Tries to Eat Everything

[nikkirosko]

Our 5-month-old puppy tries to eat EVERYTHING. Whenever we go outside and come back in, I always have to check his mouth for rocks, because he usually picks them up and brings them in the house to chew on. I'm afraid he will actually eat something bad one day, or choke on something. I am constantly watching him and if I notice that he picked something up, I make sure that he drops it or I usually have to pick him up and pry his mouth open. Is there some way to teach him not to do this or is he a puppy and that's just what he does?

[JoeyP]

Yup.... That us a problem You're going to have to be very watchful and when pup picks something up yell NO very loud or clap your hands or something that will stop him in his tracks .... I had one of my dogs eat some Cat poop... I know disgusting ..... But he wound up with hemorraghic gastritis so you need to be able to stop them from picking anything up outside

[Pam Shaw]

Our Mia did the same thing; rocks, mulch, leaves, everything. She'd pick them up and carry them into the house to chew on. I always took them away from her! She's 8 mos. old now and rarely
does it anymore, so I think your little one will outgrow it, too. I know the choking is such a worry.

[BobbiB]

Only outside? Lol...Sheldon ALWAYS manages to find something to chew on. He's a rascal.

[calismama]

Cali tries to eat anything that doesn't eat her first. She has even been hospitalized because she damaged her kidneys eating things she shouldn't. It's a full time job keeping her out of stuff!

[intilis]

Maybe teach the "drop it" & "leave it" commands? I've never had a pup that young, but it worked well for mine at 9 months old.

[LyleEarly]

Our Lyle does this - bark mulch, bugs, grass, you name it. I figure the pine bark is natural and he chews it to smithereens, so it's annoying but okay. The bugs make me green, but protein is protein, right? But the strings from his chew rope and the fuzz off his tennis balls? Take that away as soon as we see it and hope for the best. Any ideas for stopping the worst of the behavior?

[chickensmith]

I clap and say no quite loud....Winnie learned very fast to drop it. That is if I see her....she did eat a mushroom outside a couple weeks ago that made her quite sick. It wasn't a poisonous one thank God but still messed up her tummy pretty bad. You literally have to watch them every second when they are out and about ....If I can't watch her she goes in her playpen. Wierd fact: dogs have pica .... everything and anything goes in their mouth.

[matese]

Cody is a city boy, always walked on a leash, never had a yard to investigate or run free. Now he is a country boy, has a yard to run in and hunting to be done, but he is a bug freak and has to be watched very closely. When Spring finally came to The Poconos this year out to the yard we went, since Cody all of a sudden wanted privacy when he had to poop I would stay appox 10 feet away from him. One day I see him smelling and smelling the ground, as I started to approach him to see what he was sniffing, he saw me and grabbed it, I screamed noooooo, to late it was in his mouth, I pried his mouth open, it was a huge yellow jacket bee, thank god he did not get stung. From that day forward he gets no privacy, I am right behind him. Another time I was sitting on the patio chair with my legs on an ottoman, I saw a spider crawling on the ottoman, I went to kill it, to late, Cody saw it and ate it, yuck. Cody is 3 y/o not a puppy, life in the country is new to him, he sees it, he eats it, I have to be on top of him all the time, and yell noooo when I see his nose to the ground, he is learning slowly not to eat the bugs. iyiyi.