Hello. I new to the forum and wanted opinions on what is happening to my 2.5 year old, full breed Labrador. When we throw the ball (absolutely ball obsessed, for good or bad) she goes ALL OUT. When I say all out I mean she runs as fast as she can go, 100%. So, we used to play with the ball longer, now we can only play with the chuk-it for around 15-20 minutes before she is super exhausted and she typically pukes later and it's the only time she poops soft serve. She is incapable of even managing a walk around the block after we play with the chuck-it. It appears that she is getting worse as well. We used to play ball for 30-45 minutes and she never puked before. I don't think this is normal as she is only 2.5 years old. I know about labrador exercise induced collapse. She definitely has experienced that. However, every time I have taken her to the vet, she is tested healthy. I don't want her to be a couch dog or inactive as I am very active and want her to be happy and outdoors. I worry about her long term health and quality of life. Anyone experience the same thing?
Jeeze, sometimes I should maybe bite my tongue but really - if you're doing something which causes your dog to throw up from physical exhaustion and have soft stools, why are you continuing to do it ever?!? Why assume it is healthy to exercise a dog to the point of physical collapse, just because she appeared to be able to do that when she was younger? (Has it occurred to you that perhaps the reason she now cannot exercise that hard is exactly because you exercised her too much when when she was younger??) I highly recommend you have a read of these links: http://totofit.com/tbt-think-before-throwing/ https://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/too-much-of-a-good-thing/
Totally agree with Jo. If you know your dog is suffering to the point of collapse you are being cruel to continue with that form of exercise. If you like being physical so much take her for a nice long walk.
Cooper and Tilly would stop and lie down if they got too hot or tired retrieving tennis balls. Cooper would be ready to go again if I picked up the ball, but if she lies down I'll stop for a while. If we are in our favorite park, retrieving near water, both of them, but especially Tilly would stop retrieving and go jump in the creek to cool off. We normally only go 5 or 10 minutes with a chucker to keep her from getting to hot or tired.
It sounds like she is getting over excited and getting zoomies like others have said I would stop with the ball game and just walk her. Willow gets zoomies if she sees another dog this is normal. Why don't you stop the activity before your dog reaches this stage. They don't know what is good or bad for them so we have to.
Both my dogs love to chase a ball, but I limit them to 10 throws then we move on. They might get another 5 throws further on and after that the get them in 2's always with walking and other games between the groups of throws. I'm rather strict about this. Same for fetching from water - 5 or 10 and that's it.
