Stick Eating

[Jessika]

Does anyone know how safe - or unsafe - this is? Both pups seem to always zero in on even the slighest stick laying in our yard and devour it. I've never really taken any away except when the landlord was having stuff done to his house and there were pieces of wood laying around with paint on them.. They tried chewing those and I took them away (I assumed the paint wouldn't be too healthy to eat, lol). So uhhhh should I be worried??

[Husky_mom]

i dont know how harmful could they be, but they can get splinters on their tongues or throat and could be very painful or get infected, so i would recommend to get them away from them as soon as you them chewing sticks and maybe offer some rawhide if they have the urge to chew

[elizabethann]

Fenway chewed a stick when he was about 1 years old and got an abscess (spelling?) while I was on a trip to North Carolina. He almost died. My sister was babysitting him and she just thought he missed me (didn't eat - lathargic). I got home & he had blood coming out of his mouth (my sister didn't see it so it must have just happened) so I drove 95 miles per hour to the emergency room. I was balling my eyes out. Luckily, it was caught in time & he got better.

Please be careful.

[dragondawg]

My previous dog started with pine cones and graduated later to pigmy hickory nuts. My current two don't pay that much attention to sticks or other natural things. While my neighbor's dog currently at 10 yrs has munched on sticks all her life. The Vet has always complimented the dog's teeth.

For puppies especially those 3-5 months the rule is to either give them something to chew on, or they will find something to help break in the new teeth (furniture etc). I've always given mine rawhide. Puppies will nibble around for days on the small rawhide chips. As they grow then you graduate them to rawhide bones. Mine at 2 yrs of age almost expect if not demand to chew on rawhide everynight. I usually let them chew around on their bones for 10 minutes, and then take em away. Keeps them from pigging out all at once.

[Jessika]

Thanks guys! I have been checking their teeth and gums a lot for splinters or cuts and such (I normally do that, anyway). To tell you the truth though, oddly enough.. after I made this thread they haven't been doing it hardly at ALL. Maybe they just ran out of sticks in the yard, but that's odd!

[Lady's Human]

If sticks were a danger to dogs, then Gracie (a Lab/Great Dane mix who lived 13 years) would have been in serious trouble from the get go, and Lady would constantly be at the vet.

Just like anything else, keep an eye on the pup and eveything will be fine.

[anna_66]

If sticks were a danger to dogs, then Gracie (a Lab/Great Dane mix who lived 13 years) would have been in serious trouble from the get go, and Lady would constantly be at the vet.

No kidding! Bon just LOVES to chew on sticks! Luckily no problems so far

[Bonny]

My dogs always liked to chew on sticks, actually they would haul large branches in the yard & chew on them. I found those ropes with knots on both ends that you can buy at the pet stores work pretty good for chewing on. It looks like by the pictures you have Australian Shepherds? I have a 14 year old Australian Shepherd & he use to pick up big branches & run along with them & expected me to play tug of war with him. The other dog an Australian Cattle Dog would grab onto the branch & they would play tug of war also. My sons dog had a long nylon rope he likes to tug around the yard & when he was a pup he was tugging on the rope & one of his baby teeth fell out.

[tz1]

Fenway chewed a stick when he was about 1 years old and got an abscess (spelling?) while I was on a trip to North Carolina. He almost died. My sister was babysitting him and she just thought he missed me (didn't eat - lathargic). I got home & he had blood coming out of his mouth (my sister didn't see it so it must have just happened) so I drove 95 miles per hour to the emergency room. I was balling my eyes out. Luckily, it was caught in time & he got better.

Please be careful.

I know exactly how you felt, one time I just got home and saw my poor little puppy vomitting, it looked like he was in such pain. I freaked and drove to the animal hospital asap.

[ESS-lover]

Sticks are big no-nos... they splinter and can puncture stomachs/intestines, cut gums etc.

You need to teach "leave it" and "drop" - best done on leash when the dog goes for it or gets it. Teaching "drop" is accomplished by pushing the gums from over the snout into the incisors (dog must have something in it's mouth even a toy). "Leave it" can be taught on leash with a slight tug to start and a good pop if he s/he still goes for it.

There is alot of stuff out in the world that you do not want your dogs chewing or eating for their health and your pocketbook.

Also - have some 'interesting bones/toys (flavored nylas, kongs, and stuffed bones) in the yard that you can sub for the sticks - teach that these are 'acceptable' to you for them to chew on.

I don't reccomend rawhide - it's leather (and so are your shoes/purse etc - and rawhide does break into little pieces after chewing for awhile and can lodge in the intestines (huge vet bill if that happens) - same for pig ears. If you use rawhide use a bone that is about 3x too big for the dog -- Cowboy gets NO rawhide/pig ears etc - only nylas, kongs, and non splintering hard stuff it bones - and no ropes (he will hunt and playing tug with a duck is a major offense) - he has a squishy but I am even leary of that because of it being 'his' and soft.

[Jessika]

Yup they already know 'drop' and 'leave it', thanks!