Sam, the crossbreed,
belongs to Kay Westgate of Harlow in Essex. Read Kay's account of the
injury that
Sam sustained when she threw a stick for him.
"Sam. my little crossbreed is ball mad and some time ago when out walking
I threw a stick for him to fetch as I'd forgotten to take his ball with me.
He went flying out after the stick and came running back to me with the
stick protruding from either side of his mouth.
It was quite a long stick and as he ran, it fell from his mouth so that
one end went into the the ground but the other end was pointing upwards.
Sam ran over the stick and the result was that the pointed end went straight
into his groin area alongside his right back leg, causing a very nasty deep
hole.
I could see that he needed immediate attention from the vet. I telephoned
and took him to the surgery straight away. He was taken straight into
the operating theatre and needed emergency surgery to repair the damage that
the stick had caused.
It required proper cleansing, stitches and a course of antibiotics.
Fortunately, Sam did make a full recovery. He was very lucky that the stick
didn't damage any muscles, tendons or internal organs."
Kay teaches clicker training classes and she now warns everyone of the dangers
of sticks.
Sam is now a TV and film star and has appeared in Grange Hill, The Bill,
Frankenstein, 101 Dalmatians, and Tom's Midnight Garden to name but a few.
His most famous role was as Crabb in Shakespeare in Love.
Check out Kay's website at K9 Clickers.com to read
more about Sam, plus top dog training tips from Kay, details of her training
classes and loads more.
**************************
Freya's Story
Freya, the Border
Collie, is owned by Lynette Hamblin from Hampshire.
Lynette wrote to me saying "I hope your website does deter people from throwing
sticks. But some people won't learn from others' experiences.
I know because I was one of them ! I was warned not to throw sticks for my
border collie Freya. Told horror stories of dogs that had been blinded
by a falling stick. So what did I do? I threw sticks for Freya.
I was careful, and she did so enjoy it. I was convinced that Freya wasn't
in any danger.
I discovered how dangerous this was while killing time at a Southdowns Agility
show at Netley. It was in the days when clear rounds were a rarity and a place
unheard of but on this particular day, Freya had done a clear round and there
was a chance she might get placed. The results were after lunch so there
was an hour to wait. I was throwing sticks on the smooth fast grass at the
Royal Victoria Park, one of which bowled end on pointed end. At the time
I did not realise that Freya had overrun it and that it had pierced her tongue
from underneath. We carried on playing although I thought Freya seemed a
bit subdued, gathered our clear round rosette - just missing a place in Novice
Jumping and I went home feeling very pleased with our day.
Once we were home, I discovered to my horror that there was blood on her
blanket in the car. And on closer examination saw this inch deep gash on the
lower side of her tongue. I rushed her to the vet in a panic berating
myself for my stupidity the while where he examined Freya and calmed me down.
I was very lucky. The stick only created a painful gash in her tongue. Another
centimetre and it could easily have gone through her upper palette into her
brain and killed her.
There's not much that the vet could do for the tongue. Stitches were not
an option. Just antibiotics to ward of infection, sloppy food to make eating
less painful, and wait for it to heal, which fortunately it did remarkably
quickly.
Needless to say I've never thrown another stick. But 5 years later
Freya still remembers that chasing sticks is fun and will pick up sticks and
present them to strangers. They take the stick, but I tell them to
leave it and explain why so they don't throw sticks for their own dogs!"
***********************
Danny's Story
Danny, the Weimaraner
is owned by Denise Curren of Hartlepool. Danny suffered a nasty injury
which was caused by a stick.
Denise wrote to me saying "While out on a walk, a friend threw a stick for
one of my dogs (I was carrying his
ball on a rope, but too late he was gone!) Danny bounded after the
stick but when he stopped he gave a yelp. We ran over to see what was wrong.
He was standing on rough ground, one foot was in a hole and head was hung
low. I checked him all over, including in his mouth and could find nothing
wrong, I thought he might have twisted his ankle by falling down the hole
so I gave it a rub. He then ran off as if to say 'I'm ok now thanks'.
He ran about for at least a further 45 minutes, the only suggestion that
all was not 100% was the way he carried his ears, slightly drawn back.
It wasn't until we got home that he really started to look unwell, but still
there was nothing visible. Various thoughts went through my mind. Maybe he'd
been stung or bitten, or was he having an allergic reaction to the stick,
etc? I decided to give him a drink, and I'm so pleased I did, because I noticed
that he was having trouble swallowing the water, and this was the first clue
as to what was wrong. The second clue was that he spat out the water that
he couldn't swallow and there was blood in it.
I took Danny to the vets but he was unable to see what was wrong until he
was given a general anaesthetic and a proper examination. Then they found
a hole the size of a man's index finger which went right through the very
base of the tongue. They washed out the hole and luckily didn't find any fragments
of the stick, it was a clean puncture.
The depression that Danny's foot went into must have thrown him off balance
at the exact time he had gone to grab the stick and the extra force pushed
him down onto it.
Outcome, one pierced tongue, as easy as that!
Danny was very lucky. The injury could have been much worse.
Guess what - we now warn people of the dangers and we don't allow anyone
to throw sticks for our dogs and also advise they follow this rule with their
own dogs."
********************
Lester's Story
Lester, the Border
Collie belongs to Breda Dallimore of Woking. He suffered a nasty injury caused
by a stick in November 2000.
Breda takes up the story....
"It was my own fault and I am so ashamed. I used to choose light twigs
for him to chase but only in the
heather so that he would bounce through the foliage and then forage around
for the stick!
However, on this occasion, we had just got out of the car and he looked
longingly at this particular stick. I threw it for him, but he got there
quicker than I thought he would and it bounced long ways into his mouth.
The yelp he gave was just heart-rendering.
I looked in his mouth and although there was no bleeding, as such,
I could see a red patch at the back of his throat. I thought I should take
him to the vet just to make sure there were no splinters loitering in his
throat.
Jo, my vet, initially did not think it was too serious but suggested that
I bring him back later on so that she could sedate him and make a more detailed
examination. It was about 10am and she asked me to come back at 12.30.
The next two hours seemed endless. Lester was clearly in shock and
just sat by the patio doors staring out into the garden. He did
not want to have anything to do with me, it was as if he thought I had deliberately
hurt him!
When I returned with him to the surgery at 12.30 he did not hesitate to
go with the vet, which said a lot! I then had to wait a further three
hours before hearing anything, during which time, of course, I convinced myself
that he had died under the anaesthetic!
When I collected Lester in the evening Jo told me that she'd found a large
haematoma at the back of his throat which had required draining and suturing
but she was pleased with how the surgery went and was confident that Lester
would make a full and quick recovery.
He did recovery quickly and I put the whole bad incident behind me.
BUT, almost a month to the day afterwards, we witnessed Lester's
first epileptic seizure. It was some time later, after the various investigative
procedures - a brain scan, blood tests, spinal tap etc etc showed nothing
untoward, I was asked if he had received any traumas, and of course he had.
So now I am paying a very high price in guilt because whenever he has a
seizure I am reminded of that one second of stupid irresponsibility that
has reduced the quality of Lester's life."
****************************
Tammy's Story
Tammy, the 5 year
old Collie cross, was owned by John Willis of Newbury.
Tammy wasn't particularly interested in sticks, she was happy just to flit
around the forest looking for squirrels
to chase. Occasionally (if she couldn't find a squirrel) she would
chase her Rottweiller friend Ben, and they would race off together, barking
happily as they ran.
On this particular fateful day, Ben had picked up a stick and was proudly
carrying it.
John didn't believe in throwing sticks, he knew how dangerous they could
be if they were thrown but Ben was just carrying this one and he didn't see
any harm in that. He knew that Ben would get bored with it and drop it before
long anyway.
But before Ben dropped the stick, Tammy decided to run up behind him to
instigate a chase.
Ben obviously thought that Tammy was after his stick and he turned his head
away just as Tammy got alongside him. The stick that Ben was carrying
was long, protruding at least 10 inches out to the side of his mouth, and
unfortunately the end of it was jagged. As Ben turned his head, the
jagged end of the stick ripped across Tammy's eye, tearing the eyeball.
Tammy was screaming and lying on the ground scratching at her eye with her
paws. John was quite a long way behind the dogs but he ran to Tammy's aid
and when he saw the gaping hole that was once Tammy's beautiful brown eye,
he almost passed out.
They were a long distance from the car park, but John took Tammy in his
arms and got back to the car as quickly as he could. He drove Tammy straight
to the vet, who performed an emergency operation to remove the eye. Several
splinters of stick were still in the eye so it was a very tricky and lengthy
operation.
John saw Tammy after the operation. She was on a high dose of painkillers
but she looked quite comfortable and despite the vet's warnings that she was
still in a critical condition, John never doubted that she would pull through,
and would soon be chasing Ben and the squirrels in the forest again.
However, the following day, John received a phonecall from the vet to say
that he had some bad news. Tammy had developed septicaemia and had died of
toxic shock.
John just couldn't believe that Tammy had gone. He felt so guilty.
He would never have allowed Ben to carry a stick if he'd known how dangerous
it was, but who could have guessed that one dog carrying a stick could kill
another dog in a tragic twist of fate?
John still has Ben but he doesn't allow him to carry sticks any more, and
he makes sure that Ben keeps away from any other dogs that are carrying sticks.
********************
Chelsey's Story
Chelsea, the Whippet-mix
is very lucky to be alive. Her owner, Wendy Jones of Poole in Dorset,
relates the horrifying story of Chelsea’s encounter with a stick.
“We have two dogs, Chelsea, a Whippet-mix who is 4½ years old and
Savannah, a purebred whippet who is 1½ years old.
I have always believed that sticks were bad for dogs, and have always discouraged
my dogs from stick
playing. However, when we moved house we had to cut some trees out at the
new place. Savannah, who was a puppy at the time, taught Chelsea how to eat
sticks, and as much as we tried to be diligent in clearing them from the yard,
they would even pull them straight off the trees.
In the summer of 2001, we were inside the house and the dogs were playing
outside. They weren’t really out of our sight, we could still see them from
where we were in the house. Suddenly Chelsea came running in terrified,
pawing and scratching madly at her mouth and appeared not breathing. I suspected
straight away that she’d got a stick caught in her mouth. I put my fingers
into her mouth looking for the stick I believed was there, and could find
nothing. I did 'doggie heimlich' and she started breathing but I kept
reaching into her mouth and throat to find the stick It had lodged at
the top of her mouth in the back of her pallet - took me ages to find it.
And in her panic to dislodge the stick with her tongue she had got her tongue
caught and swallowed it. Fortunately I was able to bring it back up
with my fingers.
Although it was probably only a minute or two, my life and hers flashed
before my eyes! Who would have thought she could swallow her tongue
while trying to dislodge the stick. If I hadn’t acted as quickly as
I did, she would have choked to death on her own tongue. (Incidentally the
only physical damage the stick caused was a small scratch to the palate!)
The good thing to come out of the day is that we had someone visiting who'd
never seen anything like that. I guarantee he won't forget it in a hurry
and will NEVER let his dogs have sticks.
Neither will I !!!"
************************
Poppy's Story
Poppy's story
was sent to me by her doting owners Dave and Cheryl Bayliss from Richmond
in Surrey.
Dave takes up the story.
"As a dog trainer I was aware of the dangers of throwing sticks and the
injuries that they could cause . 
My Labrador Poppy, who is 8 years old, loves retrieving and will chase anything
that is thrown for her, and will run to it like her life depends on it, giving
200% always.
On one particular lovely sunny Sunday last year we were at our agility training
ground which we share with the scouts. The scouts were doing a camp-over
and as usual when the scouts were there they enjoyed watching the dogs working.
We had finished for the day and were clearing away the equipment. Most of
the dogs were now off lead and enjoying the run around.
While our backs were turned one of the scouts picked up a stick and threw
it for Poppy. Poppy along with 2 or 3 others dogs raced off after it,
Poppy was not used to being last for anything and despite her age, got to
it first. The stick was just landing and sticking point first out of the ground
when Poppy pounced on it. She did not cry out, in fact we wouldn't have noticed
anything was wrong if it was not for Poppy's reaction She would normally
race back but on this occasion she stumbled to the floor coughing. Although
she soon got up, I went over to see if she was all right. At first I thought
she was ok, there didn't seem to be any sign of a problem but Poppy didn't
quite seem herself so I took a closer look.
This time when I opened her mouth there seemed to be blood everywhere, even
coming out of her nose. I could see what looked like a hole in the soft palate.
I was horrified. I scooped her up and carried her to the car. It's at
times like these that you wish you had a blue light to get you though the
traffic, meanwhile my wife was telephoning the vet's to tell them we were
on the way.
" No need to bring her in now! If she's still not well in the morning, bring
her then" we were told by the vet's nurse.
However, we insisted that Poppy needed to be seen now and would not take
NO for an answer.
We arrived at the vet's only to be kept waiting for 5-10 minutes. When we
did go in to see the vet she confirmed that the stick had punctured the soft
palate but could not tell how bad the damage was or if there was any of the
stick still embedded in the wound.
Poppy was rushed into surgery for a life-saving operation. The vet could
only offer a 50/50 chance of her pulling though. Can you imagine how
we felt? We went home distraught, waiting for a phone call.
It was 1½ hours before we got a call from the vet to say that the
surgery had gone well. The wound had been deep but the stick had not travelled
beyond her palate. No splinters had been found and the wound had been stitched.
We could pick her up the following morning.
So the following morning we collected Poppy from the vet's. We were given
tablets to stop infection and instructions on what to feed her, only very
soft food, no off lead exercise and told to try to keep her quiet.
Everything was fine for 3 days until we heard Poppy coughing and noticed
blood in her mouth again. A call the vet's and we on our way back, despite
carrying out all the instructions to the letter.
The stitches had broken down and Poppy had to undergo yet another emergency
operation to save her life. Luckily this time the operation was successful!
A few weeks of soft food, plenty of rest (not easy for our Poppy) and 2-3
visits back to the vets for checkups and Poppy was finally given a clean bill
of health (I won't mention the bill that we were given !!!).
We had nearly lost Poppy and put her through many weeks of pain and discomfort
and we felt so guilty that we had let her down by letting it happen.
And all we had done was turn our backs for a second."
*********************
Rye's Story
Rye, the Border
Collie, is owned by Julie Holmes from Dublin.
Julie said "For many years one of my favourite games to play with my dogs
was to ‘fetch the stick’ and like
most other people I thought no harm would come to my dog. How wrong I was.
When Rye was only about 6 months old I was throwing a stick for him to run
and play with. He charged up to it and grabbed it by the end (he was holding
it like a person might chew on a pencil).
As he turned to run back to me it slipped out of his mouth and he lunged
forward to grab it. In doing so the stick stuck into the ground and as he
still had it in his mouth it stabbed the back of his throat. He screamed and
ran back to me shaking in pain.
In one short second Rye’s game of fun had turned into an experience of horrific
pain and fear and I had been the one to cause it.
I took Rye to the vet who examined him and confirmed that the stick had
indeed stabbed him and although Rye was still in pain it appeared, at the
time, that no serious damage had been done and he had been extremely lucky.
Unfortunately that wasn’t quite true – as the scar tissue healed it became
so thick that it left Rye with a problem when he panted after a lot of exercise.
He was alright if he kept his head up but he was unable to breath properly
if he lay on his side.
He learned to adapt to the problem, and became an Irish Obedience Champion
BUT I have never forgiven myself, I could have killed him because I did a
stupid thing and threw a stick.
I will never make that mistake again".
**********************
Dusty's Story
Frankie Wheeler
from Purley in Surrey contacted me to let me know about the accident her bitch
Dusty had some years ago.
"About 20 years ago I had a beautiful cross-breed, Dusty. She was
my only dog in those days. 
One day we were playing sticks. She raced out very fast after the stick
I'd just thrown for her, but it was sticking upright in the ground as she
reached it. It pierced the back of her throat and she screamed and
dropped the stick. I caught her and forced her mouth open, only to
be horrified to see a round hole about an inch in diameter in the soft tissue.
She was reeling all over the place, and I honestly thought that the stick
has gone into her brain.
I rushed her straight to the vet who told me that it couldn't have reached
the brain because dogs have bone both above and below their brains, so the
stick had only come up against a layer of bone. However, he
gave her antibiotics to guard against the possibility of infection, and told
me to feed Dusty on soggy Weetabix and milk for three days to allow the hole
to heal.
And heal it did, in three days! I was amazed at how quickly the hole
had closed up, but was
always grateful for the miracle that the stick did so little damage".
Dusty was very lucky that the stick did not cause a worse injury, but needless
to say, my car is now full of toys, not sticks.
*********************
Rosie's Story
I received an
e-mail from Tracy Imbs in Queensland, Australia. Her BC bitch Rosie had a
nasty encounter with a stick and she wanted to share the experience.
"Rosie loved sticks and I thought I was doing the right thing by making
sure I always threw them sideways so
there was no chance of any of them getting lodged in the ground upright.
As a member of the Border Collie Appreciation Website I had noticed the
link to this website and thought I would read it one day. Having not read
it but thought there could be some stories to tell, I decided this particular
day, two weeks ago, that Rosie was not going to get any more sticks. So,
off to the park we went with tennis balls.
Rosie chased them but wasn't as excited about the whole thing. We played
"ball" for quite awhile and just before we were ready to go home I thought
I would give her a couple of throws with a stick because she really wasn't
as enthusiastic about the balls. If only, if only.......
I threw the offending stick side ways, as I always had. It landed flat on
the ground before Rosie got to it but in her Border Collie trait she lowered
her head and scooped the stick up only to "spit" it out and gag. She slithered
over to the shade of a tree with ears back. Straight away I thought "why?"
There was no obvious bleeding but she was very docile. We walked home and
she seemed very quiet. When we arrived home, she went to her water bowl to
have a drink, but she couldn't.
I thought, "Oh no, what have I done?" I had a look in her mouth but there
was no sign of injury. However, on closer inspection and opening her mouth
wider there behind her tongue, at the back of her throat, I could see a big
hole.
I rang the Vet straight away and we got an immediate appointment.
On examination the vet said she had quite a nasty wound down there and she
would need to go under a general anaesthetic to have it checked for foreign
matter and then have it flushed out to clean it all.
I was devastated. Rosie wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't thrown
that last stick for her. I had already decided to wean her of sticks so why
did I throw another stick?
That afternoon when we returned to collect Rosie, the vet said she had three
significant holes in the back of her throat but fortunately she would recover.
Two weeks down the track and $230 dollars later, Rosie is doing fine after
a course of antibiotics. We have just had Christmas and Rosie got some lovely
new toys - ball on a rope and a soft squeaky Santa.
However, I feel so guilty and if I had read your article earlier then our
unfortunate incident would not have happened. I am now an advocate for
no sticks and have printed out your poster and cards which I will give to
my Vet and to our Obedience Club."
********************
Amber's Story
I received an
e-mail from Brenda in Chichester, West Sussex. Her 7-month old Goldie
pup Amber had a very nasty experience with a stick and she wanted to warn
others of the dangers that sticks pose even when they aren't being thrown.
"We were out for our usual morning walk with Amber our 7 month Golden Retriever
and her big brother
Paddy aged 3. Having been let off lead Amber did her usual
round of the bushes while we walked on ahead.
Suddenly we heard what I can only describe as a scream from behind us and
turned around to see Amber lying on the ground next to a broken stick.
Not really sure what had happened, we attempted to look into her mouth, whereupon
she became very distressed and completely refused to open her jaws.
As she was obviously very distressed and in pain, we decided to take her to
the out of hours vet (it happened on a Sunday). This vet could not get
Amber to open her jaws either, so gave her a slight sedation to have a quick
look. He said she had lacerated her soft palate and, after giving
her some antibiotics and a painkilling shot, instructed us to see our own
vet the following morning, who would anaesthetise Amber and have a good look.
We duly took Amber along to our own vet the next morning, and he gave her
a general anaesthetic, cleaned the area and giving us some further supplies
of antibiotics and painkilling medication, said that she thought it looked
clean and would probably heal over ok.
Two weeks later, Amber seemed better, so went on a planned holiday to Austria
while Amber and Paddy went into kennels. On the day before we
were due to fly home, the kennels phoned to say that they had taken Amber
to the vet, as she had developed a lump on the underside of her jaw and down
into her neck. When we arrived home the next day, we were horrified
to see that the lump was the size of a tennis ball and rock hard.
We again visited our vet on two further occasions and after 2 weeks of antibiotics,
the lump had gone down to marble size.
The vet suggested we have a trial period with no antibiotics to see what
happened. She said if there was a foreign body (ie a splinter) in her
neck, then the most likely scenario would be that the lump would return.
Sure enough 2 days later the lump was tennis ball size once more.
At this stage the vet said there was no other course than to explore the
lump surgically and warned that this was quite a big operation. She
also warned that it was possible that she may not find the splinter and that
sometimes they can migrate and it becomes a longstanding problem requiring
several operative procedures.
Amber went in for the op, and we were all very pleased when the vet discovered
the cause of the problem. A splinter about 1-inch long and quite
thick. It had become buried deep in the muscle tissue of her neck.
She needed an 8-inch incision and 2 drains in the wound. The incision
drained pus, blood and serum for 3 days.
Following the operation to remove the splinter from Amber's neck, she had
the drains removed. However the next day a large swelling - the size
of a small melon appeared at the operation site.
A trip to the vets revealed that she had developed a seroma. This
is a condition arises when a quantity of tissue has been removed, and the
body tries to fill the remaining space by producing fluid. This can
continue for some time, until the body realises that this is not needed.
I had to take Amber to the vet every day to have the fluid drained off, until
eventually the vet taught me how to do it myself. It was not a pleasant
procedure to carry out, but fortunately Amber was very good and did not protest.
After about 10 days of draining the fluid, it slowly resolved and now almost
5 weeks after the operation she is almost back to normal. She has a
small gristly swelling over the operation site, but this apparently will go
over time.
All in all this was a most distressing event for all of us, not to mention
costly in terms of vet fees (£1,300). I would urge everybody
to discourage their dogs from picking up sticks by whatever means they can.
Certainly Amber will no longer be taken for walks where she can disappear
into the undergrowth and come out with a stick in her mouth!!
This has been an awful experience for Amber at her young age, and at present
she has now developed a vet phobia which was not present before this incident.
This has been an upsetting and very expensive experience for us, but the
most important thing is it has been just terrible for a puppy of 7 months
old.
We are hoping that within the next few weeks, our boisterous bundle of fun
will be back again".
**********************
Ben's Story
I received an
e-mail from Michelle in Wadebridge, Cornwall.
She said "I am sat at my computer after looking at the case histories of
dogs and the dangers of sticks. I hope you don't mind but Id like to
share my story with you.
It started on Monday 10th April 2006. I had gone to the shops, my teenage
son was home, and for no known reason my friend's teenage son went around
the back of my house, and took it upon himself to let Ben, our 13-year old
Collie out and throw sticks for him, (something we NEVER do).
I rang home for something and my son told me that Ben had been hurt,
but he was unsure what was wrong.
When I got home I could see that Ben was not himself at all. He was very
quiet and dribbling. I rang the vet who told me to take him to the surgery.
Ben was given an anaesthetic, and later, the vet rang me to say he had removed
a two inch piece of wood
from the back of his tongue.
But there was more damage than that. A few days later, I had to drive
Ben from Cornwall up to the veterinary college in Bristol, where he had to
undergo major surgery to clean and investigate his neck and chest.
After the operation, Ben had a feeding tube put into his tummy because he
couldn't eat anything via the mouth. Due to Ben's age, we were praying that
our beloved pet would be strong enough to get through this.
Ben stayed at the veterinary college at Bristol for 10 days. The vet
rung every morning with an update, and fortunately each day Ben was slightly
better than the day before.
The vet took these pictures of Ben with his feeding tube, and showing the
huge incision that he needed in order to clean up his insides and remove the
pieces of stick.
Even when Ben was allowed home,
he still had the feeding tube inserted and had to have all his meals via the
tube.
No dog should have to go through this, especially one of Ben's age.
Dogs will chase anything that's thrown for them, but it's down to us to make
sure that we only throw things that are safe. Please let Ben's story be a
warning to you all, and don't throw sticks for dogs.
As well as the traumatic experience that Ben had, the vet bill came to over
£2000, so that was pretty traumatic for us too!!!"
reprinted with kind permission from Sharon Webley
was walking him. Nobody was throwing it for him, he just found it
and picked it up. As soon as I saw him with the stick, I took it from
him and "lost" it in the bushes, but I didn't know the damage it had already
done. 
On examination, it was discovered that somehow, when Hobby had picked up
the stick, it had gone down into his throat. It had sheared off one of his
tonsils and he was still bleeding from it. He'd been bleeding for over
45 minutes and had been swallowing the blood. 
from Hastings. 
To begin with, Zany was scratching at her eye and was in obvious pain. The
vet examined her. He could see something behind the eye and his first thought
was that she may have a brain tumour. 
