Sticks!
It is a fact universally acknowledged that dogs enjoy sticks or things that resemble sticks. They like to chase and retrieve them, or chew them, or guard them, or play tug of war with them, or simply lie on them and go to sleep.
Many dogs will seek out a stick as soon as their paws touch the forest floor, and the bigger it is, the better. Roxy Labrador picks up a stick the minute she gets out of the car.
Dogs will navigate gateways and narrow paths with sticks that are much longer than it would be thought possible to manoeuvre. Cariadd Dalmatian used to carry sticks that looked more like telegraph poles.
Some dogs are possessive about their sticks and will not relinquish them. Arthur Cocker Spaniel loves to play the ‘Is that my . . . ?’ game. He will not give up his stick or toy until he is ready. He makes lots of noise, but he is the sweetest little dog.
Sam Jack Russell insisted on taking his sticks into the back of the car and would not release them until he reached home. He and his sister, Daisy, played sticks with their mother, Biddy. The three of them ran along, two going forwards, one backwards. Biddy was also an accomplished tree climber.
Sticks and water go together. Labradors are persistent retrievers and bob their heads under water, looking and smelling for sticks that have sunk. Atavistic behaviour deep in the retriever memory from their origins, perhaps, from hauling in fishing nets in the chilly Newfoundland waters.
We always make sure that sticks are thick and long enough not to stick in the dogs’ mouths and throats. Mostly, we encourage our dogs to play with Kongs and balls, but sometimes, only a stick will do!
Tilly liikes to eat wood- how will that wreck her digestive system, I wonder.
ReplyDeleteI know how dogs feel about sticks because I am just the same with "Twiglets".
ReplyDeleteOne of my daughter's dogs loves picking up sticks when they go on a walk. She'd drag home half a tree if she could lol
ReplyDeleteI don't remember our dogs ever having sticks, probably because we never threw sticks for them, we threw tennis balls and other toys.
ReplyDeleteWe had a little dog, Ozzo, who appeared to be part Black Lab abd part Dachshund, and even though he stood around a foot tall, would chase and grab and bring back a four-foot-long stick! That was his greatest joy as a wee pup.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that sticks were so universally loved by dogs. We had a beagle/bluetick hound mix when I was growing up and I don't recall her ever having a stick. Then again, I can't remember what she used to be interested in, aside from cars and bicycles . . . and having her silky ears stroked :)
ReplyDeleteI am always amused by a dog with a stick in its mouth trying to walk through a space that is narrower than the width of the stick. Some quickly problem solve, some not so quickly.
ReplyDelete