Cavaliers and sticks?

Do any of you have dogs that seem to have the need to walk with something in their mouth all the time?!

Nicki sent me a blanky from the NESSR rescue ( :hug: ) which Kosmo has really taken a liking to. He will trot with it ALL OVER THE HOUSE in his mouth. Then when we get ready to leave, guess what is in his mouth? He's like a kid who can't go without his blanket!!

Then when we get home from work and let him out he usually grabs a nylabone or his kong and hops around the yard with it. Oh yeah and he also wees while holding it! It's hillarious looking.

Whenever we go on a walk he most ALWAYS finds sticks and walks with them for at least half of the walk before finally giving up intrest and moving onto something else (like the dead toad this morning :yuk: ) So what is it that brings the need for them to carry something with them wherever they go? Is it because spaniels are a hunting breed so he feels comfortable with taking sticks? It cracks me up when he does this. So far he only carries them sideways which I keep a close eye on so he doesn't choke but I kind of like the stick idea. At least if he's walking with a stick he's not eating something else!!

That sounds more like my Golden--he always greets me with as many toys as he can fit in his mouth and carries them around for a while until he settles down a bit. Mia LOVES sticks! I put some new cedar mulch down in my flower beds and she can't wait to go out and search for pieces of wood to chew. It's like she's almost obsessed--and I'm obsessed with watching her to make sure she doesn't swallow the pieces of wood. What fun!!

A friend's lab does that too -- the minute you come in he runs and gets a toy and holds it while wagging his tail.

Leo sometimes likes to carry sticks he finds while on walks and Lily likes to pick up a toy and throw it in the air and run around with it when we are getting ready for a walk. :roll:

I remember reading once why some dogs do this; greet you with something, but don;t remember where or why.

I once saw a large dog being walked in Paris carrying a huge stuffed teddy bear in his mouth -- looked so funny as the toy was bigger than his head.

My Fillipa always used to greet us with a cuddly toy in her mouth - you picked her up, took the toy out, asked for a kiss and she'd give you a kiss on the nose, and then you'd put the toy back in It was her special greeting reserved for those she really loved.

Carrying things is a gundog behaviour, so I guess it's come from their origins.

Sara be very careful with the sticks, I know you are watching him but it's not something you want to encourage. Could you take a toy like a kong or something with you for him to carry?

Rupert always used to carry a toy when he was young, he also had a very small piece of vetbed, and carried that about a lot, and TedBear loves to carry his kong...

So pleased that the wee fellow loves his blanket.

This is TedBear with his Doggie :lol:

arasara said:

...Then when we get home from work and let him out he usually grabs a nylabone or his kong and hops around the yard with it. Oh yeah and he also wees while holding it! It's hillarious looking.

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When i get up in the morning and greet zack who's in the kitchen, he comes out and cuddles for certain amount of time, and then i say "do you want to go outside?" and he jumps down and picks up a toy and jumps around with it. I let him out and he runs around with the toy in his mouth. i have learned to try to keep him from doing this because when he wees, he drops the toy right in the path of the stream and drenches it.

Whenever we go on a walk he most ALWAYS finds sticks and walks with them for at least half of the walk before finally giving up intrest and moving onto something else (like the dead toad this morning :yuk: ) So what is it that brings the need for them to carry something with them wherever they go? Is it because spaniels are a hunting breed so he feels comfortable with taking sticks? It cracks me up when he does this. So far he only carries them sideways which I keep a close eye on so he doesn't choke but I kind of like the stick idea. At least if he's walking with a stick he's not eating something else!!

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I'm glad you brought this up. I have a different question about sticks. At the dog park i was sitting by some people talking, and zack was laying on the ground a few feet in front of me, and one of the ladies said "He's chewing a stick--don't you want to take it away from him?" i wasn't sure what she meant and didn't ask, but it sounded like she thought he could get sick from eating pieces of it. So i'm wondering about that. Can dogs get sick from chewing sticks?

My least favorite thing about sticks is, when i'm not looking, zack often will bring one into the house, and the first thing i notice is dark brown stick shreds all over the carpet, at first it looks like poo. And it's not fun to pick up, it's in tiny pieces. and he always looks so proud and happy, i feel bad as i scold him, "I told you, you keep this outside, OUTSIDE!" and i put them outside and point pathetically but i doubt that he knows what i mean. He stares at me quizzically.

Please all be careful with sticks...think splinters in the mouth, teeth etc, Nasty accidents can happen when running with sticks in the mouth...and I'm sure many a dog has wee'd on them before your dog gets to them!

Alison, Wilts, U.K.

I don't let mine have sticks and it drives me mad when they trample the garden and get the woodchips everywhere :roll: .

The reason I don't let them have sticks is because I have a friend who lost a beautiful lassie type collie dog a few years ago. He had chewed a stick whilst out on a walk and must have swallowed a piece. It pierced the inside of his stomach and caused massive internal bleeding.

She didn't know anything was wrong until she heard him vomiting in the early hours and came downstairs to find him vomiting blood. There was nothing the Vet could do, even though he operated within an hour

So sad and he was such a beautiful boy, too

:yikes :yikes :yikes

Your friend's dog died from a stick?! That's awful!!

His kong is also a toy that we take frequent walks with. he also likes to walk around with nylabones and braided bully sticks. Balls, blankets, ANYTHING he just likes to walk with it. He found a business card the other day and thought that was the best toy EVER until he drooled on it and it became soft so I took it away. :roll: When he finds sticks they are not small ones they are huge ones like pieces of plywood so there is no chance of them "breaking off." He doesn't chew them either, he just seems content to trot with it along in his mouth. I would not let him walk with a small stick though . . .

nicki, that picture of TedBear is sooo cute

Riley is still on her stinky sock kick. I think I have picked up at least 6 today! :lol:

It has become a ritual at night, when we get ready for bed, she runs strait into our closet and will fish out a dirty sock to sleep with. :sl*p: If we take it away from her, she waits till we are not looking and goes for another. She trots around the house all day with a dirty sock hanging from her mouth. :yuk:

As I am typing this, she is laying beside me . . . . with a stinky sock tucked under her chin. Crazy dog!!!! :roll:

King will sometimes walk around the house wit his kittie in his mouth...but as soon as he sees some1 he drops it...then when no1's looking he doubles bac and grabs kittie...lol

thanks alison and donna for those cautions about sticks. other dogs peeing on them is something i didn't think of. The story of the poor collie boy who did was upsetting to hear, and raised my consciousness about this chewing of sticks zack loves so much. Another reason to not let him in the yard unsupervised. I wonder if he could be trained to leave sticks alone...

teddy with his teddy is adorable. zack has that dog too, isnt' that the one that makes a rather odd noise when attacked? Not really a squeak...a bit blood curdling actually. clever how they created it that wasy.

I would be very careful about letting your dogs chew on sticks. Our dogs are forever picking up sticks in the yard and chewing on them (we have lots of trees and pick up sticks on a very regular basis). We take them away as soon as we see them doing it because this spring our little Eva got a piece of stick caught in her throat. She was starting to have a hard time breathing and we couldn't get it out, so it was off to the emergency vet on Sunday afternoon. The emergency vet had to put her under to remove the stick; fortunately, no surgery.

Eva came out of it none the worse for wear, but we now keep a much closer eye on them when they find a stick in the yard. These darn guys are forever getting into something!

that was so awfull about the the collie............. jadan is just like kosmo though and has to have a stick when we are out. he would chew on them though....not anymore!!! i would have to take them off him and try to get him to carry them in the middle incase of accidents but i didnt think about what else could happen. they just seem to look natural at it that you take it for granted that they are that dangerous. jadan spits out after he has chewed but even so i dont think that sticks are going to be allowed from now on. :?

I love Riley's stinky sock obsession. Cracks me up!!

Shelby could care less. Jake must have something. When he comes out of his crate in the a.m. he always goes back in to retrieve his pink bunny. When I say "let's go outside" he immediately looks around for something to pounce on and bring outside. On walks...he's my nature boy...he'll spot a pinecone, pick it up and carry it the entire way on our walk. He looks so cute doing it.

I do try to keep sticks away from them because I'm afraid of a piece breaking off and getting stuck in their mouths.

Duncan does the same...he is always carrying something in his mouth even if just a piece of pinestraw. I always thought he picked up the behavior from my in-laws Golden who is around a lot, but perhaps this is partially something cavs do.

Holly has a ridiculous pile of toys for one small dog. Her especial love is a braided rope ring which we use for retrieving in the park- she's not really interested inthe ball, and is more likely to take off for some reason. However, she adores her ring- so much so that you can ask her where it is, and she'll go and find it! I find this very handy as I don't always know where it is off the top of my head And sometimes she carries it so that her little face is framed by the ring- I must try to get a photo of it sometime, she looks positively angelic!

She likes squeakies too- at the moment she has a barking puppy toy, a squeaky bone, and a plush yellow duck that quacks. When she's feeling playful she'll often spend ages in the hall carefully piling all her toys up, and then playing with one after the other... and she gets very cross if I tidy up- she runs back to her basket for the toy I've just put away and puts it back on her pile. It's not unheard of for her to sleep with her head on this toypile either... so cute

Lisa_T said:

... and she gets very cross if I tidy up- she runs back to her basket for the toy I've just put away and puts it back on her pile.

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That's so funny. Jake and Shelby do the same thing. I'll toss all their toys into the toy box when I'm getting ready to vacuum. Inevitably Jake will dig out a toy he hasn't played with in ages just to show me "hey...I'm playing with that!". Vacuuming is very difficult since he likes to drop a toy in front of the vacuum so I have to toss it out of the way. Shelby just likes to lay in front of the vacuum and dare me to run her over :roll:

Cathy, your house sounds as crazy as mine :lol: . Charlie is the 'toy fiend' and always sulks and strops when I pick them up but Maxx will stand right in front of the vacuum and give me death stares for asking him to move. Eventually, I win and he always gives me that 'Cavalier huff'!

These dogs have more attitude than a Pit Bull :lol:

Our Duffy loves to walk around with his Booda baby in his mouth and we often have to retrieve it from the yard. When it goes in the wash, he waits patiently by the dryer on the chance it might be done.

Katie has a favorite stuffed snake she drags around(sweet and feminine our sweet girl is...not).

Casey has never met a ball he can't try and carry...tennis balls, basket balls, soccer balls (now they are funny to watch him try to get in his mouth as they scoot away as soon as he tries to get his mouth on them). They are all so silly!

Cathy: love the line about Shelby daring you to run her over with the vaccuum!! :badgrin: :badgrin:

Zola has this obsession for feathers when out walking. If she can, she'll carry one in her mouth the whole way around, always with the stalk part in her mouth, shaking it ocassionally.
THis is the only pic I've managed to get of her.