Playing with your puppy – more research required.

When I was walking in my local park this morning, I saw an owner playing with her young puppy…

The owner had clearly been reading about ways to play with your puppy, in particular how to play ‘fetch the stick’. The owner had a stick in her hands and her dog was barking madly, clearing wanting her to throw the stick. The only problem was that the stick was approximately eight feet long. Branch would have been a more accurate description. The owner was only able to throw the stick about three feet. The dog looked at her, looked at the stick, looked back at her and started to bark, as if to say “That’s not far enough, I need more exercise than that!” Eventually, the dog walked to the stick and started to chew the thicker end. The owner tried to stop the dog chewing and a short tug-of-war contest took place, which the owner won. The owner picked up the stick and threw it another three feet, in a different direction. The dog barked, looked at the stick, thought about walking over to the stick, but decided against it. Instead the dog sat down and rested.

I left this scene behind and hoped the owner would read another article that gave an idea of the size of stick for a puppy to play with. More research required…