Denise wrote to me saying "While out on a walk, a friend threw a stick for one of my dogs (I was carrying his ball on a rope, but too late he was gone!)  Danny bounded after the stick but when he stopped he gave a yelp. We ran over to see what was wrong. He was standing on rough ground, one foot was in a hole and head was hung low. I checked him all over, including in his mouth and could find nothing wrong, I thought he might have twisted his ankle by falling down the hole so I gave it a rub. He then ran off as if to say 'I'm ok now thanks'. 

He ran about for at least a further 45 minutes, the only suggestion that all was not 100% was the way he carried his ears, slightly drawn back.

I took Danny to the vets but he was unable to see what was wrong until he was given a general anaesthetic and a proper examination. Then they found a hole the size of a man's index finger which went right through the very base of the tongue. They washed out the hole and luckily didn't find any fragments of the stick, it was a clean puncture.

The depression that Danny's foot went into must have thrown him off balance at the exact time he had gone to grab the stick and the extra force pushed him down onto it. 

Outcome, one pierced tongue, as easy as that! 

Danny was very lucky. The injury could have been much worse. 

Guess what - we now warn people of the dangers and we don't allow anyone to throw sticks for our dogs and also advise they follow this rule with their own dogs."