Different Designs of the Dog Ball Thrower

When it comes to developing new technologies nothing beats the genius of a lazy person. To illustrate we will take the simple act of throwing a ball for your dog. Now it is true that a dog can and will get downright obsessive about chasing a ball. My last yellow lab would not leave you and God forgive you try to ignore her. She would just stand in front of you barking until you either went in or throw the ball. So people have made devices to make the chore of throwing a ball even easier and sometimes no effort at all.

Going from simply to technologically burdened here are a list of devices I have found or used my self. The most simple of the lot is the Chuckit dog ball thrower. This is a molded piece of plastic with a handle at one end and a cup that holds the ball on the other end. With some practice an overhand throw will allow you to throw the ball a farther distance than you would normally saving any dog ball thrower elbow injuries. I have seen elderly folks at the beach use these very successfully. Cost for these and similarly designed dog ball throwers is around ten dollars.

A bit of a twist on the Chuckit design is the Doggy Driver dog ball thrower which looks like a golf club where the ball fits in the driver head. This uses a golf swing mechanics to launch the ball out of the club. This device got good consumer reviews but I'm not sure if that is because so many people love golf or it is the thrower itself. I will have to try this one out.

A hybrid of the dog ball thrower is the Go-Frr that is made with a bungee loop anchored in the ball itself. You launch the ball by holding the loop of the cord and pulling the ball back in a sling shot or archery type release. When we got ours years ago they did not have a handle you can now by that will save your hands from any injury. Yes we've bought quite a few of these.

As we progress into more technologically advanced devices. It is amazing how most of these items were spawned from weaponry (i.e. bows, clubs, slingshots, etc). I digress, next in line is the Hyperdog ball launcher. A newer items since I last had a young nutty Labrador retrieving fool. I have got to get one of these for my new pup. It is based on a sling shot technology and has a brace that uses the forearm as a base enabling the thrower some extra pull yielding longer distances. It comes in two models , one that holds two balls and the other holding four. The price on these is a reasonable twenty to twenty five dollars.

Finally the ultimate in lazy/genius ingenuity is the Go Dog Go dog ball thrower. This is a device that has a hopper that holds lots of tennis balls, a feed mechanism and a launcher that kicks the ball out of hole in the front of the device. We bought on of these for our first yellow Labrador and it works well. My only complaint was it would launch the balls at particular intervals and I wanted the dog to put the ball back in the hopper before the next ball was launch basically leaving me to lay in the hammock and watch the fun. Well the manufacturer of the Go Dog Go has solved this problem with a remote control. Although we bought one of these years ago I did not personally use it much. It gets great reviews by the consumers that do use them. Personally I want to be more hands on with the dog as I see a game of retrieve as a great opportunity to have some fun, bond and slip in a little training as well. They are prices a little over a hundred dollars.

So if you want some extra distance out of the throws you are giving to your pup or you just want to sit on you can and watch there are dog ball thrower devices out there for all of you. A game of catch is a wonderful time spent for you and your dog. It is a great way to burn off that extra energy if you have a high energy breed. It doesn't hurt to save yourself the expense of getting tired while you play catch. So get a dog ball thrower and have a ball.