Puppy eats EVERYTHING

Hello, just joined... hoping someone here can help me out.

Our Cavalier Charlotte turns a year old on the 10th, and she has a nasty habit of putting absolutely everything she sees into her mouth and eating it. It really doesn't matter what it is, she eats it. Wood, dirt, leaves, plastic, metal... she'll find it and she'll eat it. I'm starting to get worried, because she got a rather large safety pin in her mouth last night... luckily I got it out, because it was open. *faint* If I spot her eating something and say something, she'll usually get skittish and run away... if I chase her and try to get it out of her mouth, she clamps her jaw shut, and we have to force her mouth open to get it out. Sometimes if we hold out a treat, she'll exchange whatever she has in her mouth for it, but it doesn't always work. I'm not sure what the best way to approach this problem would be. She purposely tries to find bits of anything on the floor so she can eat it. She gets plenty of food and treats, and has plenty to chew on -- we don't have any problems with her chewing on anything she's not supposed to -- so I'm not sure what her obsession is with eating EVERYTHING. Thanks for any advice! :blabla:

Welcome to the board! icon_welcome

You need this:

http://deesdogs.com/documents/leaveit.pdf

I was going to say you need 'leave it' too.... My two will even spit whatever it is out on the floor with that command. The key with my two though is to say those words as a stern command.

Welcome to the group!!!

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, a command such as "leave it" or "off" will be extremely helpful, but the bad news is that you also need to be super tidy. If we leave anything laying around Beau will take off with it to chew upon. His latest obsession is the toilet paper roll.

It might also be worth getting the vet to check her over to make sure there is no physical cause - is she in good weight? Not drinking or weeing excessively?

Nothing escapes being eaten in our house.
Some of the more exotic things that have been eaten are:
Figurines made of modelling clay.(slowly emerging on the back lawn today):swear:
Several arms and legs off transformers and small toys......
small lego bricks,yellow styrofoam,roofing felt,skirting board/corners of coffee table,soap, the head off a halloween broom.
If anything ever happens to her, the post mortem will be like in the Jaws movie, probably bits of number plates and various appendages will fall out.
She respects the" leave it "command when I'm there to catch her pick up stuff, problem is with kids in the house, she scavenges through their bedrooms if they're daft enough to leave the doors open.You have to treat a cavalier like it's a toddler and expect that it will put everything into it's mouth.
Sins

Mind won't listen to me to sit/stay. I did manage the "leave it" or "drop it" command with a no fun attitude. Also helps when pup is playing too aggressively and will let go of the item on command.

i would try bitter apple spray or "keep off" repellent
this is what i spray on or near everything shes nots supposed to touch, and she just sniffs it and immediately loses interest.
also baby proof your home like if you had a 2yr old living there.
anything at floor/eye level is fair game if you didnt pick it up.

Sally is the same nothing is safe from her. She especially like the plastic tops of sports water bottles. Sam liked these as well.

Same problem here, but worse outside--pebbles from the garden, snails, dirt... It's probably worse than it should be because it's turned into a game for her.

Thanks for the link to "leave it"...we're going to try that.

Scout was the same way. She's 19 months now and has gotten better, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She knows 'drop it' and does fairly well. When she was young, I tried getting things from her, but she ran away. After a while I gave up hoping that she didn't have anything to dangerous. But they do learn. Be persistent. Good Luck.

I have taken more things out of Libby and Riley's mouth than when my kids were little. It doesn't matter how much we vacuum it is amazing what they find.

It is a team effort sometimes too. Riley gets things that are higher and then Libby finds them and chews them!

I like the jaws analogy too. Paper clips, string, socks, rabbit poop etc.

I'm constantly fishing things out of Cody's mouth and she's 8, it's mostly when were out on walks

Ditto for Dixie....in fact, I have just spent the last hour pulling things out of her mouth. I can't even believe what she can find. The naked eye (mine) can't see a thing, but she has no trouble. We are working on "leave it" and it does work half the time. I am going to have to get very serious about it. Judy and Dixie

Wow I had no idea this phase continued for years! Bella is almost 10 weeks old and I am constantly taking cardboard, live ants, and even cement out of her mouth.

How does the leave it command work? I having trouble so far, but perhaps that's because she is so young?

Well it is most intense right now as just like human babies, they explore with their mouths. Leave it is really probably a bit too hard for her to learn at this age -- she is just a baby. At about 16-24 weeks you can start trying to teach it. Right now you mainly need to make sure she isn't picking all this stuff up by watching her like a hawk.

sins said:

Nothing escapes being eaten in our house.
.
She respects the" leave it "command when I'm there to catch her pick up stuff, problem is with kids in the house, she scavenges through their bedrooms if they're daft enough to leave the doors open.You have to treat a cavalier like it's a toddler and expect that it will put everything into it's mouth.
Sins

Click to expand...

You could be talking about my Pippin. Mostly he will obey 'drop it'If I can catch him.He is 4 in feb and still hasn't grown out of this habit!

I always say that I have retrieved more things from the dogs mouth than any of my kids.

Be careful where you say leave it! My human girl's always manage to say leave it to the dogs when they are on the tile. Things get broke that way. I am always telling them wait for them to get on the carpet if you can.

One of the worst things she's done(apart from tearing the wrapping off the christmas pressies) was last Saturday.I came home from doing an emergency 12 hour shift at work,cleaned out the fireplace to light a fire...
wind was lashing and gales howling outside.....put bag of ashes in a blue bin and rather than facing the elements ... put the bag of ashes in dining room/kitchen until rain stopped.
Came out 20 mins later after bath to find kitchen like volcano had erupted!
She must have pulled bag from bin, eaten hole in it,shook it like a rat and ran rings around the table dragging bag......
and who do I blame????
My stupid daft self, who else? Let me just add that washing 30 square metres of tiled flooring was not good for my equilibrium!!!!
Sins

sins said:

One of the worst things she's done(apart from tearing the wrapping off the christmas pressies) was last Saturday.I came home from doing an emergency 12 hour shift at work,cleaned out the fireplace to light a fire...
wind was lashing and gales howling outside.....put bag of ashes in a blue bin and rather than facing the elements ... put the bag of ashes in dining room/kitchen until rain stopped.
Came out 20 mins later after bath to find kitchen like volcano had erupted!
She must have pulled bag from bin, eaten hole in it,shook it like a rat and ran rings around the table dragging bag......
and who do I blame????
My stupid daft self, who else? Let me just add that washing 30 square metres of tiled flooring was not good for my equilibrium!!!!
Sins

Click to expand...

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Sorry Sins - the picture your post makes in my head has me in stitches!