CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: Moggy on September 27, 2016, 04:26:02 PM
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Jasper is 9 weeks old now, and eats everything and it's worrying me a bit
So far he has eaten stones, Leaves, Moss, Grass, Paper, Plastic, the Rabbit droppings, in my office yesterday he was chewing on a paper clip but when I tried to open his mouth he swallowed it >:( I have been checking his poo to see if has come out but it hasn't but a small screw did >:(, is this normal behaviour for a puppy?
Jasper is my first ever puppy so don't really know what to make of it, I will be taking him out for walks pretty soon but don't want to think that I have to check his mouth every time he picks something up.
Feeling worried :'(
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It's normal puppy behaviour. You just have to keep ANYTHING you don't want him to eat out of his reach. They explore the world with their mouths. Henry used to eat anything and everything he found in the garden and it panicked me when he was little. I kept him on a lead in the garden most of the time until the habit subsided. On walks he was usually much more interested in everything else that was going on to eat random things. But he did, and still does, pick up things I don't want him to eat. Try teaching your pup 'drop it' before you start walking him - Henry will drop almost any item he picks up if I will trade it for a treat. Sometimes he steals things and brings them to me just to get the treat!
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loved the bit about the small unexpected screw being found. little minx :005:
You really do need eyes everywhere.
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At about 1 year mine stole a sweet-corn cob at a barbecue.
He swallowed it whole and this would have been fatal except that the Royal Vet College opened the stomach on a Sunday afternoon.
At about the same time it took me over a week to get a prescription, I urgently needed and I had to get to the surgery twice before 8am to do so.
So BE CAREFUL with corn-cobs!
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I have had other breeds of puppies before but wasn't prepared for my little cocker hoover! >:D
Reese is 8 months old now and I still have things off the floor, most of the garden fenced off and developed eyes in the back of my head! :005:
I did get so stressed out when he was that age and so worried he was going to have a stomach full of stones, tear his insides or swallow something poisonous....he was just so quick! I just followed him everywhere and made things as puppy proof as I could.
He will still do it but the best thing I taught him was leave it and give. Sometimes now I think he just does it because he thinks it's a game, he does however leave it or give it to me now.
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You'll grow a few grey hairs before he's out of the puppy stage :005:. Humphrey ate my thyroid tablets and chewed a camera battery and only dropped it when it became red hot and started smoking! Its not just things on floor level either, they're very good at climbing up on chairs to grab stuff (my tablets were on a shelf in the kitchen and the camera battery was on my desk!). They also love socks, shoes and slippers (especially expensive sandals, as someone reported here recently, but we're not allowed to mention it!! 😉 :005: :005:)
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DON'T MENTION THE SANDALS.
Henry has yet to realise he could climb the kitchen chairs if he wanted. Daft dog.
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Monty is nearly 8 months old and has yet to get out of the eating anything and everything in (and out) of sight >:( It makes for a very stressful time when off lead in the park and he spent the other Sunday night/Monday morning projectile vomiting goodness knows what :P I scan as much as I can on walks but of course, they can smell anything long before I can see it. I use the "swap and treat" method which works on low level "prizes", however this does not work on goose/bird poo and dead and rotting corpses ph34r
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Reading all these threads makes me feel so much better about Rhodri - he's almost 11 months and is still a hoover!
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Charlie does and always has been a hoover, can be a nightmare sometimes but learnt to relax a little now.
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Oscar was the same, I use to worry loads! He is nearly one and still runs to the end of the garden every morning to pick up the biggest chunk of mud he can find and run around with it in his mouth saying 'look what I've got.' He also has a habit of eating ears off stuffed toys, I have two elephant teddies that are now earless >:D
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Lol Smudge is 13 months and still picks all sorts up especially tissues off the beach, plastic bottles, my shoes and slippers and this afternoon he managed to jump up and get an apple out of the fruit bowl I managed to get it off him before he eat the core and seeds little devils aren't they >:D :005:
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Thanks for your replies everyone, reading these make me feel a bit more at ease with it all, but also makes me realise on how long the journey ahead is :lol2:
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The tiny round "coin-cell" batteries are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.
Of course the inside is toxic metals but this is not the major risk.
In water they will get very hot and potentially explode.
I left one in my pocket and got a burn from my car key which was also in there.
NOT enough warnings on the packaging and they LOOK harmless.
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I agree Alan - "luckily" the one that Humphrey got hold of was one of the bigger ones, so he didn't swallow it but it had got so hot we chucked it in the garden until it had cooled down. The fumes were awful, like amonia and were probably what made him drop it and start barking at it, which is how we noticed it, but the thought of what could have happened really upset me, I couldn't get it out of my head all day. The smaller ones are lethal and have caused deaths in children already!
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Rosie eats everything...except Her food.....caused great amusement for the 3 grandsons ( boys love anything even slightly poo related) as Rosies poo contained something bright turquoise, after much inspection ( yes, really) We came to the conclusion it was a pony tail band....
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Fortunately since the "corn-cob" incident mine has been very careful about foraging.
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Maisie is nearly 6 months old and eats everything....I swear she searches out the most revolting detritus just for the hell of it.
The other night she outwitted my husband :005: escaped up the stairs and deposited not one...but two live snails on our bed. Poor hubby then got it in the neck for not closing the stair gate and the bedroom door ;) :005: :005:
I have a deal with her though.....she knows that if she ever, ever brings a frog into the house.....she's gone ;) ;)
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Whereas I am not sure I can recommend the following, I am going to relay what we resorted to with Ollie. He too, ate everything out and about and also had a ferocious guarding response when he happened upon something he wanted to consume, to the extent it was impossible to either lure him away or get anywhere near him to remove him from what could potentially be very dangerous (in Glasgow we have unfortunately had episodes of dog poisoning in parks earlier this year, with meat being laced. 3 dogs died in April in parks we go to with him)
We decided to reinforce a 'leave' response but by laying down food that was deliberately awful tasting. So we coated bread in lemon, and the hottest sauces and one of us would go further ahead on a walk and put it down for Ollie to find. When he found it with the other person, they would say 'leave it Ollie', and 'Be careful' in forceful voices, and of course Ollie would leave the bread, as he could smell it was absolutely foul to him, and then we would reward him with a treat when he came to us instead. We did this enough times that he started paying attention to the 'leave it' command, because it made sense to him to - we were giving him good advice, rather than advice which he didn't want to hear because 'leave it' was usually paired with something that was very desirable to him and tasty. He began being able to generalise to other things that he wanted to eat because he started trusting our advice on the instruction. Of course we always picked up the bread afterwards so no other animals could consume it,
So that's what we resorted to because of the deaths of dogs in parks we visited and because his guarding response was simply unmanageable a few months ago. Like I say I can't say I recommend this as I don't want to be in a position of promoting other dogs feeling ill if they still did eat the hot sauce bread but we felt we needed to do something serious to manage our situation.
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That's great idea and if its worked then that's even better!! I don't really think it would be that awful if it did make them feel a bit ill :020:, it would possibly reinforce the training and would certainly be better than death by poisoning!! Thanks for the tip!!!
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Second that, it sounds like a really good idea- may have to give that one a go myself!
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This is a good idea but hard to be sure what they will find "horrible".
After all we have our share of poo eaters on here.
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A light dusting of hot chilli powder works wonders.
Lesley and Dylan