Life is good with Cocoa Bean...except
 We keep picking her up and moving her to the grass and telling her no but it's not helping. I'm "assuming" this is pretty much a puppy thing, but I don't want her to eat too many and get sick. I'd appreciate any help/advice.We've tried harder chew toys (per the vets suggestion). We bring her to her food bowl thinking she's hungry and she won't eat it (it's the same food as her breeder had and she will eat it when she's hungry/ready). I almost feel we need to put her on a leash in our fenced in backyard to keep her away from these issues. |
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| Our Dahlia was a rock and dirt eater for awhile and she is almost 6 months old now. She still occasionally grabs one just to get me aggravated. We use a leash all of the time. It is also good to use a leash even with a fenced in yard, so they learn to stay close to you, you can work on leash training and that you are the pack-leader. Plus, you can keep an eye on her "business" so you can be sure everything is OK and prevent any unwanted house accidents. We counteracted the rock eating by giving Dahlia sticks or tennis balls to hold in her mouth outside. This helped a lot. |
| She has a tennis ball but so far doesn't seem too interested in it. Do you give her a big or small stick? I haven't tried that yet. We tried a rope and she was interested in it for a short while, but not too long. |
We gave Dahlia pretty big sticks and she loved and still loves prancing around with them and eating them. By giving her a stick, it also kept her from nipping and biting at our ankles  |
| Zoey will take a large stick, or limb and turn it into kindling in no time. She's a chewer and has learned what she's allowed to have. Our rule, and she know it is that anything in the yard is her's. Inside, she has designated rope and other tug toys. You say she had a rope but lost interest. Try to get a healthy game of tug going. She'll learn to love that rope if you actively tug with her. We have three or four ropes and all we have to do is tell Zoey to 'get a rope!' and it's on! The more excited you are, the more she'll think it's gonna be fun for her. Vance |
NJ_Sheepie wrote: We gave Dahlia pretty big sticks and she loved and still loves prancing around with them and eating them. By giving her a stick, it also kept her from nipping and biting at our ankles a stick-filled mouth is a happy mouth! Vance |
| You could also try spraying Bitter Apple on th rocks or even red pepper. Both are a deterant and it won't hurt her. Also, air horns work wonders for negative behavior. Plus they are just plain fun! |
| I also just remembered that we let Dahlia have a piece off of our giant white pine tree. She loved the texture of holding the stick w/ the soft pine needles. Basically, we keep large hardwood sticks by all of our exits and so they were always available. We actually took a few nice ones and stripped the bark for her, so she has solid, naked sticks that she likes to walk around with. To engage her in the sticks in the beginning, we would tap the stick on the ground and make her go for it. We got her excited for the stick and then when she had it, she would just prance around and ignore the rocks. Obviously, it wasn't 100% perfect all of the time, but, it certainly helped! |
| THANK YOU! I will definitely try the stick idea! |
| Please break her of the rocks. I lost my first OES to gravel eating. |
| What Susan says. Stones and other non-food items can cause obstructions which can be expensive to fix or deadly. The problem is, puppies naturally explore with their mouths as children do with their hands. I would keep her on a leash as you can train her past this... supervise, supervise and redirect. You'll feel like all you're doing is redirecting but it's teaching her limits and acceptable behavior. It's never too soon to start teaching "leave it". Swap out for an acceptable toy (and say "toy" or whatever word you plan to use). You have to make a clear distinction between the unacceptable and acceptable so the puppy won't be confused but I mark the switch to a desired behavior with a "Yes!" and praise. You might put some special toys aside for outdoor play only... this way they stay special. A 4" or larger Jolly Ball might be fun... it's what's popular here. http://oesusa.com/index.241.jpg If she's adamant about getting the rocks, she needs to go inside for a timeout... then try it all again a little later. Remember that their attention span at this age is very short. |
| Jaci you gave excellent advice.... Robin |
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