Hi. Our 12 week old puppy has been allowed out this last week. Short walk each day, playing in the garden. However she eats everything when out! Mainly when she's in the garden, she will eat the grass constantly and mud/ dirt. If I follow her around she runs off so I'm worried she thinks its a game. It's getting to the point where I don't want her in the garden as this is all she does. I try to replace grass etc with a toy, play fetch with her but she's not interested. Any ideas? Thanks, M
I had the same problem. Mine loves mulch, stones, dead flowers, tree leaves, weeds..you name it. I taught her "leave it" from day 1 at 7 weeks. It took a while but after repetition outside, she learned what's off limits now and leaves them alone except during mad hour. The only thing though is puppies don't generalize so "leave it" to mulch in one flower bed doesn't apply to all, you have to do it for everything individual. She's really starting to get it at 16 weeks. I told her leave it for the garden hose twice today and she's never touched it on any trips out back again today. Keep with it, it will work.
Forgot one thing - when she’s learning leave it, you can also use distraction. For example, I bring some sort if you out with us and when she just won’t “leave it” I throw the toy to distract her. She’ll drop it and start sniffing something else, so I pick it up and repeat. Also this was huge for me to take her on walks down my street. We have a LOT of gravel and rocks and I was worried about her eating them. Before the trip, I give her a long toy like a rope toy, or a fake fetch stick or a rawhide type stick. She carries it almost the entire length or our walk! She only drops it to sniff high traffic areas. When she drops it, I just toss it right in front of her snd off we go again. She LOVES carrying something in her walk!! I would never be able to leave my own yard without doing this. Lol
