Wimberley entrepreneur launches pioneering dog toy

Wimberley resident Jerome McLaughlin and his business partner Flynn have created a dog toy that could make conventional ball launchers obsolete. Called the GITIT MAX, the toy consists of a donut-shaped ring that is thrown with a flexible launcher. The innovative design of the ring generates an unusually fast topspin speed that triggers a dog’s chase instinct by running along the ground after it is launched.

“If your dog could invent a fetch toy, it would be this one,” said McLaughlin, founder of Top Spin Toys LLC. “Dogs don’t want to retrieve stuff; they want to chase things.”

According to McLaughlin, his co-inventor and business partner, Flynn, generated the earliest model of the toy. “One day, several years ago, Flynn brought me a flattened ball from the garage that must have been under the tire of my jeep. I tossed it to Flynn and noticed how the shape, with the flattened middle, spun and moved. It went much further than I expected.”

Unlike conventional ball launchers that toss a ball in the air that lands on the ground with a plop, the new toy sends the ring racing at high speed along the ground. This dynamic action, he says, triggers a dog’s natural predator-prey instinct and turns a game of fetch into a full-speed pursuit. His design, he said in a recent outing to demonstrate the toy, travels twice as fast and far as any handheld or automated ball launcher.

“With the exception of a couple of breeds of dogs, most dogs don’t naturally look up in the air when playing,” Mc-Laughlin said. “They chase. Chasing something along the ground doesn’t create some of the injuries that jumping, twisting and landing to retrieve something in the air causes.”

McLaughlin says playing with the GITIT MAX completely exercises Flynn in about 15 minutes in what used to take an hour of play. For dog owners with smaller yards, he is currently designing a mini version.

McLaughlin was easing out of a career with the Department of Defense and was contemplating his next move when Flynn nudged him with the idea. “After a lot of experimentation, I worked with a design company in Austin who refined the shape of the ring to enhance its top speed. Then we explored materials to make sure the ring was safe and could stand up to aggressive chewing. By adding a ridge on either side of it, I found that I can tip the ring up with my foot to get it in the launcher without getting dog slobber on my hands.”

From there, Mc-Laughlin refined the shape of the launcher and tested different substances to make sure it was flexible, lightweight and durable. Once the prototype passed all of the physical tests, McLaughlin tackled the manufacturing, shipping, and marketing processes.

To raise a little money and awareness, Mc-Laughlin created an online crowdfunding campaign. He installed the toy on the Amazon marketplace, created an e-commerce site, gitit- toys.com, created a media kit and YouTube video and officially launched his product in April.

Now reaching out to local businesses and organizations who might

PHOTO BY TERESA KENDRICK

be interested in carrying the toy, McLaughlin, with business partner Flynn at his side, is looking back at his journey as a 21st century entrepreneur.

“We live in an interconnected, do-anything, work-from-anywhere, kind of world. Amazing ideas are being born right across the street with new businesses booming in houses just around the corner,” he said. “With a computer, internet access, a little creativity, and a whole lotta gumption, anyone can start a business doing just about anything. Even if you happen to live in a semi-remote soulful little hill country town like Wimberley.”

Are you a Wimberley 21st century entrepreneur? Tell us your story by emailing tkendrick@wimberleyview.com .