This is a placeholder text
Group text
by Spam on 26 February 2013 - 18:02
Was training / playing with my 10 month old dog the other day using a ball on a rope, after throwing it for him a few times he ran off with it and tried to swallow it whole. Actually got it down in his throat twice and threw it up, luckily I git hold of him the second time. He was desperate to eat it, can anyone explain why? Obviously no more balls for the moment, just can't work out why he would do such a thing.
by amysavesjacks on 26 February 2013 - 18:02
Maybe he was just a little over-zealous.... sounds like you need a ball the next size up 
by hexe on 26 February 2013 - 19:02
The ball you're playing with is too small for the size of this dog; your dog has already demonstrated that he'll swallow anything he can get past his back molars, so all objects--not just balls!--the dog plays with from this point forward MUST be too large to fit any further back in the dog's mouth than his rear molars. The Orbee-Tuff ball comes in a version with a 4 1/4" diameter, and you can easily add your own rope handle; the Orbee Cosmos ball is 5" in diameter, and you can add your own rope handle to that, too. Either of these would be too large for the dog to swallow.
PS--it's not so much as he's desperate to eat the ball...it's in the way dogs play with a ball to begin with. Once they've got it in their mouth, they tend to roll it around, chomp on it and make tossing motions with their head. While doing this, the ball will tend to roll toward the back of the dog's mouth, and the natural reflex for the dog when something gets that far back in their mouths is to swallow. You've been extremely lucky--there are many stories of dogs asphyxiating on balls that become lodged in the throat, just out of reach of the owner's fingers. Glad you were able to retrieve it both times.
PS--it's not so much as he's desperate to eat the ball...it's in the way dogs play with a ball to begin with. Once they've got it in their mouth, they tend to roll it around, chomp on it and make tossing motions with their head. While doing this, the ball will tend to roll toward the back of the dog's mouth, and the natural reflex for the dog when something gets that far back in their mouths is to swallow. You've been extremely lucky--there are many stories of dogs asphyxiating on balls that become lodged in the throat, just out of reach of the owner's fingers. Glad you were able to retrieve it both times.
by Kaffirdog on 26 February 2013 - 19:02
Use a ring instead of a ball
Margaret N-J
Margaret N-J
by amysavesjacks on 26 February 2013 - 19:02
Maybe he was just a little over-zealous.... sounds like you need a ball the next size up
by Ma Dirt on 27 February 2013 - 02:02
PLEASE, PLEASE, throw away any ball small enough to swallow. My female swallowed a smooth ball while my husband was playing catch with her. It became wedged in her throat. Luckily it had two small holes in it parallel to each other, so she got a miniscule amount of air through the holes. ( it was a rubber ball called MAD DOG ball) After a frantic 911 call to the police , and a 85 mile an hour crazy ride to the vet with my shepherd barely alive, the vet knocked her out and managed to remove it from her throat. I came home and threw out every ball smaller than 4 inches.
by Spam on 27 February 2013 - 08:02
by Spam on 27 February 2013 - 08:02
Thanks all, obviously on larger balls now, was trying to understand the drive to swallow and why
by Blitzen on 27 February 2013 - 13:02
Some dogs try to swallow objects so they don't have to give them up. You can never let your guard down with dogs like that as they will try to swallow almost everything they can.Learn to do the Heimlich on your dog just in case. It may save his life one day.
by Spam on 27 February 2013 - 18:02
So this is quite common then Blitzen?
Contact information Disclaimer Privacy Statement Copyright Information Terms of Service Cookie policy ↑ Back to top