I remember there was a thread about this recently, reading this article this morning reminded me. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/p...etch-with-sticks-can-harm-dogs-vets-warn.html Last winter my springer Alice had a very nasty abscess in her throat caused by a foreign body that had either entered through her mouth or externally, we are not sure. She doesn't play with sticks but when working hunts very thick cover, so it is quite possible that a piece of vegetation caused the abscess. It needed draining and left two massive holes in her throat. I was so worried, I was at the vets every other day with her. It did heal up completely but it left her out of action for several weeks.
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Safestix are us! Charlie stick week nine 2 by JulieTandCharlie, on Flickr
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Oh Charlie,you are a cute one!.....ill should send you a photo of the remains of our Safestix....Dexter had the first end off in half an hour! Think we should be'Industrial Rubber Are Us!' He he !
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Oh Dexter , you naughty boy Sam has a safestix, loves it and barely a tooth mark on it after about 18 months , unlike some of his soft toys who collectively have many limbs missing :
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Kate you mentioned that last week and I thought ,surely we have a cheapo copy version if Sam's has lasted so long so I looked Safestix up on the Internet.....OH no,we have the same as Sam....we just have a very determined cruncher in our midst!I am so glad he has never truly started on the house.....there would be nothing left standing!i :
Re: Playing fetch with sticks jaspers new toys are almost dead, bought him a 3 foot caterpillar this morning 50 pence on the boot sale, not many legs left toys only last him a day
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Car boots are a great idea and my way forward......don't mind paying 50 p for a few minutes fun!!!
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Angela, do you let Dexter keep the Safestix to play with? I would treat it like a dummy, for retrieving purposes only.
Re: Playing fetch with sticks To be honest Heidrun I just gave it to to him as a chew toy when he had only just arrived....so it looks like I've misused it when it could have been a really useful retrieval toy.... Ive kept it as a lure( I should just stop talking really shouldn't I!!!!)he loved to crunch on it so much that he practically goes into a trance when he sees it ,so I keep it on the top of a cupboard and when he grabs a tea towel,Tupperware,or anything else on the 'not allowed list' I only need to motion to get it and he instantly drops the illegal item!he does get the occasional supervised crunch on it too as a reward!I must turn your hair grey!......you bringing this up though makes me realize it would be worth me investing in another for if we move into training retrieval because he really does love it,so it would give me give me a great start.
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Yup, safestixs work great for fetch (I can't bring myself to call what we do "retrieve", it really is just fetch - but we have fun anyway).
Re: Playing fetch with sticks I think retrieving is only a flashy version of fetch and that's exactly where most retrieving training starts
Re: Playing fetch with sticks http://www.flickr.com/photos/97066992@N03/9178794861/ Blatant misuse of Safestix.......... Excuse the scale indicator.....only thing to hand!but you get the gist.....fetch it is next time round!
Re: Playing fetch with sticks I've been looking at these Safestiks on the Internet - haven't seen them for sale where I live. But I had to laugh a bit - there are lots of comments that the people who order them from Amazon and get a pink one are usually sending them back.... Too many comments about the "toy" apparently . So not sure i want to take a chance and order one....you can't request a colour....
Re: Playing fetch with sticks Oh funny!I bet someone god sacked in the design department for that! Ha ha ha!
