Pretty much every dog that has ever lived loves a game of fetch. As far as a dog is concerned there is nothing more fun than chasing a Stick across the park and bringing it back to repeat again, ad infinitum…or until their owner has had enough!

But there are many dangers associated with the game of fetch which it is important to be aware of if you are a dog owner.

The Dangers Of Fetch

Tongue Splinters

Tongue splinters are a very real danger when you are throwing sticks for your pooch. While they may not sound like a particularly big problem Tongue Splinters are incredibly painful for your dog and will make it painful for your dog to eat and drink. They can also lead to infections if not identified and dealt with quickly.

How To Avoid Tongue Splinters

Tongue splinters are easily avoided by simply swapping a stick for either a ball or a nice Rubber Toy stick. Neither of these will ever cause your dog to get splinters and they can both be bought for pennies!

Leg Joint Damage

Dogs shift more of their body weight onto their front legs when they are carrying a stick, while this helps with balance it also puts additional stress on the joints in their front legs.

Depending on the weight of the stick up to 80% of your dogs weight may be supported by its front legs when it is carrying a stick, this can put considerable stress on your dogs joints, this is especially concerning if your dog is relatively old.

How To Avoid Damaging Your Dog’s Leg Joints

Most damage to the leg joints are done when your dog is carrying a stick that is simply too big. While it can be tempting to throw oversized sticks for your dog so that you can enjoy the amusing spectacle of them struggling to bring it back this is not good for your dog.

Instead use an appropriately weighted which your dog can carry with ease without having to adjust the way it carries itself. Preferably avoid sticks altogether and go for a rubber toy or a ball.

Stick Piercings

A big problem with sticks is that sometimes they will get impaled in the ground, your dog, running full pelt after that stick is at serious risk of having its body pierced when it makes contact.

While such occurrences are thankfully rare they can do serious damage to your dog causing all kinds of nasty puncture wounds which are made worse by sticks frequently splitting into many parts thus creating several soft tissue wounds at once.

Border Collies, Retrievers and Labradors are said to be the breeds which are most frequently seen by vets with stick punctures. This is because these breeds all love a good game of fetch and are quite fast when they want to be, which can be a dangerous combination when a stick lands awkwardly.

How To Avoid Stick Piercings

Again substituting the stick for a safe alternative such as a rubber toy or ball will easily keep your dog safe. You can be confident that, despite your dog’s best efforts, they will be completely unable to ever pierce their flesh on a round ball or rubber toy.

Sticks Aren’t Safe

For many people (such as Ben Fogle below) the idea of throwing a stick for your dog being dangerous seems ludicrous.

However while many people have been throwing sticks for decades without ever experiencing any injury to their dog you only need to go and speak to your local vet about stick injuries to realise that they are very common and very dangerous.

It it far better to switch to a tennis ball or rubber toy than to run the risk of injuring your dog.

If you are looking for other ways to safely exercise your dog then have at look at some of these automatic ball launchers on Milu Mimi.

Thanks for reading our article and keep enjoying your dog walks!