Playing Fetch With A Ball Can Kill Your Dog

Can you imagine anything worse than going out for
a fun game of fetch with your canine friend and
he or she ends up dying from the experience?
That may sound rather dramatic to some people,
but it is a fact that balls have killed quite a
number of dogs. What I'm talking about here is
choking. Larger dogs should not be allowed to
play catch with balls that are too small. For
example, I read recently about a horrible
experience a German Shepherd owner had.

He had a place near his house he could hit golf
balls with his dog. The dog enjoyed fetching
many of the balls and bringing them back to the
golfer. Of course this was great fun for both of
them until one day on the trip back with the ball
in the dog's mouth it somehow went down his
throat. Because of the dog's size and the
smallness of the ball, it became lodged in the
dog's air way. Of course by the time the owner
realized what was happening, it was too late.
There was no way to retrieve the ball from the
dog's throat or enough time to take him or her
to the vet before he died.

Some people even use tennis balls for larger
dogs and these may not be large enough even. For
small German shepherds a tennis ball may be fine.
But for very large German shepherds and other
large breed dogs, the tennis ball could be the
perfect size fit to clog their way should it be
swallowed. It's always best to err on the larger
side and play with balls that are absolutely
impossible for the dog to swallow. In fact, only
extremely small dog should ever be allowed to
play catch with a golf ball. Larger dogs
probably are best suited for playing fetch with
old softballs.

Another problem that could be encountered when
playing fetch with your dog is with a frisbee.
You may have seen dogs on TV catching frisbees
way up in the air and having great fun with
them. But be aware that most Frisbees are
extremely hard plastic and they can result in
chipped or broken teeth should the dog hip and
just wrong. Look online and find a frisbee that
is made specifically for the purpose of playing
fetch with your dog. These have softer and
rounder corners and will not hurt the dog's
teeth.

If you have any questions as to the proper size
of the balls you should be using to play fetch
with your dog, take the ball with you on the
next trip to the veterinarian and ask his
opinion about the size of the ball and if it
would be safe for the dog to play with. In most
cases, the doctor will easily be able to
determine if the size of the ball is large
enough to be safe for your dog.

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