Mixing It Up While Playing Fetch

Does your dog have a bigger “fetch drive” than you?  What I mean is, does he want to play fetch longer than you are able to repeatedly throw the ball?  And is this resulting in your dog not getting a beneficial amount of running exercise?  I cannot count the number of times that I overused my arm and shoulder playing fetch.  I noticed that as my arm got tired, my throws would get sloppier and sometimes I almost overextended my elbow or my shoulder.  I look forward to playing golf on the weekends, and I did not want to risk getting injured by playing too much fetch with my dog.  I needed to find a better way for us to play fetch.

Then one day I was throwing the tennis ball for my dog, and I was getting tired and wondering how I could throw it farther so he would be the one getting the workout, and it finally occurred to me how to throw a tennis ball farther… by not throwing it!  I ran into my garage and grabbed an old tennis racquet and started to lob the ball for my dog to catch.  And our game of fetch was instantly transformed.  Hey, why didn’t I think of this before?!  Within minutes, I was offering him a hodgepodge of ball distances, speeds and trajectories, all with less exertion on my part.  I could tweak the arc of the ball depending on how much I wanted him to run, and I was astounded at how far I could hit the ball with just a gentle underhand stroke.  It was also amusing to hit the ball high and watch him try to figure out where it was going to land.  And I always laugh at how he chases a high-bouncing ball.

So now we are both happy.  I am happy watching him play and knowing that I am exercising him enough, and he is just happy doing his thing.  This low impact way of playing fetch has rescued my arm and shoulder joints so my golf game is not in jeopardy.  And it has added variety and much more fun to our fetch playing.

So go grab a tennis racquet and some balls and begin putting a new spin on playing fetch with your dog.  And if tennis isn’t your game, then grab your baseball bat, your racquetball racquet or anything that will propel a ball will less effort from you.  Your dog will love this!

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