If your dogs love to retrieve tennis balls both of you will want a ChuckIt! or ChuckIt! Jr. This device basically extends your arm length either 18" or 26" depending on which item you purchase. And as you might guess, the longer lever arm increases the release velocity of the ball which equals a lot more throw distant without any more effort. In other words, you can save your arm and still throw a tennis ball more than 150-feet... again and again and again and again and again and... you getting the point? With the ChuckIt! I've been able to throw the ball over a distance of 230-feet including the bounces and roll, however this is on grass turf... black-top would be substantially further but this surface is not very good for your dog's bones or his pads. I've been trying to reach 250-feet but something about the wind resistance on a fuzzy light-weight ball is preventing me from reaching this 'lofty' goal. However these extreme distances don't really work well for retrievers because in order to reach those distances very high arcs are necessary and evidently dogs can easily lose sight of such a small ball flying way up in the sky... well, its either that or Sidney needs glasses. It seems for the size of a tennis ball a 180- to 200-foot throw is right at the edge of sight for a Golden. So this now brings up my personal recommendation... the "ChuckIt! Jr." At 26" the regular size ChuckIt! is just too large to be convenient, however the 18" Jr. is just the right size for throwing it in your car and carrying around at the beach or park. It still allows easy throwing at the 150-foot range and is much easier to control and aim... and is also noticeably easier on your forearm muscle (at least it is for me).
One other ChuckIt! advantage I haven't mentioned is you never have to touch the tennis ball... there is a perfect fitting cup on the end that allows you to pick up the ball without ever touching it (or having to bend down very far either... remember your 'arm' is now longer).

So my recommendation is two paws up for the ChuckIt! and four paws way up for the ChuckIt! Jr.

Has anyone else tried one? Come on back me up here...

Attached Thumbnails

 

I haven't tried one - YET. Based on your glowing recommendation, though, I'm going to get one asap! Looks like it will be a blast!

__________________

Yeah!!!! Thanks to Dilligas I can now attach images...
Check back at the bottom of my original post to view the image. The little pink one is the Jr. As you can see it is actually constructed a little differently... its actually a better design from an engineering standpoint.

Miss Daisy's Mom... We are suckers for dog toys and have bought a great many over the years... most do not live up to the promise (hype) but occasionally you find one that really works like it should... and I guess it's this thrill of finding that one good toy that keeps us buying all those other duds.

As soon as you get yours and develop the knack (probably between 4 and 10 throws) please report back here with your impressions... and we can swap notes about technique.

The image below is Sidney eagerly waiting for my wife to 'Chuck' him another tennis ball... though its hard to tell, his tail is swishing back and forth... Watch out! he's on a hair trigger...

Attached Thumbnails

 

Oh my gosh, look at him!! He's gorgeous!! Wow!

I'm going to order one tomorrow, monomer.

__________________

Good gracious - I'd hate to get whacked with one of those!!!!!

Where do you get one of these little gems Monomer?

I was so pleased the other day when I brought home a Tuff N-Stuff Stuffed Latex toy (2 of them) for the dogs with squeaker. One was a bone & one was a ring in magenta. They were having a great time until I noticed Zoe chomping away at hers. Yup!!! Broke through to the insides. Now I have to bring them in and put them up because of destucto dog!!!

I also bought the Chuckit! Flying Squirrel flying disk. Oh wait........they have a website - www.chuckit.com Forget my previous question Monomer!
Didn't think that the yard isn't very big and can't throw it very far. Zoe also tried to eat the feet of the squirrel.

Guess I'll try again. Back to the PB filled Kongs!

__________________
Donna & Zoe

Mojo - Forever in my Heart

If Love could have saved you Mojo, you would have lived forever.

LOL @ mojosmum I'm sorry, but I can't help it - the way you talk about Zoe is just too funny!

__________________

Monomer, I ordered a Chuck It! Jr. and some flyballs; they should be here tomorrow. I'm so excited!!

__________________

The two of you are going to have so much fun... Post back after you've played with it for awhile... I'd like to talk technique.

OK, I will.

__________________

So, Miss Daisy's Mom... have you had the chance to toss around the tennis ball yet?

How do your dogs retrieve tennis balls? I ask because most dogs fetch AFTER you throw, but our Sidney likes to go out BEFORE the throw and get 'set-up' first, then comes the pitch and he will try to 'snap' the ball in his mouth the same way a major league out-fielder tries to 'snap' one up in his glove. It is a very interesting thing to watch and sort of makes it a sport for the 'pitcher' to get it past this 'out-fielder'. So often I will vary the pitch... some I lobe very high into the air to get a large bounce out of it when it comes down, trying to bounce it over past the 'out-fielder'... Sidney will usually jump (sometimes with all fours completely leaving the ground) to 'snap' one of these. Sometimes I'll pitch him a 'grounder' which can often get a 'bad' (crazy) bounce in our yard... he will try to time the bounce or just 'snap' it up off the ground as it comes by. And then I will also 'mix it up' by pitching the ball either left or right of him, where he's got to real quickly 'read' the ball's movements and anticipate its direction of travel and hustle like an out-fielder to cut it off before it gets past him.

I'll bet you could easily train Daisy to do this... I think its much more mentally stimulating for a dog than the simple regular fetching style. Give it a try.

(Oh, by the way, I never throw a 'line drive' directly at Sidney... though I know he will not flinch, I don't think its very good for the dog to catch such a fast moving object coming directly at his face.)