Dogs love to play with toys. 

Well most dogs.

And most of the dogs that love to play with toys often like to fetch. 

Retrievers. Setters. Spaniels. Even Beagles on occasion fetch toys. 

Where am I going with this?

Well, as the title proclaims, I am talking about the amazing Jolly Ball that my 1.5 year old dog Bear was introduced to a few months ago. 

Before I explain why the Jolly Ball is an amazing toy that all dogs should love, I want to describe my dog. His name is Bear. Or Bear Paws. Or Pawsies. Or Beary Bear. Or simply, Paws. You know how dogs have hundreds of names that have spawned from their original name. Anyways, Bear is a black lab/husky mix. He is an incredibly energetic, cute, fast beast of an animal that thinks he is the king of our household. 

Now without further ado, let me introduce the toy that I have hyped up, the Jolly Ball. The Jolly Ball is an unbelievable fetching toy that will keep your dog occupied for hours on end. The Jolly Ball is composed of a rubber ball, about a foot or so in diameter. Running through the center of that plastic ball, is an intertwined rope that is approximately two feet in length and is tied on both ends.

If you are now totally lost and confused as to what the hell a Jolly Ball is, I have attached a picture of a dog playing with said Jolly Ball. 

Obviously the main reason that my dog, as well as I'm sure  thousands of other dogs enjoy the Jolly Ball is that they enjoy fetching it when you throw it. Fetching is a natural instinct for dogs and seeing a crazy ball with a rope attached to it is more than likely to get most any dogs attention. 

After the Jolly Ball is thrown however, I have found out that anything can happen. See my dog Bear doesn't understand the rules of fetch yet, so he just makes up his own rules after the Jolly Ball is thrown and runs away with the Jolly Ball hanging from his mouth. Clearly that is not fetching as it was meant to be played, but hey it's still fun. And moreimportantly it burns off a portion of the never-ending energy supply that he possesses. 

Another thing that is likely to occur once the Jolly Ball has been heaved, is that your dog will violently swing it back and forth around his head and thus it will strike him over and over again on his side. That rampageous swinging of the Jolly Ball will likely induce growling and cause your dog to get insanely intense. 

The third tendancy I have noticed when a dog is playing with a Jolly Ball is actually quite humerous. After the Jolly Ball has been thrown, Bear will sometimes (and I mean only a few times out of ten) bring his head real low to the ground and drag the Jolly Ball on the ground and act like the ball is chasing him. It is odd but quite funny at the same time. 

It is important to note that the Jolly Ball I have described in this blog is not the only type of Jolly Ball out on the market. I have come across plain rubber balls of varying size with one handle on them and they are called the Jolly Ball as well. Personally, I think the version that my dog has with the rope in the middle is the best out there. It provides him with lots of different ways to play with it. 

So there you have it. The story of the awe-inspiring Jolly Ball. 

Not bad for a toy that my mom had stored away in a closet and wasn't sure if my dog would even play with it. But who wouldn't want to play with something so Jolly?