Why do dogs like to fetch? And why sticks? There have been questions about generalities, e.g. lately. My dog loves fetching sticks; a total dog stereotype. Why?

She likes tennis balls, other types of balls, frisbeeish things, just about any small thing I throw, but she absolutely loves sticks.

And she is spoiled, terribly. She has a rather large collection of “hand crafted” sticks that I have selected for their straightness, weight and diameter; where I have essentially sawed off and sawed out, the “filet” of the branch, as it were, so it would be a perfect stick.

Maybe it is just because I throw them more often; the sticks, more often that the tennis balls. I don’t know. The balls kind of make sense, because they continue to move after they his the ground, maybe like an animal might. But you throw a stick and as soon as it hits the ground it stops moving.