Tags
chuckit, dog toys, german shepherds, GSD, labrador retrievers, rat terrier, shiba inu, swedish vallhund
Hmm, why yes… it does appear that everybody has a Chuckit (or at least their special orange balls) except for us!
Sightings: Everybody has a Chuckit except us
22 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in Bowdu the shiba inu, Sightings
If you have a dog, a Chuckit is a necessity.
They are much better than tennis balls because you can rinse them off easily. Also, and this is very important, a chocolate Lab running around with an orange ball is much cooler than one with a grungy tennis ball.
When we go swimming the Chuckit is great because we don’t have to keep bending over to pick up the ball.
(Chuckit did not pay me for this endorsement.)
Ha, true. The vibrant color goes well with everything!
I’ll keep your endorsement in mind if I ever get a dog that drools all over the ball. My one fetcher doesn’t. And I doubt either could be convinced to plunge into water for the sake of a measly tennis ball, orange or not!
Such cute photos! Great captures. We have a ChuckIt, but Pyrrha is one of the world’s worst retrievers, so it’s only fun for about two throws…
My ChuckIt! “belongs” to Conker, because he is greedy, but I really bought it for Juneau. She needs distance when I fetch with her, she’s got too much octane for me to throw it on my own and I quickly wear out my arm trying to get her adequate exercise. Conker is more of a mid-range dog, he does fine with how far I can throw it on my own (which can be a pretty good distance) but sometimes he wants a bit more reach so I’ll use the ChuckIt! with him. He tends to lose it though, so I don’t use it often.
I don’t have a fancy orange ball like those in the pictures. I do have ChuckIt! brand balls, but they are dark blue with holes in them. They bounce quite high, don’t float, but are more visible to a dog who can’t see colors like red and orange. (They can see muted blue and yellow, which is why I tend to pick those colors for toys.)
We got our Shiba Chuckit balls because she liked to pull all the fuzz off her tennis balls and eat it, which caused pooping problems. Plus, like someone else said, you can rinse them off really easily.
(Hello, by the way! I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while now. I love your dog park photos, though they make me wish we had better dog parks down in the South Bay.)
Ah, good point that the extra “fiber” can actually be a dietary hazard.
Bowpi doesn’t chase, but she does like to shred on occasion. Bowdu occasionally gets the urge to split the core and fling the broken pieces about. Neither has shown any inclination to eat their balls. But maybe we’ll join the orange ball club just to see what all the rave reviews are about.
Thanks for reading! And you should definitely consider heading North and checking out some of the East Bay dog parks, if your Shiba likes such places. Most of the ones we frequent are a very convenient turn off the freeway exit.
All our orange balls are found, we find a few each year. Too bad ET doesn’t really give a crap about fetching unless exuberantly encouraged. Even then, two or three throws and she’s done. She fetches pretty good in the house though, surprise surprise.
We never had a Chuckit thanks to the fact that our pups don’t fetch. This basically means that when we throw it, we all chase after the ball and repeat.
I don’t know if there are facts to back this claim but someone from our dog run said that the wooly coat on tennis balls are abrasive to a dog’s enamel and will wear it down over time. Since that comment tennis balls have been banned from our home.
I recently learned that this was true! — tennis ball fibers being abrasive, that is. But Bowdu’s not so completely ball obsessed, so I’m honestly not too concerned. Maybe for dogs where tennis ball fetch was a daily, continuous obsession…