My dogs aren't allowed sticks. I'm a cruel puppy mum. But, Squidge, being a puppy, likes to explore the world with her mouth. This morning, she bounded out of the gate, straight into zoomies, picked a stick up as she went and almost immediately stopped and started pawing at her mouth, choking. Luckily J was with me and between us, we managed to hold her and see what was going on - the small stick had wedged across the roof of her mouth, between her teeth. With her struggling like a demented ferret, I managed to get my hand in to dislodge it, and all was well with the world. But it was really scary for us all!
That is very scary. I saw Red yesterday pick up something from the carpet in the sitting room. Told her to leave it - she wouldn't!! I was really concerned as I just had a feeling it was something significant and called DH. He prised open her mouth (not something we normally do). It was a bee!!! Fortunately she was ok but that was a scary moment!
Yes, horrid things. When she picks them up, I normally just do a swap, but this all happened too fast, as things do during zoomies. She was really panicked and my hand is sporting a few holes from her teeth, but, thankfully, all ended well. I would say "maybe she'll have learnt", but, no, she won't. A bee! Wow, she was lucky!
Oh yes, done the stick jammed across the teeth thing, and the bee in the mouth - they like to keep us on our toes these labradors .
If it's any consolation, Benson did this once, exactly the same, and about the same age. He panicked...pawing at his mouth. He hasn't since this picked up any small sticks, apart from really, really big ones more like branches, even then just occasionally. I hadn't really made any connection until now. The problem of stick impaction due to this type of injury becomes serious if the stick is left insitu, working its way deeper into the soft tissue creating more trauma and inflammation. Just another thumbs up for always supervising our dogs, no matter how safe we think they are.[/QUOTE]
Glad she's ok and Red too, little devils. One thing about having labs is it's improved the stress resilience of the owner.
Oh how scary! Ella once picked up a stick about half a metre long and started doing zoomies. She'd picked it up by the end so the stick was pointing straight out in front of her I was so scared that it would hit the ground but she was just a pup and I didn't know how to get her to stop! I just stood still and faced the other way and thankfully, curiosity got the better of her so she trotted over to see what I was doing. Sticks are definitely scary
Sticks terrify me after Charlie's near-death stick experience earlier this year. And guess what our garden is full of? Ugh. So glad that Luna's ok and that you had J with you to help remove it!
Scary indeed ! I hate to see people throwing sticks too , but accidents will happen to the best of us, unless we have eyes in the back of our heads , glad Luna is alright x
[/QUOTE] @snowbunny obviously I didn't mean that you weren't supervising your dogs, only because you were, the problem was sorted quickly....(oops.... )
Coco is a fan of huge sticks, less so recently - he will occasionally heave a massive one around the woods. He will prune the little sticky-out bots off, so I have to watch we doesn't get any stuck. We don't play with the smaller ones. The other thing about sticks, is not the picking up of them, it's the running into them when they're jutting out. I do worry about this. Lucky for Luna you were vigilant and quick to sort her out. Lucky Red was forced to give her bee up before it stung her. Definitely a legitimate case for prising open the mouth.
Oh it just makes my blood run cold. So glad you managed to help Luna and she's OK. xx Exactly what happened to Charlie a couple of months ago. Due to this exact scenario he nearly lost his life. The stick very narrowly missing his spinal cord and jugular. It is a real freak accident but can happen xx I really wish people wouldn't throw sticks or encourage their dogs to play with sticks ever, just too many hazards. xx
Jet got sticks wedged between her upper teeth a couple of times. The first time, very scary. She turned from happy, bouncy dog to sad, dejected, all hunched over in a couple of seconds. I thought she'd hurt her stomach, been poisoned maybe, from the hunched over position and the gagging. Same as @snowbunny I pulled out a small stick. Whew. Instant feel better for Jet, the sick feeling in my own stomach lasted a while longer.
Ah, I know exactly how you were feeling. It happened to us a couple months back...Quinn panicked and I so did I (I was alone with her). I couldn't pry the stick out and had to keep stopping and then trying again and she was getting more panicked. Sticks freak me out and she knows we get her to drop them, so will quickly snap one and sometimes hides a small piece in her mouth, which is worse than having one we can see.
Gosh this is scary...haven't had any incidences with sticks but my lab did come trotting in one day with a bit of old fencing with a rusted nail sticking out of it!
Oh dear, that is very scary! Glad it was a happy ending. I'm terrified of sticks. I had a friends dog that had something happen very similar to poor Charlie. He was running with his stick and the front end hit the ground. The stick completely impaled him and he almost bled to death. Surprisingly he did survive. I have never forgotten that, years later. Axel used to eat sticks all the time in our yard. Drove me bonkers. The last time he threw up a stick was when he threw up his cone. The stick was as long as my hand. How on earth do dogs swallow such big things and not choke?!
