Best Ball Throwers for Dogs

The two popular types are manual and automatic. Manual throwers are usually less expensive devices that you hold and maneuver to help launch a ball farther than you might ordinarily be able to throw it. Automatic launchers do most of the work for you with a mechanism that propels balls into the air with the press of a button or the turn of a knob.

Depending on the model, some automatic launchers even come with a convenient remote control so that you can feed several balls into it at once to keep the game rolling. CR evaluated seven dog ball throwers—four manual and three automatic based on how easy and versatile they were to use and clean, their safety features, and how much our eager dog volunteer enjoyed playing with them. But it’s important that we first mention safety concerns to keep in mind.