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".