Dogs like sticks. They will play with them and they will bring sticks home every single day if possible. But, why do dogs like sticks so much? Why will they bring them home and why do they enjoy keeping one next to them? These are all questions many if not all dog owners need to know. There are 8 reasons why and below we will answer all of them. Keep in mind that your pet will like sticks due to one, all or just one reason.
8 Reasons Dogs Like Sticks
1. Hunter/Forager Instinct
Dogs lived in the wild. They are successful hunters and they will kill and bring the prey back to the den. If you play with your pet with a stick and he loves it so much it is because he believes that the stick is the prey. If he brings it home, it will because the dog will always bring prey back to the den. A dog will always do this due to instinct. You don’t have to do anything about it. It is perfectly normal. Why do dogs like sticks? They consider them as prey or something they will hunt.
2. Sticks Are Toys
Dogs will consider and treat sticks as toys. As such they will play with them for hours or even days. A stick is hard to break or eat. In other words, it will serve your pet for days or even weeks. These are ideal toys. Your dog can fetch, chew and carry a stick all day long. In simple terms, sticks are toys and dogs do like toys. If he carries one back home from the park, it is simply because he wants to play with it back home.
3. Special Drive
Some dogs have extremely strong drive which forces them to keep something in their mouth all the time. This doesn’t apply to all dogs and it is very rare. If you can see your pet doing this all the time and he carries almost anything he can in the mouth, he has this drive. You will need to get him a lot of sticks and a lot of toys he can carry in the mouth. It makes him happy and you definitely want to make him happy.
4. Texture and Taste Are Both Appealing
Dogs feel a lot using their tongues only. This means that he can feel the soft, hard and all the rest of that stick. He will have a great time playing with it and he will enjoy doing that for hours.
The texture and the taste are appealing to your pet and he loves that. He has a powerful scent hence he can find a difference between different sticks made from different wood. Another, interesting fact is that one dog will have one stick of one texture and taste that is most appealing to that dog. You can even try different ones to see which one is the right one.
5. Nutritional Deficiency
If your dog needs some nutrient that is not present in the food he normally eats, he will need to find it somewhere. A stick is one of many options. Some experts claim that this is the reason why dogs eat weird things like feces, dirt, etc. If your dog will eat almost anything, including strange things, you need to take him to a vet. He can check his diet properly and determine if a supplement or a special nutrient is mandatory.
Most, a proper diet will make this impossible. However, there are still a lot of dogs out there that can need more nutrients of some kind and they need them as soon as possible.
6. It Looks Like A Bone
A stick will remind your dog of a bone. All dogs like bones. They like the flavor, the bone marrow inside and also the texture. Bones are extremely beneficial for dogs. He will think that a stick is a bone or at least look like one.
This can be enough to watch your pet playing with a stick for hours. An interesting fact is that a dog should do this if he must not chew a bone (due to a medical condition or something similar). Sticks are not healthy to chew but they are far from dangerous.
7. Due to Stress or Teething
There is a way that your dog loves sticks so much due to stress or teething. Basically when he chews a stick, he will de-stress. Yes, dogs can be under a lot of stress as well. There are countless reasons for that. Separation anxiety is just one of them. You will notice that he is doing this calmly and he focuses extremely on that. He will also do it all the time.
If your dog experiences teething, he will probably need a stick every now and then. This helps him with discomfort and makes things easier. Dogs will use a stick to get help with sore gums as well. Usually this affects younger dogs.
8. He Can Smell More Things Than You
Dogs have an extremely powerful sense of smell. A dog will smell all the separate ingredients in the meal. We can smell it as a whole only. Dogs will smell all kinds of things on and inside the stick. This can be interesting, appealing or tell something to your dog. For instance, if another dog played with that tick, your dog will know about it. This is just one of countless examples.
The Final Word
Why do dogs like sticks so much? Your dog will like sticks due to one or multiple reasons from the list. It is possible that he will like sticks due to all reasons from the list but the odds are not very high. You will have to find a reason why your dog likes them so much. In most cases there is no need to react. This is perfectly normal and most dogs consider these as toys hence they are harmless. All you can do is to find more sticks for your dog. Luckily they are free.