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!!!"