PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher

Reviewed by Gemma Ingham

My very lucky pooch Tommy, a typical Staffordshire Bull Terrier who likes to chew, run around like crazy, and generally get up to mischief, was chosen to receive and review the PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher; with a little help from me of course.

Now, Tommy can run…and I mean run. Although he is a full Staffy, he doesn’t have the typical Staffy short stumpy legs and he has quite a long body. As a result, when he’s running around doing crazy laps of the garden and you can only catch a brown-black streak of him tearing by, I swear he resembles more of a greyhound. He can also jump quite high from standing, resembling more of a kangaroo but I doubt that’s in his heritage!

I’m a very keen gardener and it’s mid-spring as I write this review. Every plant in my mature garden is coming into leaf and blooming fragile new buds, so I was concerned that my leafy little paradise may be an unwilling casualty of testing out the PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher. I had visions of tennis balls popping out in rapid succession at a high velocity and my poor plants being smashed to shreds whilst Tommy jumped around in ecstasy chasing the balls.

When we received the PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher I was impressed with its looks. It’s smooth and sleek with a shiny grey colour gracing the majority of the outside, and a majestic purple colour highlighting any recesses like, for example, where the ball should be placed and where the ball launches. It feels solid, and is a decent size but not too big. It’s extremely portable; enough so that we would be able to carry it with us to the local field with the well placed carry handle if we really wanted to tire Tommy out.

The ball launcher can be used indoors if you have a large enough home; we definitely don’t so haven’t been able to test out indoor use. It’s also water resistant so should it get caught in a shower mid play, or you have an extra slobbery dog you don’t need to panic. However, it is worth noting that the ball launcher is not waterproof so it can’t be left or stored outside.

Because we used it in our garden we plugged the ball launcher into the mains using the universal power cord and AC adapter that is included in the box. Should you wish to use it somewhere that doesn’t have access to mains power, you can also insert 6 D batteries (not included) in the battery compartment underneath. The instruction booklet also included in the box is very clear and easy to read. It isn’t hard to work out how to use to ball launcher if you don’t read the instructions as it’s so sleek and has minimal knobs and buttons, but I would recommend you read the booklet as it details how to adjust the angles and distance and also contains information on where to get further guidance on the product.

So, once we plugged the ball launcher in and took it outside, the dog looked at it and then dismissed it. He then saw the 2 tennis balls included with the launcher and gained a little more interest although he probably just wanted to chew them. Because of my worries for my beloved plants, we started on the preset lowest settings.

To adjust the distance that the balls are launched you simply locate the tennis ball shaped knob, pull and turn it anticlockwise to increase the distance. Simple. There are 9 different distance settings that range between 2.5 to 9 metres depending on your location. We never upped the distance setting too much as although our garden is a comfortable size it’s not huge. If you have a very large garden or plan to use the ball launcher on dog walks then the longer distance settings will be amazing.
Adjusting the angle that the ball will launch is just as simple as adjusting the distance except this time you use the paw shaped knob, pulling and turning anti-clockwise for a higher angle, the highest being 45 degrees. We did get a lot of use out of this setting because as I mentioned earlier, I’m sure Tommy is part kangaroo so the combination of the ball launching higher, but closer made for a very happy Tommy.

At this point I was also very happy too, because of being able to adjust the settings to suit our environment neither the dog, nor a ball, had landed on any plants. I was also happy that the ball launcher didn’t just throw balls out randomly as I’d imagined. It’s all actually a very calm and controlled process thanks to the built in motion sensor. The sensor detects movements from up to 2 meters away. So once Tommy had decided he quite liked this new shiny toy because it gave him balls and he wouldn’t move away from the launcher, the sensor kept him safe as it pauses the launching process. Once we managed to get him to learn that if he kept away he would get the prize of the ball, he started to leave the machine alone and stand far away eagerly awaiting the ball. I was also grateful for this feature as I have a 7 year old daughter and didn’t want any balls to be launched directly at her if she was stood in front of it. The sensor keeps the whole process very safe for pet, human and garden alike.

The idea of the PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher is that the human puts a standard tennis ball into the ‘hopper’ purple recess on the top, the ball launches, and the very well trained happy dog puts the ball back into the hopper itself before moving away to a safe distance and the process repeating again. With Tommy (and I suspect most dogs), it didn’t quite happen this way. The ball launched, Tommy ran for it, caught it, and promptly laid down to start chewing it. Of course, once he realized the silly humans wanted the ball a chase ensued and it took us a good few minutes to actually get hold of the tennis ball to show him that in order for the fun to happen again, it needed to go back in the hopper. But then of course he wouldn’t move away from the machine because he’d seen the ball go in it, the motion sensor kicked in and all fun paused. After some coaxing we got him further away from the machine, the ball launched, and he had his fun again. Towards the end of our first session he seemed to understand that the ball needed to go back in (although he was not happy about this and didn’t cooperate with this in any way), and he definitely started to understand that it only launched when he was away from it. I think with a certain amount of simple training most dogs would be able to grasp over time that they only have the fun once they give the ball to the machine; we’ve yet to get to that point with Tommy!
It’s worth noting that the machine does make a noise when the ball is launched, however it’s not something that bothered Tommy or us. If you have a nervous dog, or one that is wary of new sounds or objects it may take them a while to get used to it.

We all had great fun with the PetSafe Ball Launcher. It really is a great bit of kit for an active dog who loves catching and chasing balls and we’ll use it over and over again. It looks appealing, is easy to store, it’s portable, it’s safe, and after the initial purchase you only need to buy standard tennis balls to replace any worn out ones. I am also pleased to report that my garden has not been ruined yet!

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £141.99

This product can be purchased from PetSafe here.