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[bluekarin]

Does anyone have any ideas how to stop Neela from eating them when she sees them in the park, or by the side of the road? I try to keep an eye out and tell her leave it in a stern voice but I can't see them all. Plus, I let her off the lead in the park so she finds all sorts to eat I do give her treats when she drops the item but sometimes it takes her a while. Is it possible for her to choke on them?

[Lavenders_Blue]

I don't know whether it's likely that Neela would choke on a drinks bottle lid, but given that they are fairly small then I guess it's possible

Tango will happily pick up any old crud off the street (chewing gum welded to the pavement - yum yum). Thankfully she doesn't usually bother with anything inedible such as plastic.

I can sometimes recall her away from the item (rather than asking her to 'leave' which usually results in her running away with her prize at top speed). If I do this, I tend to whistle her, as she gets a game of ball as her reward which is her super-favourite thing. However, it's not always successful, depending on what she has found to eat.

If the park is a particularly bad place for rubbish, then I guess your choices are: Avoid the park, keep her onlead, use a muzzle to stop her hoovering up rubbish, work on establishing a really solid 'leave' or recall by starting with stuff she's not that bothered about and working up.

Could you maybe also distract her in the park by doing some focus work such as heelwork practice, sits, stays, downs - general obedience type stuff, or if she's really focused and into a toy, playing with that, so she's concentrating on the activity rather than the yummies on the ground?

[The Dogmother]

As L_B has said, positive reinforcement training is probably the way to go with this one. My Ruby likes to scab stuff and makes herself sick, but she knows that if I call her away and she returns to me, she will get a really high value treat. There are some areas though where she wears her racing muzzle to stop her eating dropped pizza, curries and pools of puke

[bluekarin]

Some good suggestions, thank you LB. I do whistle her away and most times she comes. I am rather loathe to put her back on the lead for her walks as she has only just started walkies off it for the past couple of weeks. When she picks something up that I don't want her to eat I say leave it and when she does I give her a treat, which this week has been left over roast lamb. Most of the time she will drop it, but sometimes she will run off with the lid! When she has been particulary naughty and kept running off, I put the lead on her and do heel work for 5 mins or so. I also do sits and lie downs for a while. She does like playing with her ball, but not that much. Her fave thing to chase and play with are pine cones! I'll try and gather a few to have for when the treat won't do. Her other fave thing to do is run up to other dogs to say Hi! She does come back but it is really frustrating that she doesn't like to listen to me. I have a few times managed to distract her from another dog by playing with pine cones but they aren't always about. I don't want to avoid the park and I defiantly don't want to muzzle her. I am about to take her out now, so we shall see how she goes.

[Bramble]

Could you "plant" some lids full of mustard or something very strong for her to find - it might make her think they will all taste like that?

[Chucky Mama]

Can you work on training her to 'retrieve' these lids for a reward. For example, could you get some lids and work at home with her teaching her to find them, bring them to you and get a reward for giving them to you? It will be nigh on impossible to stop her picking them up so ideally you want to teach her that she needs to bring them to you in exchange for something tastier.

[bluekarin]

I take it no one else's dogs do this?

 

That's another good idea CM. Will save up some lids and give it a go. I'd rather not fill them with something. Last time we tried to warn her off something with food, it turned or she loved it! (Tabasco on feet to stop biting - turns out she loved the stuff and my poor YD were burning from the chilli *badmum* )

[Lavenders_Blue]

Reward roulette might be a good idea - it tends to keep dogs on their toes a bit and make them think. So for example, when she brings a lid back to you and drops it, she might get a piece of lamb, a piece of cheese, a biscuit, a game with a pine cone, a game with a ball, or maybe just a fuss and some praise. Sometimes mixing the rewards up (some high value and some low value rewards) so the dog doesn't know what it's going to get can be quite exciting for them - a bit like gambling I suppose! Works well with recall too. They will often work extra hard in the hope of getting the jackpot.

 

ETA - You're not alone, a friend's dog (Springer Spaniel) does this. She is often seen wandering round the fields with crisp packets, bits of cardboard, sandwich boxes, feathers etc in her mouth. She has swallowed poo bags and other bits of plastic before. Sometimes ignoring her works, as it's often an attention thing and she'll get bored and drop it. Other times my friend has to work on the element of surprise and catch her dog when she isn't expecting it to retrieve the item. Thankfully her dog is very gentle - if I pounced on Tango and tried to steal something she'd picked up I'd probably get snapped at! Another friend has a terrier who hoovers up the stones on gravel driveways. He has to be walked in a muzzle as he's been unzipped on a number of occasions to remove rubbish from his insides

Edited April 5, 2013 by Guest

[The Dogmother]

someone's going to be baking liver or sardine cake!

[Lavenders_Blue]

They can't resist liver cake can they?

[bluekarin]

I have yet to try her on it. She doesn't like liver when I have given her some when making a casserole and I know she doesn't like James Wellbeloved venison treats so I think she doesn't like rich stuff. She does love cheese and peanut butter and I think I have a recipe for some peanut butter treats I will have to dig out.

[The Dogmother]

No... our friends in Norfolk breed deerhounds and they also make their own 'liver leather'; they had our dogs' undivided attention whilst we were there

[Lavenders_Blue]

I can imagine!

[Blackrocksrock]

Just as an aside to this - regarding pine cones - have seen a dog with them stuck in the intestines from swallowing them without chewing them - not a very great thing to play with if you can try something else - avoids a huge vets bill for an enterotomy!!