My dog tries to eat everything...?

Question

I have a 5 1/2 month old newfoundland/lab mix. She is constantly trying to eat everything sticks, stones, slugs, concrete, etc. Well pretty much everything that she sees that is in her reach. How do I get her to stop? Please help.

Yes, I feed her. She eats about 4 1/2 cups of food everyday, treat for following her commands, and has rawhides to help with her teething.

If I don't remove the item from her mouth she will chew it up and eat it. Like I said anything in her path that she can find she will eat. She will also go out of her way to find something to chew up and eat.

She has been checked by the vet and has absolutely no problems. She is according to the vet very healthy. However, on another note the vet seems to think she will only be 55 pounds full grown and I know that is dead wrong since she is already 45 pounds.

Answer 1

Basic obedience training to "drop it" or "leave it" should be started.
That being said, she is curious. A human infant initially uses its mouth as a primary sense organ, until they learn through the development of fine motor skills to trust what their eyes and hands tell them. One of my daughters crawling around on the floor popped a bee into her mouth at the age of 4 months. Don't know how she managed to get it that far, but I diverge.
Puppies don't have hands with opposible (sp?) thumbs, they are going to use their mouths as primary sense organ until they learn to trust their eyes and nose.
That and the fact that at her age she is teething (and unfortunately, will be for the next six months) and it just feels good to bite SOMETHING, sticks, rocks, anything.
Since she doesn't yet know they can harm her, you need to be vigilant for her. I suggest you use a pinch collar when walking her and also carry an appropriate toy (nylabone, ball, etc) in your pocket; when she dives for something you don't want in her mouth, give the leash a quick jerk, say "leave it" firmly, and substitute the toy. Praise her when she takes it, even if she drops it three feet further down the sidewalk.

Answer 2

What do you mean by "eating?" Licking and mouth play is perfectly normal as your puppy is still exploring her world using all of her senses. However, if she is actually swallowing these materials, then read on...

How much do you feed your dog? Newfoundlands requires at least 5 heaping cups of dry dog food a day. If they are very active (go on lots of walks/jogs) they will require more.
Feeding this much? Read on...

How often and how large are your dog's bowel movements? A healthy dog of that age and size should be having at least two bowel movements per day, of solid consistency and fairly dark. If your dog is not experiencing consistent and healthy bowel movements, you might have a bowel obstruction and your dog will require surgery IMMEDIATELY. Still not the case...read on...

If none of these are the case, then you should visit a vet anyway. Your dog might have a case of chronic nausea and is attempting to void its stomach (due either to a parasitic infestation or worse, a genetic malformation).

I want to say that your dog has a behavioural issue which can be simply trained out, and that is certainly the best option other than most of the above. However, you should rule out all of these other problems before resorting to training.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Correct the process. She's obsessed. She doesn't know that the behavior is unacceptable. Try gathering up some of the things she likes to chew on, sticks, stones, slugs if you feel like touching them, anything that usually draws her attention and scatter them out in a small area. Put her leash on her, making sure that the collar is at the highest part of the neck, as this is where you have control. Take her to each of the things, the second she looks at them or starts to go for them, immediately give a quick but firm tug upward on the leash, followed by a "sshhtt" sound. This will redirect her attention from whichever object she's becoming fixed on and back to you. Try dropping a rock right in front of her, again, even if her ears so much as perk up and her eyes shift to the object, give a quick, firm tug upward. It's really all about repetition, she just needs to be retrained that those aren't the things she should be going after. When you're able to drop something or walk by the things that normally grab her attention, but don't, be sure to give her pleanty of affection so that she knows she's displaying good behaviors. A simple massage to the neck and back will suffice perfectly.
Hopefully this info is helpful in some way, if not, it may be helpful to contact your vet and ask for the name of a recommended behavioralist to show you the proper techniques to correct this problem.
Best of luck to you!

Answer 4

have her checked by a vet... something is lacking in her diet to be eating things like stones & concrete.

Slugs are disgusting but are protein for her. Sticks are chewed on by a lot of dogs.

How much are you feeding her and what kind of food???
She may well have either a dietary deficiency, a lack of adequate food or maybe you're not giving her the proper feed for a large breed. She IS a large breed!

Answer 5

Get a cage that suits the chicken fairly of those cheapies that collapse and are ordinary to get out of .they want a cage with a million/2 inch bar spacing. it rather is the area measured between the bars. If the chicken can get his head in the process the bars get get 3/8 " or a million/4'. If there are doorways clip them close. Your chicken should not be unsupervised ever. He should not be ingesting your dogs's nutrients which could be contaminated by your dogs's saliva inflicting severe ailment on your chicken.for extra nutrients supply your chicken stuff like broccoli ,toddler or shredded carrots or a chew of apple. a chew of pasta or complete grain bread is fantastic if no longer executed to extra Rice is okay. Get a great wrought iron cage and it will final by your next 10 birds and that they are going to be risk-free in it.

Answer 6

Take her to the vet to rule out any biological reasons, such as worms. Other than that, it is a matter of conditioning. Scold her when she chews on stuff you do not want her to eat, and make sure you provide her with plenty of acceptable items. Whenever she chews on her chew bones or biscuits or whatever you allow, praise her! If you continue to scold her for chewing on what is not allowed, and make sure she has plenty of appropriate stuff to chew on that she is praised for, she should get the message fairly quickly. In addition to this, as someone already said, if she is chewing on the same wrong stuff, there are sprays you can use to make those items distasteful. They work somewhat well, but the most important thing is conditioning your dog to know what is the appropriate stuff to eat and chew on. Good luck!

Answer 7

Next time you take her to the vet I would tell them about you problem. I know that they have this stuff you can sprinkle on dog food if your have problems with your dog eating it own poop and it makes their poop taste bad to them . So if they could come up with something for that I'm sure that theres something out there for this problem. But also you got to think your puppy is a puppy and just like human babys they got to try stuff out and explore their surroundings. So it might just be a stage and hopefully your baby will eventually grow out of. Hope this helps! Christiegirl:)

Answer 8

As a dog trainer and previously an animal shelter employee, I hope I can give you good advice. Give the puppy rawhides- she might be teething. Good treats to distract the puppy with include baby carrots, Cheerios, and plain popcorn.

Answer 9

Feed the animal dog food. Those are signs the dog is hungry give it some food, stop trying to feed it sticks. That is cruel have you put up lost and found pictures. Feed the poor doggy give him Lasagna. I feed my dog Doggy style clam chowder.

Answer 10

Probably just the puppy stage she is going through. Do like you would with a young child, put anything that would hurt her if she swallowed it out of her reach. As she gets older, she will outgrow it.