Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

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Noodle37
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Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:05 am

Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

Post by Noodle37 »

Hi I would be very grateful of any advice.

Im a first time dog owner but my partner has been brought up with dogs. My 10 week old puppy isn't allowed out for walks yet as is awaiting his second vaccination, but gets regular exercise in the garden. We don't start training classes until the 29/6/13.

The problem I have is that my puppy loves to eat the grass, stones and bark from the garden. He has lots of chew toys and I regularly give him food treats while encouraging him to sit which he very much enjoys. I have also tried giving him ice cubes to chew, however these are all temporary measures and he soon begins to chew the stones. I'm concerned this will harm him as I have noticed a droplet of blood among his poo a couple of times (assuming this are the stones passing through).
JudyN
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Re: Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

Post by JudyN »

Hi, and welcome to the forum :D

Could you tell us what breed of dog he is? Some breeds are more prone to this than others. Also, what food do you give him? Dogs can sometimes try to make up for missing nutrients by scavenging. Not that I imagine he'd get much nutrition from a stone :lol:

I wouldn't worry about the grass - dogs frequently do this, sometimes if they have an upset tummy and sometimes just because they enjoy it. Keep an eye out for more blood in his poos though - it may be caused by some bark or a sharp stone, but it could be a sign of some other digestive issue.

This doesn't really help you with how to stop it, but it may be easier for the experts to advise if we can pin down the cause.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Noodle37
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Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:05 am

Re: Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

Post by Noodle37 »

Hi thank you. This forum is a great piece of mind as I can see I am not the only one to have worries and concerns!

My puppy is a pug and beagle cross (I know this is sometimes frowned upon but we fell in love with him as soon as we saw him)

Noodle is on Royal Canin food which was recommended by the breeder. I am also using food treats from the same range.

The blood in the poo was also a concern and I will be sure to mention it to the vet when I see them next week.

Many thanks for replying!
Sanna
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Re: Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

Post by Sanna »

For me, it was all about management for the first 6 months or so- sounds impossible and frustrating I know (and it was).. My pup would eat ANYTHING, and I don't mean just chew on it to check it out; he gulped down anything and everything he could find. Rocks, sticks, plastic, paper, a cable clip, rubber gloves, poo bags- you name it, if he could get it in his mouth he would eat it- and fast! I had him to the vets about once a month to have his stomach pumped.. :(
I made sure there was NOTHING in the garden he could swallow, which included picking up every little stone I could find (thankfully our back garden is mostly grass), no twigs, no nothing basically. And I always went out with him to keep an eye on him. Walks were a nightmare as all I did was try to spot stuff before he did to make sure he couldn't get it, even being hyper vigilant I obv failed on quite a few occasions but at least then I'd seen him do it so could go straight to the vets..
I worked really hard on a 'swap' (drop it and get awesome treat) command, as well as 'leave it', and as he progressed with that he also slowly grew out of it. Now at 8 months he rarely picks stuff up, and if he does he tends to drop it straight away as it's not very interesting to him anymore; as opposed to when he was younger and everything was just new and exciting and needed exploring :roll:
So my advise would be supervision and management (it can seem impossible at times but just stick with it), hopefully knowing that he probably will grow out of it soon will help when you're at your wits end ;) and practice lots of swaps, drops and leave its, make it really fun and rewarding for him to give you stuff.
Unless of course there is an underlying nutritional issue like Judy mentioned, or if he's obsessive about the eating of rocks (I know some dogs can be but it's rare).

Edit: I only just saw your second post, re his food- I hope you don't mind me saying but royal canine unfortunately isn't that great.. You may want to look into changing his food to a grain free variety, I feed Orijen which mine does really well on but it is quite expensive. You do feed less than the 'commercial' brands though. I think Fish4dogs and Taste of the Wild are very good also, there is a great website for researching different brands of food that I can't remember at the mo but hopefully someone else will stick that up for you shortly if you're interested ;)
For treats, I'd suggest ditching the shop-bought stuff, tends to be full of additives, and most dogs are much keener on things like cooked chicken (I get like a kilo of chicken legs at the time, boil them and cut them into tiny pieces; and you'll have treats for a week or two at least), cooked turkey or ham, liver, cheese (I like Red Leicester as it doesn't crumble when you cut it into tiny cubes) or Primula cheese from the tube is awesome! For mine, he also loves little bits of apple or carrot. Much cheaper than treats from the shop, and much better for them :D
Noodle37
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Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:05 am

Re: Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

Post by Noodle37 »

Thanks Sanna. I make sure I go outside with him each time he is let out (most effective method for potty training too) and any time I can't I shall either get my partner to go out or bring Noodle inside.

I'm sorry to hear that you have to experience this the hard (and costly) way. I think I'm going to follow your advice and pick up all the stones in the garden and cover the bark (although he has now progressed on to gnawing the concrete steps :roll: and can't remove those, so will definitely try your food treat swap technique (as swapping for toys no longer appeals to noodle!)

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and advice it is gratefully appreciated :D
Sanna
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Re: Puppy eating stones, grass and bark

Post by Sanna »

Noodle37 wrote: I think I'm going to follow your advice and pick up all the stones in the garden and cover the bark (although he has now progressed on to gnawing the concrete steps :roll: and can't remove those
Haha mine used to chew the brick wall :lol: love his name by the way! Good luck :) oh and for things like walls, steps, furniture etc Bitter Apple spray worked well for us- it tastes really yucky to most dogs. I'd redirect him to a toy or really nice chew such as bully stick or kong smeared with Primula when he starts chewing on stationary objects like the steps, cos he obv needs to chew- you just need to show him what he can chew on instead ;) try to make the toy super exciting- roll it, bounce it, shake it, run off with it..
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