "Happy" Gilmore]

Try Real Duck Firehose Bumpers.

Mike coached and organized the local soccer club with my dad. I grew up with his kids. The boys have a great brewery in standpoint, id. Mike makes all the bumpers in Moscow area. I've got a bunch an love them. The are excellent. Mike had Chessie when I was growing up. His were the first ones I knew when I was about 6.

[Swack]

I'm not trying to get snarky. If this is a legit study I'm interested in the results. However, if you want a really good idea for a study how about researching what it is in tennis balls that is addicitive to Labs! They smell funny and they make my Labs nuts! I think they get a buzz on the dye or something in them. Or is it just their size, shape, and the rolling bouncing motion that gets them off?

Swack

[Ken Bora]

Sticking with my traditional, possibly toxic bumpers. I hope there is no mold on them.

I look at it this way John,
World is full of those snotty nosed rug rats right?
and those that breed um want a sippy cup with no poison getting into the darling youngster.
Yet I can walk my dog off lead to the line at a test while these same "breeders" have junior
on a leash at the wal-mart?
If its good enough for the future of mankind its good enough for my dog.

[Ironman]

So now the dogs that are very birdy and don't care much for bumpers are actually just extra chemically sensitive and being "smart"?!
(if those dogs could talk, that would be their comment on the 'boring' bumpers!)

No, no, no. Those are the dogs that are "affected" by a recessive gene that makes them bumper sensitive....I am sure there will be a patented DNA test and certification come out costing a pretty penny to test for it soon.

[PhilS]

Ken -

1) We simulated chewing with stainless steel metal salad tongs. While the bumpers were immersed in "simulated saliva" we squeezed them with the tongs. The simulated saliva formula was based on literature reports of actual saliva content and other published studies where simulated saliva was used for children's product testing. Perhaps we could get some fresh Chessie drool for our next study?

2) The purpose of our study was to get some idea about potential exposure. It was in no way intended to indict anyone, point fingers, etc. So with that said, I will tell you that (to the best of our ability to determine) neither brand was manufactured in the USA or Canada.


Swack -
Excellent point about tennis balls. We thought the same thing when we did our study. What is barely mentioned in the original EHO story is that another part of our study examined toys from a pet retailer. Our selection included tennis balls. The tennis balls contained very low concentrations of phthalates and BPA, but a separate bioassay indicated that they leached something that was highly estrogenic. Don't know what that was ....yet. Anyone got any ideas?

[PhilS]

Ken -

Sorry, didn't see your question about my dogs. I have two finished labs, and run and judge HRC. Never been to an AKC event though I have no objection whatsoever to that particular venue. Would love to see a field trial up close some day.