A point i would like to make Throwing sticks can kill

[seaangler]

Training your dog to Fetch....

Please use a soft training object to use for your fetch

One of my biggest hates and i will not hold back is people who throw sticks for there dogs...I NEVER do and i always takes sticks away from my dogs...I will let them chew a stick at rest....and under supervision...(as long as i can see them) after all we have not got eyes in the back of are heads...

I have seen as to what a stick can do to a dog and like i have said in previous post if you are a long way from home it can be very distressing to hear your animal in pain...The dog in question that i have seen DIED a most horrible death...lucky no children was around to see the poor animal...All i can say for a few pounds buy a rubber stick from any pet store It will not rot  it will float in water and most of all it will not hurt your animal..

A link from the paper for you to read...This dog was very lucky..all i am asking is just think first..as to the posibiletys of what could happen and for the life of me would hate or see or hear  this happening to any ones dog..

 http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterwedderburn/9878713/the_dangers_of_throwing_sticks_for_dogs/

[elaine.e]

Good point Chris.

The vet surgery that I use recently had a horrific picture (as a warning) in reception of a Labrador that had a long stick stuck crosswise in it's throat. The Lab survived but as well as the immediate surgery to save it's life it's also had to undergo extensive and intricate surgery by a specialist to rebuild parts of the mouth, throat and airways ruptured by the stick.

A cousin of mine lost a dog when she threw a stick for it and the dog caught it and choked to death because the stick blocked his airways. I also know of dogs who have either died or needed a lot of treatment after sticks have torn the roof of their mouth or throat and infection has set in.

PS to Chris - why not rename this thread something like Throwing sticks can kill?

[seaangler]

Thanks elaine..

If i can get across the dangers of this post i will be a happy chappy....

Its very heatrendering as to when you hear terrible stories of what has happen to some ones dog ....

I can smell my toast burning

[lindseyp]

Good point to make Chris & an important one too 

It's all too easy to throw 'an innocent' stick for your dog to fetch, epecially when the dog finds it & brings it to you to throw but the damage that can be done isn't so innocent at all - along with throwing stones, they can cause serious life threatening injuries. Best sticking with the multitude of relatively cheap toys that can be just as fun but much safer 

hope your toast is still edible 

[Helen]

Yes it's dangerous, especially if your dog isn't trained to wait before it's landed and then retrieve it  

It's obviously one of your pet hates Chris (along with male dogs cocking their legs).

I do, on occasion, especially in a water retrieve as per my signature use a stick for retrieval.   And my dog will carry one if he feels like it all around the New Forest.  I never allow him to retrieve while the stick is in motion and it's always a stick that is thick enough for him to have to carry like a dummy or a pheasant and if he picks it up at one end he is made to drop it and pick it up properly which I guess a lot of people haven't trained their dogs to do.   I weigh up the risks and am not an irresponsible owner.

I agree that stick throwing activities are dangerous - it depends on the stick and the dog in my view and if you confronted me and 'didn't hold back' you'd get as good as you gave  

and straight after the photo was taken in my signature, he was made to leave the stick and carry it from the middle 

[seaangler]

lindseyp.... Are Cindy is terible for picking up bid boulders out the sea and last year she has broken off half her front sharp tooth....But she just likes sticking her head under water..She looks so funny when you tutch her nerves on the side of her face to make her smile....And you see that crack tooth...Starnge dog...

[Poppsie]

I agree with you Chris about throwing sticks.  Not that long ago my parents were out with their dog walking in the field where they normaly go, and in the distance could see a man throwing sticks for his dog. As they got nearer to him and his dog, he threw a stick again which landed quite awkwardly. The dog ran over to it to retreive it and as it did so screamed out. My parents knew straight away what had happened and went over with the owner to help. The said stick had lodged so far down this poor dogs throat that no matter what they did to help it just wouldn't budge  . I'm sorry to say that the poor dog DIED in front of his owner and my parents, the dog had died because the stick had blocked it's airway . My parents were distraught for the dog and owner and said they never wanted to see anybody throw sticks for their dogs again. 

[Patp]

Thanks - I am going to buy a plastic stick from the pet shop before we start the fetch games on our walks (we currently use tennis balls).

I would hate to hurt Jinley especially as I would have encouraged the behaviour.

Good advice as always.

Pat

[seaangler]

Thanks - I am going to buy a plastic stick from the pet shop before we start the fetch games on our walks (we currently use tennis balls).

I would hate to hurt Jinley especially as I would have encouraged the behaviour.

Good advice as always.

Pat

Tennis balls are one of the best to use.Buy the proper ones from the sports shop not the cheap rubishey ones

[Karma]

Kong ones are better, as normal tennis balls wear away the teeth...

[Jessie_Pup]

Their is a toy on the market shaped like a stick.   It is called a SafeStick.   

[Michele]

I will let them chew a stick at rest....and under supervision...(as long as i can see them) after all we have not got eyes in the back of are heads...

I wouldn't even allow this. Sticks can easily splinter and I have known where a dog has chewed a stick, got a splinter stuck in its mouth and developed an abscess as a result.

[Tillymai]

Golly.... as a newbie dog owner it had never occurred to me to worry about sticks  Thankfully Bear wouldn't know what to do with one yet anyway so now I shall make sure he doesn't learn! Thanks Chris and COL - I learn something new every time I'm on here. E x

[seaangler]

Their is a toy on the market shaped like a stick.   It is called a SafeStick.  

This is the same one as i was on about also...It will bend if it tutches the ground with the ball and each end...it also flotes....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Safestix-Original-Rubber-Dog-Toy/dp/B004FPPWOA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1324493160&sr=8-3

[seaangler]

I will let them chew a stick at rest....and under supervision...(as long as i can see them) after all we have not got eyes in the back of are heads...

I wouldn't even allow this. Sticks can easily splinter and I have known where a dog has chewed a stick, got a splinter stuck in its mouth and developed an abscess as a result.

Unless you're worried that the sticks are from a poisonous plant, there's really no harm. Dogs love natural organic any thing . Some dogs chew on rocks, some eat dirt, it just happens....No more different than your dog chewing/eating some thing that is dead and roting away in the undergrowth with about every germ in imaginable on it..I have even cault cindy eathing the remains of a dead chicken and its bones that could easey get stuck in her gullet ...Who's dog hasn't!!!!