I had the same thing with my mum's dog ( http://gbatemp.net/threads/going-to-throw-a-stick-around-a-while-dogs-interest-depending.385090/ ) until the other day. Finally caught a baby one in the park as it was late on the sensing, hesitated, did not know where to run and then went for the longer distance. The result I have been describing as like what cats do with mice when they throw it in the air, however this was a German shepherd and a squirrel instead.
Traumatised some onlooking kid as well which was doubly amusing, though I did stop short of stepping on the squirrel's head and getting the dog back there to eat it.
I have this somewhere around my house on VHS. As soon as I saw the front tile I knew exactly the scene. This movie is still better than the newest transformers film series by a mile.