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Post by alfiemummy on Aug 20, 2014 20:37:34 GMT
When we walk on our local field, Alfie has a pretty bad habit of picking up sticks and small pieces of wood. He will chew on them and end up eating some of it. The field backs onto a wood so there will quite often be sticks on the field as other dog owners will bring them out to throw for their dogs. When the grass was cut recently all the sticks got run over so now there are loads of tiny fragments of wood sitting about the place which Alfie seems to think is a feast just for him. I am certain that he eats some (not all) of the sticks as there is evidence in his poo. He doesn't eat every piece of wood he comes across, he just seems to take a fancy to some pieces laying about and will sit down to chew them. He rarely touches sticks in the woods at all. I think the problem is that we tend to hang about on the field a bit and chat with the other dog owners rather than being on the move like in the woods. He will then wander off doing his own thing and I suppose that's his way of entertaining himself as he doesn't really interact with the other dogs that much. Whenever I see him with a stick I tend to call him over to me for a treat and he will usually drop it straight away and come running over, then we move on and the stick is forgotten. Is this the wrong thing to do? Is he picking up more sticks in the hope that he might get more treats? I don't really know another way to get him to stop! The only other thing I do is just tell him to 'drop' which he will sometimes do. How can I stop him eating sticks?
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Post by cazypops on Aug 20, 2014 21:00:40 GMT
I wish I had an answer for you alfiemummy, our Jasper is just the same, only when we call him he bring the stick with him and takes it with him for the rest of the walk.
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Post by migsy on Aug 20, 2014 23:10:22 GMT
You are doing the right things alfiemummy,we got daughters Lab to stop asking for sticks to be thrown by ignoring him,but getting them to stop chewing sticks is much more tricky.We did as you are doing,by swapping for treats,and yes,they can be crafty,they aren't daft, a treat wont harm them,but sharp bits of stick in the gut can perforate.Try an angry sounding LEAVE!!! with loads of praise when he gets the message,and hopefully it will soon do the trick.Good luck with this,as it is quite a worry.
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Post by BorderTerrier on Aug 26, 2014 12:19:22 GMT
Ethel likes to pick up sticks and run around with them, trying to get me to chase her with it, then sit there with it. You could try filling a gentle spray bottle with water and use the gentle spray effect to spray him in the face when he picks up a stick, which may surprise him, making him drop it. Just a thought. However, some dogs do LIKE the spray That's an idea for if the swapping for treats idea doesn't work, because I do like that idea myself
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Post by alfiemummy on Aug 26, 2014 13:28:59 GMT
BorderTerrier, I think the spray would work but I would imagine that I'd have to catch him first The problem is while he's off lead over the park - if I was to go near him while he had the stick he will just move away and try to play 'keep away' with me!
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Post by charlottte on Aug 26, 2014 18:16:28 GMT
Teach him a reliable leave it If it's really that much of an issue then you could introduce a muzzle to stop him practicing the behaviour while you train the leave it.
I'm quite surprised at how many people are now offering aversives as a way to train out behaviour problems at the minute :/ Spray collars or bottles yes may interrupt the behaviour but it doesn't actually tell the dog what you want it to do.
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Post by alfiemummy on Aug 26, 2014 20:06:28 GMT
Teach him a reliable leave it If it's really that much of an issue then you could introduce a muzzle to stop him practicing the behaviour while you train the leave it. I'm quite surprised at how many people are now offering aversives as a way to train out behaviour problems at the minute :/ Spray collars or bottles yes may interrupt the behaviour but it doesn't actually tell the dog what you want it to do. We have been practising his leave and it is working really well I don't like to use aversive methods if I can help it as I don't think they are really all that great.
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Post by CurlyCub on Aug 29, 2014 7:27:40 GMT
Jess also does this and I've simply been telling her 'leave', so far its been working. We have taught her leave in the past and she does usually listen to it
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charlesroast
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Post by charlesroast on Sept 7, 2014 3:47:08 GMT
Put hot spices on a stick and leave it under the table. Eventually he will find it. I had to do the same thing for my cat when she was chewing on houseplants. The other option is to reprimand alfie when he misbehaves. I agree that most dogs will chew on sticks but I've been lucky to not have Chucko eat any. He likes artisan bread crust and that may be a good substitute for alfie. Artisan breads are often hard like tree bark and hurt to eat anyway so why not give it to the dog? You can get day old bread and he won't probably care Chucko would much rather find a three week old soggy cheese puff some child lost beneath a table...ants and all lol. Got to love em and the wacky things they eat. Hope ya get it sorted and alfie doesn't consume anything too big.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 8, 2014 15:02:37 GMT
I know you've been working on "leave" training with Alfie as you've posted about it before with his possessiveness. I suppose you just have to continue that training with him and perhaps when you see him approach a stick start waving a much more exciting toy around and trying to get his interest in that until you have improved the "Leave" command.
I would though recommend taking him out on one of those massive training leads to various different and exciting places to work on the "leave" outdoors and with sticks etc as part of your "Leave" training so that he knows it applies outdoors too, and as I'm sure you will want to continue to take him out off lead too, so in these cases until you are sure that he will the majority of the time respond to "leave" I would go with offering him something much more exciting as you don't want him to start learning that it can be rewarding to defy "leave" and therefore ruin all of your hard work and training.
I wouldn't advise using any kind of negative enforcement as a few people have suggested as it is not necessary and could end up with him losing trust in you and trying to run away from you with the stick as well which could make things waaaay worse and more dangerous. I know you know that, but incase anyone else was reading here for advise then I'd hate them to think that negative reinforcement was okay. It is not, and although it may appear to work sometimes it can cause horrendous problems in the long term and is cruel as I've never met a dog who doesn't eventually respond to purely positive training (even if with some more damaged dogs it may take a while to gain their initial trust).
Hope you manage to put an end to this behaviour, I know how you feel! Rosa loves sticks and I feel so mean telling her "Off" but she always instantly drops them and waits for her praise and a fun game to commence haha. She's not so good with things that bounce or roll when she drops them yet though, as it seems they "invite" her for a whole new game when they respond to being dropped in such a way haha so it can be like a broken record: "Off" *Rosa drops stone* "good gi-" *stone rolls away* *Rosa chases and grabs stone* "Off" etc etc haha until I pick it up and dispose of it like an evil evil person spoiling all of Rosas fun.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 8, 2014 15:06:34 GMT
Also wouldn't recommend giving him bread as mentioned above either, especially if you are considering getting him onto a raw diet haha. As you are aware that dogs can't really handle grains very well you will know that bread wouldn't be very good on his digestive system. To be honest feeding anyone a whole loaf of bread is gonna make them feel bloated and sluggish, please don't do that to a dog. If you want something for a dog to gnaw on then go for a raw meaty bone (UNCOOKED) as it's much healthier, tastier for the dog most likely and good for their teeth. Plus it can be hours of enjoyment rather than a few minutes as bread would be. I know you know this alfiemummy haha just wanted to say here incase any guest readers or other forum members read the bread post there!!
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Post by alfiemummy on Sept 8, 2014 18:06:28 GMT
It has been going really well and sticks aren't such a problem for us now Don't worry I wouldn't try bread anyway haha, Alfie's not allowed bread (except the occasional sneaky corner of toast, but that's very rare ) also wouldn't be much help as I can hardly carry round a nice crusty loaf on my walks I have just been carrying on with his 'drop' command whenever I want him to leave the wood and it's working well. I don't always give him a treat but he almost always drops it anyway and I will put my foot on it, take it away and give him loads of fuss. When he doesn't get a treat I try to make it exciting for him to have dropped it and give him a game of chase - he loves it when you run! If we are on a walk that's more on the move (not on our local field where we are more likely to stand still and potter about) I tend to just leave him with it. When you get so far away he will run to catch up as he doesn't like to be too far behind - the stick is usually left behind. While I was away on holiday I took him to the sea and I found a stick on the beach that he wanted to play with. I don't usually allow playing with sticks but I wanted something for him to chase after in the sea without it getting lost. Usually we would need two sticks, using one as a bribe to make him drop the other, but that wasn't necessary! When he came out of the sea I'd tell him to stay, grasp the stick in his mouth and tell him to 'drop' and he did it no problem and I was able to throw it again. When the game was over I told him to drop and leave and he quite happily trotted off and left it behind Good progress as far as I'm concerned
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charlesroast
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Post by charlesroast on Sept 9, 2014 0:15:01 GMT
Also wouldn't recommend giving him bread as mentioned above either, especially if you are considering getting him onto a raw diet haha. As you are aware that dogs can't really handle grains very well you will know that bread wouldn't be very good on his digestive system. To be honest feeding anyone a whole loaf of bread is gonna make them feel bloated and sluggish, please don't do that to a dog. If you want something for a dog to gnaw on then go for a raw meaty bone (UNCOOKED) as it's much healthier, tastier for the dog most likely and good for their teeth. Plus it can be hours of enjoyment rather than a few minutes as bread would be. I know you know this alfiemummy haha just wanted to say here incase any guest readers or other forum members read the bread post there!! Haha I didn't say the whole bread. Don't know where you got that from. I give him bits of the crust from an artisan loaf. It is probably no worse than what most dogs hoover off the floor in a normal house in a day. You are right though that most forum users and outsiders don't actually pay enough attention to content
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 9, 2014 6:05:37 GMT
Glad things are improving alfiemummy sounds like you're doing great already!
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charlesroast
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Post by charlesroast on Sept 9, 2014 14:22:48 GMT
Glad things are improving alfiemummy sounds like you're doing great already! Um yep
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