Puppy problem!

[Athene]

I wonder whether I could ask any of you if you have had experience of a puppy who picks up stones on her walks and swallows them? Our lovely puppy 4 months old does this and, when I try to extract them from her mouth, she promptly swallows them! This is the second night that she has been really ill with them. The first night, two weeks ago, she sicked them up and had diaorrhea and last night she had diaorrhea and they came out with that! I took her to the vet tonight to seek his advice but he had no ideas on what to do to help. I asked about muzzling her for a while but he said that it would prevent her from panting and that would be dangerous in itself! I try to keep her head off the ground on walks but it is difficult to do this all the time especially when she is on a long lead! Any advice anyone can offer me would be much appreciated!

[Eos]

Maybe try throwing a stick or a ball if you see her pick up a stone, she might drop the stone to get the others and think they are much more fun!

My grandfather's dog always carried around a stone in his mouth and would find his own when we threw it for him. (Very scientific childhood experiment with nail varnish!) He never swallowed them though but could have the same stone for months on end.

My neighbour's Alsatian carries logs from her house to ours and vice versa. I guess it's a dog thing or maybe a hunting dog thing.

[Chrissie]

There was a "Dog Whisperer" on much the same thing.  From what I recall, Cesar Milan waited until the dog headed for a likely stone and then he picked up the stone and "claimed" it for himself.  He put it on the ground and if the dog showed interest in the stone he would do his usual "shhh" noise and correct the dog.  In this way the dog learnt that stones were not for him to play with or show interest in.

I can't guarantee that's the exact way the programme went, and whether this is teachable to a 4-month old puppy is debatable, but it could be worth a try.

Good luck

Chrissie (81)

[londoneye]

Our puppy did that, very briefly, and then changed to wood, which was more fun because you could chew it up and then eat it.

She still has a bit of a wood fetish, but has mostly grown out of the whole thing.

I have just realised I can't be very helpful actually, because ours did (grudgingly) drop the stones if we caught her with them, although she did manage to swallow a good few in the interim.     Trouble is at 4 months they are still only half (if you are lucky !) listening to what you tell them.

You could try to wean her onto sticks instead of stones to start with, by throwing a stick every time she heads for a stone.   Of course she may then start eating sticks instead, but at least she will chew them first.

Good luck, she may just grow out of it like ours did.

[londoneye]

Sorry, me again, just read your post again, and you say she is on a long lead.    Our puppy was a nightmare on a lead, just didnt enjoy her walks, didn't want to go, played up at every opportunity.   She was bored basically.   The day we let her off the lead she became a different dog, although she has never wandered off the lead, she suddenly started asking for her walks (instead of plonking her bum down and refusing to leave the garden), and was so much happier.

It may be that being on a lead all the time is just not interesting enough for your puppy so she is looking for alternative ways to amuse herself.

You could try then either a very short lead for a while, so you can control what she picks up, or if it is safe then no lead and see if, because she is running around and investigating, the stones become less interesting than the other options.

[cooperlola]

I'm as anti sticks myself as I am stones since a friend's dog nearly died when one went through the top of his jaw and missed his brain by milimeters.  Several thousand pounds and three operations later he is happily OK but...

How about a nice big Kong with some bits of kibble inside to wean him off the stones instead?

[Athene]

Thank you all for the advice. We are in Essex at the moment getting our house ready to be rented out before returning to France. As you say she is not focused enough to carry a toy or ball whilst we walk or this would be a good solution! We have both extending and short leads. We use the extending when she is being walked on a nearby field but as this is bounded by a fairly busy road, we would not dare to let her off. She is timid soul and is in fear and trembling of other boisterous dogs and if she came across one, she would just run and run to get away and maybe onto the road! I am not sure whether she would come back when we called as in this house the garden is not fully enclosed as there is a stream at the bottom, so she has never had the freedom to wander in an enclosed garden like she will have in France. So when the field is not just a mud bath and it is walkable in wellies, I take her there but on days like today when it is rain and more driving rain, she gets a 30 minute walk round the village roads and this is where the stones are as lots of people have drives with these stones and they spread out onto the pavements. Today, I did this walk and kept her on a short lead and had my head fixed firmly on the ground making sure she had no chance to put her head down when the dreaded stones were there! It is not much fun for me as normally I really like to look at the gardens we pass and see what people are having done to their houses etc! Also it is no fun for her as she must feel my anxiety and she has to be kept tightly at heel! Still I suppose this is my only option and I must just focus on her safety for the time being!

[mossie]

This is probably a puppy thing.  My five month old springer does exactly the same.  In the house (where we have an unfinished fireplace with lots of bits of rubble around) he picks the stones up as an attention thing as he knows he gets my attention by doing that.  Outside he picks up anything he can find, stones, sticks, dead rat, completely indiscriminate.  I would also caution greatly about throwing sticks for the pup, too many injuries have been caused to the inside of mouths/throats for this to be a good idea.  Part of my pup's behaviour is gun dog stuff, as they always like to have something in their mouths.  However he does swallow a lot of stuff too.  So far, this has not caused major problems, a lot of it just seems to pass through, but it is always worrying.  Muzzles are not a good idea because they inhibit natural dog to dog behaviour, just try to keep the pup focused on you if you can, ie keep treats in your hand when out walking and dole them out periodically, so your pup is more interested in watching what you are doing.  I am hoping my pup will grow out of these habits but he shows no sign of this yet, the best you can do is try to make the walks interesting and keep an eye on her for now.  Good luck with her.

[Athene]

Thank you Mossie for the letter it is good to know that she is not on her own with this problem. It was just the stark way the vet said, "You'll have to get her out of it or sure thing one will get stuck and if you are lucky we will have time to go in after it if not...!"

[Magnolia]

A bum-bag full of treats can be a great attraction for dogs. If your pup is interested in treats then try and teach him that if he does pick up a stone he can exchange it for a treat. It may not stop the stone collecting but it might stop him swallowing them.

I'm no expert but maybe worth a go?!

 

[jaqui]

We had the same problem with our boxer pup. We had a graveled back garden it was a nightmare to let her out there! [:@]

We used the pet corrector spray every time she picked up a stone, when she dropped it we used the clicker and treated her.

As we have 2 boxers we have been training them along side an animal behaviourist/ trainer every week since they were small pups, we have had other dogs in the past and I have to say that using these methods personally have proved to be very successful.

Our youngster is now 10 months old and doesn`t pick any stones at all which is a relief . [:D]

Best of luck..if you need any more help or advice pm me.

[Athene]

Rejoice with me, she now has stopped picking up stones! She has learnt 'drop' at home in ball games and if she ever reverts, we now have the command to use. Yes, as someone here said, it was just an inate, immature stage she was going through but it did worry me! Thank you all for the replies.

[jaqui]

That is good news......they do cause us to worry. She sounds a very intelligent puppy[:)]