I cant beleive i still see people throwing sticks for their dog in the park how can some people not understand that it is dangerous i hope no-one does the self same thing on here :( i witnessed a man the other day throwing a stick for his dog when i approached him to mention what the results could be he snapped at me so i dont think i will try to help people anymore

Fagan has been known to fetch the occasional stick from the water (more like logs ;) ) because they have to pick them up carefully in water so can injure themselves. but we now have a floating toy for him so no more sticks (until the floating toy floats away :rolleyes: ) I would never throw sticks on land for him that is just silly.

I don't try to warn other people either, I don't think it's worth it - very few people would be receptive to a total stranger warning them about the dagner they're putting their dog in, sadly.  However, I do stop children throwing sticks for my dogs when they try to, and if another owner is throwing a stick for their dog while we're chatting I make sure I keep hold of my own dogs, or distract them with a ball.  If the owner asks why, then I tell them :)

Even carrying long sticks can be dangerous :( Tara carried a long stick when she was a pup - the end knocked on the ground and the stick snapped off in her mouth making a small hole. Fortunately it wasn't bad enough to need the vet - but I never let her even carry a stick after that :(

Daisy

It cost me almost £2000 in vet fees and almost the loss of a treasured pet because of a stick. It lodged in the back of his throat and nearly killed him

I have heard of at least 2 dogs where I live who died after chasing sticks :(

We never throw sticks for ours but I know plenty of people who still do, daft really when there are plenty of cheap toys you can play with....whats worth more, a ball costing a couple of pounds or your dogs life? Chloe and Kayla are psyched on tennis balls and Idõ loves dummies!

Emily

this really annoys me too.  the most common response i get is 'well ive been throwing sticks for him for years and ive never had a problem'.
grr, thats like sayin u drive ur car everyday and havent had a crash yet, doesnt mean it cant happen!

I've a friend in Alaska who was playing with a tennis ball with her Newf and the dog went to catch it but it lodged in the back of her throat. Thankfully with very quick thinking she managed to remove the ball before the dog suffocated. Another lady lost hers to a tennis ball, she tried to get to her vets but it was too late and the poor dog had suffocated. After hearing this I use a large bone shaped tennis ball with Bruce which he loves.

well i think its common sense with toys to get one that is the right size for your dog.  It would be silly to throw a tennis ball for a large breed dog now wouldnt it

Yes it would Jenny but people sometimes don't think of what can happen. Thats the beauty of the Newf forum I joined. We learn from one another and its the best way for first time owners of Newfs to gather useful information. We all do silly things, no one is perfect :)
The thing about that forum is its a very friendly site with even a collection called the Sunshine Club where we chip in to buy flowers or anything else like baby toys to help other people through hard times or good times. Its a US based one so they do differ on medical side of things and other small things that we don't do here like spraying bitter apple on hands. But and a big but I have never seen an argument between members no matter what subject is talked about. A real family feel :)

One of the most dangerous things about tennis balls is that even if they are big enough, if they come undone they sort of open out and can do a lot of damage, since they are then small enough to enter the windpipe. Mine get solid rubber toys to retrieve when they are not yet ready for dummies. Also I never leave my dogs unattended with toys or chews after one of them got a pigs ear stuck in his windpipe.  

Stickes are dangerous yes, same as balls, and any dog toy!  I throw plastic bottles for one.  She is forever finding them!

I think this site says it all re sticks

Thanks for the link MM, I've already printed off one of the posters which I'm gonna put in my car window and I think I'll print off another one and ask my vets to pin it up on their wall.
If we can change just one persons mind about throwing sticks and avoid what happened to those dogs it will be worth it
Emily

I was lucky a few days ago when a Staffie came around the corner with the largest stick (near enough trunk :d) and missed me by about an inch!  I advised the owner how dangerous this could have been if she'd hit me, another dog or a child. but he just wasn't bothered!

Some folk just don't want to know. :-(

Frequently, the Countryfile programme on BBC1 shows a video clip of a dog fetching a stick. Makes me wince every time. I've emailed them numerous times over the past year or so to ask them to stop showing it and also given them the link that MM mentioned. Not had any reply and it's still being shown. :-( 

I don't see any problems throwing sticks when i am supervising. I mean i don't pick up super micro mini sized sticks and make him fetch, i find bigger sticks to throw.

Makes no odds, Mannynmax - my lab got the end of a 2-foot long stick I'd thrown for her stuck in the back of her throat. The splinters needed removal under a GA, and the blood loss was significant.

Mannynmax, it doesn't make any difference how big/small the stick is or how well you're supervising, accidents can still happen. Small sticks can lodge across the throat, splinters can penetrate gums, large sticks can go into the back of the throat or worse still through the roof of the mouth and into the brain. Think how fast a dog runs for a stick, if the stick has landed at an angle into the ground and the dog runs onto it, it can do a lot of damage.

Please take time to read the case histories on the link that Moonmaiden gave.  :-)

Kath. x

I'm also one of the ones who will never throw sticks again - the last stick my dog fetched punctured her pharynx and cost £1,300 in vet bills.  Thank heavens it wasn't worse (i.e. didn't kill her), and thank heavens for insurance.

I'd heard the cautionary tales, but was in blissful "it'll never happen to me" mode too. ;) :D

M.

Thanks everyone for making this topic!
My parents ridicule me when I tell them not to throw sticks for the dog. I've just shown my mum this topic and although she made comments about how "There's a risk in everything, this is just stupid" I told her to reply to the post with her views and she shut up :D

Similar experience here.  Someone threw a stick for a dog where I work.  A while later I noticed him lying in a rather uncomfortable manner.  He had gone into shock and had gums that were almost white.  He was rushed to the vet and had a hole in the back of his throat (so far back you couldn't see it) and it was bleeding internally.  Some £800 later he was OK but it was touch and go.  The scary thing was that this could easily have gone unnoticed and the outcome would have been different.

It's true, there are indeed risks in everything. But when the risk is one of serious injury or even death, it needs to be taken seriously. To put it into perspective, there are far more people on here who've reported instances they've personally witnessed of dogs requiring urgent vet treatment from stick injuries than have known someone who caught any illness from a dog - and we know how much the media stress those risks ...

http://www.colliecorner.com/stick-to-toys/home.htm

This link might make some of you review stick throwing.........

Was just about to post that link.

My Chelsea's story is on there.  We never allow sticks, yet she still managed to suffer a stick scare / injury.

Wendy

Hi all this is my first post although I have viewed this forum many times.

Anyway in relations to the topic, To be honest I've never actually thought of the dangers of throwing a stick for my dog, but after reading this post it got me thinking.
There are a few posts that mention people thinking that the dangers a stick can do to dog are stupid or not realistic, but I'm sure that if they saw a child running around with a foot long stick in their mouth they would be very disgusted with the childs parent for letting the child do so and would say somthing like " they could easily fall over and choke".
This is just as easy to say that a dog can do the same thing, all it takes is for the stick to get caught on the ground and choke or worse as stated in a post above penetrate the back of the throut and these are only a couple of examples of how this can damage your much loved pet.

I personally have never thrown a stick for my dog or anything else for that matter as she wouldn't chase them anyway, but after reading this post I certainly wouldn't even try.

Hi All,

I think like others here I had never contemplated the potential dangers of throwing a stick for the dog.  Ollie, my golden is never interested in them anyway.

i did have a black lab called Zebo many many years ago when I was at school.  Sadly Zebo died when he was just three years old.  He had somehow eaten a golf ball (unknown to us at the time - incidentally I don't play golf and I hate the game) Anyway, he kept vomiting his food so off to the vets.  They gave him a baerium meal which only went as far as his stomach and then came back.  So they decided to operate.  Sadly Zebo died under the anaesthetic - but when they opened his stomach they found a golf ball that had mangled his stomach.  Zebo did come and say goodbye to me when I was walking home from school (not knowing he had died) but he walked down the grassy path with me - that I am convinced of. 

Anyway - more recently I met an elderly woman who was throwing a golf ball for her GSD - I explained my story and what had happened to Zebo (missing off the bit about him walking with me - incase she thought I really was mad!!)  She nodded and listened sympathetically - I then proceeded to throw the golf ball for her dog!!!

Some people are just plain stupid...