Don't throw sticks for your dogs is on the front page of The Times today as if it is new and ground breaking. Didn't we already know it was a bad idea.
It was also on some rubbish tv programme this morning, couldn't believe that the presenters were actually arguing that throwing sticks was a normal thing to do, switched off in disgust at this , only watched for the weather
I would say many people have no idea it's a bad idea. People are always surprised when I tell them that my two aren't allowed to chase/carry sticks or rocks.
I have always said do not throw sticks for dogs, but people don't take it on board. I know of one dog who died and during my work as a vet nurse, several died and somw were horribly damaged in the throat.
I know I see people do it but don't say anything any more as they just look at me like I'm crazy. You can explain the damage it could do and that surgery on wood damage is really hard and they can't always get it all out then they just carry on throwing sticks. I think most people don't think it will happen to them until it does. I don't throw sticks never have never will.
I struggle with sticks with Ella as she always picks them up when she's excited so I'm forever taking them off her. I'm seeing improvement on walks as her "leave it" is improving but we really struggle when we're playing around water. She'll always pick up a stick and swim off with it. Obviously I'm trying to avoid/prevent/correct this but I'd be interested in the types of toys people use around water as I'm hoping to find something more "interesting" to distract her.
Juno loves sticks but nowadays just picks them up and then drops them when asked; although saying that she found a lump of very mature tree trunk on our walk on Sunday and had a great game running around with it and having zoomies around it. Emily if we're gong to be around water we always carry Juno's 1lb dog dummy. she's not interested in anything else once she has the opportunity to retrieve if from water
Emily, you could try the "safe sticks' made of plastic which you can buy from pet shops, though I do not know if they float. You can also buy plastic dummies which do float.
The Kong Safestix are great, they float - but they do look....well rude. Especially the pink one. I buy blue ones.
Hehe, we actually have a green one and I completely agree, they look a little rude! My mother in law nearly had a heart attack when Ella came running into the room with it! I didn't realise that they floated, we'll give it a go next time ☺
I have a pink Kong Safestix, also have a blue in the large size. What do you mean, they look rude . They do float but are reasonably low value as far as Juno is concerned, she prefers a squeaky ball
Sam has a green Safestix , he adores it too He will pick up sticks and carry, but knows he is barking up the wrong tree where chucking them is concerned
Charlie was a horror for picking up sticks, and still is really. The bigger the better. I don't tend to worry about it too much although I certainly don't throw sticks for him. I don't rush to take them off him, or ask him to give or drop (that would make them even more exciting as that's the kind of dog he is), I just carry on what I was doing, and casually start a game with something better. Around water, we use water dummies - I don't use my standard retrieving dummies because he gets very excited and chomps, and I don't really want him to chomp the dummies I use for retrieving. I don't use safe stix - I have a couple and he will fetch them ok when asked, but doesn't love them. They aren't big or heavy enough, and not satisfying enough to carry. So I mainly stick to the same few water dummies. I also don't tend to use balls, because Labradors swim quite low in the water, and the shape of the dummy stops too much water going in their mouths, which can make them cough. More important in salt water than fresh, but still.... L16A4360 by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Hehe edzbird, we have one of those, I thought I was getting the blue one as was showing as the medium size. How wrong I was, we got the pink naughty looking one. Oh well, it works fine, as a dog toy , I hurriedly type. Apparently they do float but not tried that yet. Dexter loves a ball or his retrieving dummies which float so I've used them.
Shame on you Ben Thankfully no stick obsessed dogs here, I have bought a Safe Stix but they are not interested. A young Lab in our village was injured with a stick getting wedged he had surgery and was quite poorly for a while. His owner does not throw sticks any more.
One day i was out a walk with my friend and her lab, normally Baxter would stay on path but my friends dog takes off into the undergrowth and into the trees. Baxter took off following her, could see them chasing each other and having a great time but when i called him back he had a stick much like a small arrow stuck in at the side of his harness. What a fright i got i thought he'd stabbed himself with it. I undid his harness and thankfully he was lucky and there was no injury. I did notice the the older dog was more jumping, head up where as Baxter was head first into the thick undergrowth. He was lucky it wasn't his eye or chest.
Find this quite interesting...Dexter doesn't really love anything,he only retreives because he is asked!Because of this I've always used the lightest of everything,from the lightest weight hexabumper to the smallest rabbit skin dummy.......thinking he will be more inclined because its not heavy or bulky?I should maybe try him with heavier things and see if he is more inclined .He's so small his large rabbit skin dummy looks too big for him...... silver lining to owning my ambivalent retreiver is I have never had an stick issues....
A dog we meet was stabbed. The owners think her reflective safety vest (it was turkey season) helped wedge the stick and twist it so it went into her side. When she got back to them the stick was gone but bits of bark were on her vest so this is just a guess. She was bleeding. She needed some stitches but was fine otherwise.
