Dogs and firewood

I wont let my dog eat wood, he can play fetch with it, but no eating.


I made that mistake, and when he eats it, and I have no clue why it upsets his stomach. He throws up sometimes, and other times gets a nasty case of the craps. All over his kennel, which lives in my bedroom. That's AWESOME to wake up to

Sorry- I didn't mean to imply to let him eat the wood= just play with it. You're right, when a body vomits, has diarrhea, it is the body trying to get rid of what is irritatiing it. Splinters in the stomach could cause damage-puncture the digestive tract. You would probably have to put that 'toy' up while you aren't watching him. When/if he starts chewing/ripping the 'toy' apart, tell him 'No!- be nice!', and briefly take it away.( After several minutes give it back. They have the mind of approximately a 2+ y/o child- when they are mature dogs. Most Goldens are pretty dang smart- he'll get it with consistancy. Please don't think I am telling you what you must do- just suggestions.....

One of our littl guys is fascinated with any small piece of wood or bark left over from loading the stove. He'll chew it to pieces on the carpet- we laugh about it. It's no big deal, and I can't get mad at him.

Another word of caution with long sticks and dogs that play with them:

A woman at my mothers work recently was outside watching her 3 dogs play with sticks that were knocked out of the tree by wind when the phone rang. She went into the house to answer and came back outside a couple minutes later to find 1 of the dogs impaled himself on a stick. She rushed his lifeless body to the vet but it was too late, the poor thing punctured a lung with the stick... Another I heard recently through rescue is a guy was throwing a long stick for his pooch to fetch and bring back to him. while running happily along on the return trip, the dog had the stick by the end and the other end hit and set into the ground like a knight would use a polearm against mounted invaders. Needless to say the stick went through the back of the dogs throat and caused thousands of dollars in operations to repair.