Owner Makes Amazing DIY Self-Fetch Catapult for His Rescue Dog

A dog owner has impressed the internet with a DIY solution for keeping his pup occupied.

George Giavasis, who lives in Northwest Montana, created a tennis-ball catapult for his dog Olive to play fetch with.

Sharing his invention online, Giavasis posted a video of the catapult on the Reddit group interestingasf*** where it has received more than 114,000 upvotes.

The reason dogs love to play fetch is thought to go back to their basic instincts. The activity combines many of their favorite things, including getting your undivided attention, showing off their athletic skills and burning off some energy.

Many dogs like Labrador retrievers were specifically bred to fetch items for their owners. Animals that were good at this retrieving skill would pass it down to their puppies. While your pet might not be super effective when it comes to hunting down food, they have held some of these skills, making them excellent at a game of fetch.

Although 13-year-old Olive had mellowed with age, she still loves a game of fetch. In the video, she is just 1 year old, and Giavasis was inspired to create a custom fetch device for his active pup.

"Olive was the most nuts-for-fetch dog that you could ever meet," he told Newsweek. "I'm kind of an engineering-minded person, and a bit of a tinkerer. Plus, I was in grad school at the time and apparently had a lot of free time.

"To Olive, people were just tools for fetch. I was pretty sure she would be just as happy with an actual fetch tool," Giavasis added.

Using trial and error and scraps of materials he already had, Giavasis set to work making the device.

"It's very simple, but it took a lot of trials to get it tuned just right," he said. "I hoped at the time that I could find someone else's design online and just copy it. But, when I couldn't find a single trace of another dog-operated and -powered ball thrower, I went to work."

Working over a few afternoons and using only things Giavasis already had, the project was completed. Olive was delighted.

"She was pretty happy to have a ball thrower that never got tired. But she would get a little frustrated sometimes when she was learning," Giavasis said.

In thousands of comments, Reddit users shared their reactions to the invention.

"Wait until he learns how to load squirrels," wrote one, while another posted: "Laziness is the mother of invention."

Others were impressed by Olive's ability to learn how to use the tool: "It's not just that you built him a catapult," read one reply. "It's that he has been taught how to use it." Another agreed: "At this point I feel I've failed as a dog owner."

This is not the first time that fetch has been automated. Another dog captured viral attention in March when he found a genius way to play by himself using just a treadmill.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.