Mumma decided I wasn't allowed to chew on Bully Sticks anymore :( But she was sad because she knew I loved them so much. Mum looked for products but couldn’t find anything where treats wouldn’t slip out once I slobbered all over them or where I wouldn’t be able to just chew up the treat holder...

Fortunately, I have a smart Uncle with a 3D printer who figured out how to 3D model and between them, they invented the Monchball for me!

But to start from the beginning.... it all started because I hate wearing collars. They are so annoying! Especially hard leather ones, they are not comfy at all. Mum and Dad went to Morocco for a holiday and discovered this awesome sheep skin leather that is soft and comfy! The problem is it also stretches, so no good for collars... I have some hikers in the extended family though that knew all about super strong lightweight fabrics that are used in tents and other ultralight hiking gear and one of them figured out that adding some Dyneema fabric which is 15 times stronger than steel would make the sheep skin plenty strong enough! 

Then we needed buckles for the collars and searched online but it’s hard to find really compact ones so they bought a 3D printer and modelled and printed some. But sewing is slow, there are plenty of collars on the market and apparently I’m a bit special because most dogs don’t mind wearing them... 

When I had my choking incident.... my family started thinking about how to make something to hold my bully sticks. What is the most bite resistant shape? It’s a sphere that would be too big for me to get my mouth around. When I was little, I couldn’t even pick up a tennis ball! 

The first Monchball was only 8cm in diameter and had a lid that screwed on. I was pretty small back then and my squishy face has a pretty short mouth. But 3D printed things are not so strong in the Z axis so the thread would break.

What about combining a quick release buckle (designed for the sheep skin and Dyneema collars) that made a sphere? That worked great! Why not add a rope tail so it can be secured around a chair or table leg? That worked great too! Then tie the rope against the ball the rest of the time to make sure I can’t trigger the buckle and open it! Monchball was born and I’ve been enjoying my treats again ever since.

Apparently there was patent paperwork and legal stuff too but my family sorted that out while I was chewing on my favourite bully sticks.

Monchballs are printed on Prusa MK3S 3D printers. One of them has an MMU2S and can print things in 5 colours at once but it’s a bit tricky to use and multicolour prints are super slow. My family prints Monchballs using 1.75mm PETG filament. That’s the same plastic that bottled water comes in and is way more food safe than tennis balls. We can print a Monchball ready to ship in under 12 hours. They are pretty complicated though and it was very tricky to make sure they fit together really well and are printed at just the right temperature and speed so the plastic welds really well and is nice and shiny and strong.

My baby brother Panda is another squishy faced Frenchie and he loves his Monchball too. He’s been testing it for small furry mouths with tiny teeth that can nibble on the edges of the Monchball mouth. Then cousin Freddie is a Whippet and has been helping with development too. He has a much bigger mouth and helped make sure the final version was strong and durable. It has internal armour on the front side so it is hard to crack. It’s way tougher than my dish brush which I’ve been chewing on for months.

Oh and did you know? The Monchball Logo was made from my ear silhouette. I am a pretty spoiled, much loved pupper.

I want all my furry friends to be able to chew safely so please tell your pawrents about Monchball!

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