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 Several
years ago, my Mum's Collie "Hobby" had an accident with a
stick that he picked up in the park while I 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" in the bushes, but I didn't know the damage it had
already done.
We carried on walking for another 15 minutes or so and then went home. When we arrived home, I noticed that Hobby was coughing a little, but he had a heart murmur and often coughed after exercise so I wasn't worried, and I just let him rest. But 20 minutes after arriving home, Hobby coughed up some lumps of blood. Luckily I saw him do it. I had no idea what was wrong but I knew he needed immediate veterinary attention. Fortunately it was during normal vet's surgery hours, so I quickly rung to say I was on my way, then we jumped into the car and sped off down to the vet's which was about 20 minutes away. |
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 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.
If he hadn't coughed up some of the blood, or if I hadn't been there at the time, he would have died from internal bleeding. As it was, he was very weak by the time we reached the vet's. The vet performed emergency surgery and to everyone'sy great relief Hobby made a good recovery and within 24 hours, he was back to his normal self. Tragically, other dogs weren't so lucky, as you'll discover if you read on.
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| Because
of Hobby's brush with death, I cringe whenever I see people in the park
throwing sticks for their dogs. On occasions I have stopped and warned
them about the dangers of stick-throwing, but they hardly ever listen. I
walk on and when I turn back to look, I see that they're still
throwing the stick for the dog and putting its life in danger with every
throw.
You may think I'm exaggerating. I wish I was. This news item appeared on the
BBC News webpage on 6th August 2008.
I have started a Hall of Shame, to name and shame companies who promote stick throwing for dogs. The Kennel Club of Great Britain can be the first on the list. They gave 2nd prize in a photographic competition to a dog playing with a stick. The Kennel Club should definitely know better but when I e-mailed them to complain, all I got was a sarcastic e-mail tagged onto the end of another e-mail saying to the innocent office girl "reply to this woman although I have the feeling that nothing is going to please her!" In fact, the Kennel Club still has photos of dogs with sticks on its website such as this one and this one and they've printed a photo of dogs playing with sticks in their latest KC Yearbook so they are continuing to be irresponsible and can stay top of the list in my Hall of Shame. Second on the list is Pedigree Chum for their Better By Nature television advert which claims that natures provides the best toys, ie sticks. I e-mailed Pedigree Petfoods several times via their website but initially I didn't even got an acknowledgement let alone a reply. I had to write to the Managing Director of Mars Petcare who own Pedigree Chum before I got a response but their response was that it was an advert about the good things that nature provides and sticks are one of those good things? Oh yeah, so good they can rip your dogs throat open! Nice one Pedigree Chum! I
had a good response from Arden Grange, who used a photo of a dog
with a stick in a magazine advert. After I pointed out the dangers of
sticks, Arden Grange apologised and promised not to use the ad again.
What a shame that the Kennel Club and Pedigree Chum aren't
as responsible and caring. |
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