How many times have you taken your dog out for a walk and he picks up a big stick? Or you’ve been out and seen another dog heaving a stick along, crashing into things as he goes, often the owner’s legs.
Why do dogs like big sticks?
Dogs love carrying things and often when they are out and about sticks are one of the most common things that they find. Sticks are fun for dogs, they are often soft and big sticks require some skill to carry efficiently. A stick can be treasure for your dog too, a special something from his walk that he can take home and play with.
Why do dogs like to carry big sticks?
Dogs like to carry big sticks on walks because they are natural retrievers and picking things up and taking them home helps to fulfil their natural hunting and retrieving instincts.
For many dogs, particularly youngsters who may be teething, a stick can be a useful chew toy for him that helps him to cope with the pain of teething, and many dogs get used to picking up sticks and chewing them.
Big sticks are fun for dogs
Why do dogs like to carry big sticks on walks?
Dogs pick up and carry sticks on walks for a number of reasons:
Retrieving – You don’t need to have a gundog for your dog to like retrieving.
Most dogs have an innate ability and desire to retrieve things and the concept of catching ( retrieving ) items and then taking them ( bringing them back ) to the den to eat is hard wired into every dog.
When your dog brings you a stick, he might just be acting out the process of bringing you something valuable.
Playtime – dogs often pick up sticks to play with.
Running around with a big stick, trying to balance it so that it doesn’t drag on the ground is great fun, and it’s even better if there is another dog or human that will chase you around when you have it.
Keeping possession of the stick is the name of the game.
Fetch – who hasn’t heard of dogs fetching sticks?
Sticks are great things for humans to throw for dogs, and they are shaped just like bones which can make it even more fun.
Big sticks make great toys – dragging them around, chewing them up, growling at them, sticks can make great toys for dogs.
Why do dogs like big sticks so much?
Why sticks? Why is it that dogs are so fascinated by sticks and often the bigger the stick the better?
Sticks look like bones and big bones are just what a dog loves.
Seriously though your dog knows that a stick is not a bone – I mean come on he has an excellent sense of smell and sticks smell nothing like bones. But they can be chewed up.
Chewing a big stick can help to relieve pain caused by teething and it can also be a good thing to do when the dog is bored.
Ripping the stick to bits can be great fun and it makes a lot of mess too. Taking a stick home can be a useful thing to have back at the kennel.
Sticks can smell good. Your dog’s sense of smell is incredible and the scent on a stick can tell him a lot about the environment that it came from.
He can tell who has passed the stick, what other dogs and animals have been near to it and he can even tell how long it has been there.
What is just a stick to you is like treasure/message board/newspaper to your dog.
Big sticks are interesting and require serious investigation.
Textures, bark, insects and other things are all features of sticks and dogs love to investigate and learn.
There are a lot of reasons for dogs to like big sticks but perhaps the best reason is that they are fun.
Dogs love life and playing and exploring fun and interesting things is a great thing for a dog to do.
They make great toys and often the smaller the dog, the bigger the stick needs to be.
Sticks are fun.
