"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.