Unfortunately this week has not lead to any newly learned tricks. As a result of playing fetch, George has managed to hurt himself. (We suspect a pulled muscle) When it first occurred his back was hunched in a way that parallels a scared cat, paired with a slight limp, and a change in mood. Additionally, he would randomly cry out in pain. As my sister works at a vet, she was able to provide him with some Metacam to soothe his pain and we were going to take him to the vet the next day. However, when the next day occurred he was pretty much the same as usual, so we decided to let him rest, not take him on walks, and see if he would be okay. Two days later he was good as new. After about a week I decided to do a VEERRY small and relaxed game of fetch, all was well until we went inside, he wiped his paws, and boom…back to a hunched position. This cycle kept repeating and we decided to book an appointment. Unfortunately it would take us ages to see a vet as we have only one specific vet who his great with him, so we will find out the verdict on March 11. Until then, there will not be any trick training but I am hoping his results will be very minor and he will be okay at the end. It is incredibly sad to not be able to play with him as that’s all he wants to do, but it would come with a cost.

Picture of a Golden Retriever laying on a sofa with a ball.

As I was looking into his injury, I have since learned that there are many repercussions to playing fetch. Carolyn McIntyre, the owner of McIntyre Canine Rehabilitation authored the article ” Why Playing Fetch with your Dog is More Dangerous than you Think!” and highlights the physical strains placed on dogs throughout each of their movements while playing fetch. In summary, she details that:

  1. The taking-off stage requires strength from the core and hind areas of the dog. If the dog does not have a strong range of motion, they can injure the frontal area of their body.
  2. The retrieval stage requires the dog to lengthen their muscles in order to stop their body in motion. This requires strong core and shoulder muscles; if they don’t, the dog risks “wiping out” and then can injure themselves from not only strained muscles, but and incorrect landing of their body.

Additionally, McIntyre notes the extra factors that can worsen a dogs likelihood of safe fetch practices which are found in the object they are chasing: object weight that causes additional weight transfer to the front of the dog’s body, bounce and the dog’s hypervigilance, and the dog’s attachment to the item causing tunnel vision.

Ultimately, I am unsure if I can continue this inquiry journey, perhaps I can find tricks that do not require much body movement. In this coming week I hope I can come to a resolution.