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Hunting for Chewing Gum on Walks

Desrae

Well-known member
I have a nearly two year old tri girl named Belle and a 6 month old tri boy named Bob. They are both pretty well trained but do get into the odd bit of trouble now and then. They are still so young and sometimes full of beans and I don't mind at all! They walk well on a lead except lately they both have become obsessed with finding bits of chewing gum that has been thrown out on footpaths, etc. It all began with Belle at an early age where she would find the tasty minty morsels around our estate. Various neighbourhood children would drop old chewing gum where they played (but my own child would never do it, since she KNOWS how I feel about this disgusting habit). I find it very difficult to stop them from getting into the gum and I really don't know what to do. They walk with their noses to the ground wherever we walk now. I give them a good 45 minute to 1 hour walk everyday and we have playtimes here and there 10 minutes at a time with ball rolling and some basic training (sit, stay, come commands, etc.) so I think their brains are bodies are worked out enough. Is it their hunting instinct that is causing this? What should I do to break the habit?
 
From what I understand that a lot of gum has sweeteners that can be toxic to dogs so I am just worried that if they eat too much of it that they would get sick. Usually it's Belle who finds a good chunk she can scrape off the pavement while on a walk and chews the heck out of it. Then she swallows feeling really chuffed with herself, dogs can walk a chew gum at the same time! She seems ok afterwards, but I am worried about this bad habit. I was just wondering if anyone else has had their dogs do something like this... maybe mine are the odd ones out.
Don't get me wrong, I scan the path ahead and try to avoid any potentially successful pick-ups of discarded gum, but somehow Belle will even manage to scrap the flattened ones. I also say a stern no and turn away from the gum.
 
You might want to walk them individually, work on 'heel' and 'leave it' commands. That would be difficult to do with 2 dogs at once, but maybe after working on it individually for awhile they would obey the 'leave it' while being walked together.
 
Pippin does this all the time...I have had to retrieve this disgusting stuff from his mouth several times!!
 
You might want to walk them individually, work on 'heel' and 'leave it' commands. That would be difficult to do with 2 dogs at once, but maybe after working on it individually for awhile they would obey the 'leave it' while being walked together.

This is such good advice - and worked, at least for me. My youngest Cavvie is only a few months older than the little Shid-Kid I inherited when her mum was ill. They are both OBSSESSED with snaffling anything and everything remotely edible on our daily walks along our country lanes - you can imagine what I am talking about! I took them separately for about 6 months, using LEAVE so frequently that I'm sure they began to think that was their name!:eek:

Anyway, it worked like a dream. And I'm very glad of it now as the Shiddy has just started trying to eat her own faeces in the garden, but still walks away when I yell LEAVE through the kitchen window!:jmp:
 
Ah yes, I am definitely going to work on the heeling technique. I might wait for a month or two when it stays light out longer and the husband can help me walk them both, they usually are not happy when one goes out and the other stays in... I'm determined to break this habit. Many thanks!

I just found an interesting article about "Heelwork to Music" aka "Dancing with your Dogs", it's really cool! I would love to try this...
 
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Mine don't eat it but they do manage to find it to step in. I have the scissors nearby when we get in to cut it out before they realize something tasty is stuck on them. :rolleyes:
 
mine too!

Charlie is obsessed with cigarette butts! And in our town, there are plenty to be found.
I have to stay very alert, tell him to leave it, or steer away when I see them. But he has
managed to swallow a few, scares me!
 
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