Hi all, Im after a bit of advice please. Im a first time dog owner, but grew up with labs -this is just the first one i have owned by myself. I have a three year old, desexed, absolutely gorgeous, male chocolate lab. He is my absolute best friend, he comes everywhere with me. We have one problem....... He eats things he shouldnt. There is no controlling him! He has eaten tights, underwear, bras, bikinis, mangos, small fruits with stones in them, everything. The other day, he ate a tea towel. It had the TINIEST bit of sauce on it, and it was in the washing basket in the laundry. He went into the laundry, took it out (it is pretty tall so he would have had to get in there somehow) and he ate it. I could hear something funny so i went and by the time i got there he had eaten 3/4 of it. I managed to get a tiny bit out. After what was the worst three days of my life, with constant worry, he vomitted it up. He is now fine. But this was a VERY close call. I was in constant contact with the vet etc, so i had that all covered. But what i want to know is; does anyone else's lab do this or is it just mine? What can i do? I try to pick everything up and doggy proof my home but sometimes things just happen Is there a way i can stop him from eating random things like this?? He is just obsessed with food. Anything food and he is right there. Please help! Thanks Erin
Hi Erin and welcome to the Forum. I have a two year old Yellow Girl Lab called Molly. Molly is a great pincher of dirty washing and I have a fair number of tea towels with bits missing My theory is that she is attracted to it because it has our smell/taste on it. The TV remote is a great favourite, but now I have wised up and put it out of her reach. I usually exchange contraband for a piece of kibble, so now she appears with whatever she has pinched in her mouth, a dead giveaway really. When we are out walking she is a enthusiastic scavenger. The autumn has been dire. She will, if given the chance, feast on margory windfall apples, self pick blackberries and pick up nuts and crunch them she'll and all. There are products, bitter Apple spray, etc that are supposed to taste so bad the dog doesn't want to know. Molly was a great fan of paper ( I think because it is made of wood pulp and she loves chewing wood) but I kept spraying the contents of the waste paper basket and the problem has certainly lessened since then.
Welcome to you! I have a Lab, Tatze (female, 2 years old) who eats anything connected with dog walking. Leads, collars, harnesses etc - NO idea why. She has eaten two harnesses - metal bits and all. She once swallowed a lead - whole! She threw it up a TEN agonising days later (people on here will remember ) I have only one answer to it - keep them all well out of her reach.
Hello and welcome from Poppy and me! I had a lab as a teenager who used to run away and raid dustbins, then spend three days groaning in his bed while he digested the disgusting things he'd eaten - and he'd either vomit up or else eventually pass out plastic bags that he'd eaten. He was a horror in the house - ate tea towels, shoes, the U-bend to the sink, walls... Once he opened the kitchen pantry door and pulled all the food out and ate as much of it as he could and was then sick all over the place... General nightmare. We didnt have crates in those days, that would have been the best thing for him at night. No advice I'm afraid other than constant vigilance and having the tidiest house in the world - but sending you lots of sympathy!
Hi and welcome to the forum. I've been lucky as Juno hasn't stolen or chewed anything but the only solution is trying the sprays, removing everything within reach, and that is everything and hopefully things will improve. Also teach a swap so when he steals something he gives it up for a treat rather than chew it. Does the chewing happen when he's at home alone or when you're there as well?
Amongst many other things my first Labrador had a real fondness for tipping over and consuming the contents of worm farms, including all the worms. He also ate many non-digestible things like pantyhose, plastic bags etc. He'd raid and eat the full contents of any fruit bowl, without leaving any traces. At the age of 12 he finally got a serious intestinal blockage from eating a large quantity of watermelon rind, but it was a miracle that it hadn't happened earlier. Preventing access, combined with internal vigilance - it's the only way.... Lord knows why they do it.
Three YEARS old? I guess he isn't going to grow out of it then. But he could die out of it if he gets a blockage. Mine did grow out of this by around one year old. Till they did the house was puppy proofed, anything valuable to me or dangerous to them was put up out of reach. Maybe you could still train him out of it. I found mine were taking contraband to get attention. I did the trade for an item of higher value trick, usually a good treat. I morphed this into a demand that they not only give me the stolen item, they must bring it to me in a different room, usually the kitchen where the treats were stored. Once we had that down pat it did seem they were taking things to either get the treat reward for giving it up or to get a play session going. Once I figured that out I just let them have the item. HUGE caveat here, none of mine were chewers or eaters. When I ignored them they gave up on the item. If your dog chews and swallows this might be too dangerous to try, even after you are sure he is only taking something to get attention, if you get to that point. I have to add as well, sometimes when my dog (still at 8 years) swipes something to get attention HE'S RIGHT. We Are due for a play, I've been too busy, we both need a break. So we'll take a break and I will even do the oft warned against, I'll chase him till I get the thing back. He loves it, I love it, it doesn't seem to make him take things more, but, I didn't do this till I was sure of his reasons for swiping stuff. And as I said, he doesn't chew or swallow.
I've taught a swap, it did take a little time. Now if she has something in her mouth she shouldn't, as I say "trade you" she will drop whatever is in her mouth for a treat.
Oh, my dog has nevvverr eaten anything he shouldn't....HAH! He is my first Lab and after having had two dogs before him (both Border Collies) I thought I knew quite a bit about dogs, but he quickly showed me that Labs are a different breed in so many ways. This eating obsession is one of them! The "swap for a treat" was a life saver for him and for me! But in the early days with him he ate so many things...anything, really, but the worst was the time when I thought he had swallowed a pencil sharpener, sharp razor cutter and all. And the time he did swallow most of a soft rubber soccer ball...it was about three days until that came up. He has gotten much better as he got older (he's three now) but I still have to watch, especially on walks. He grabs anything he sees, basically.
Hi and I feel your pain. I have a 2 year old male chocolate Labrador and he eats anything he can get his mouth on. He has eaten 2 comforters, a pair of oven mitts, 6 Books, umpteen pairs of socks and just recently about 3lbs of Chocolate. He can usually get it out. I have tried everything i could think of to get him to stop but nothing has worked.
I'm feeling better about my lab now. We rescued him him 6 weeks ago and he periodically chews things, but just leaves the mess and doesn't eat them. Yesterday it was a chair cushion and his harness.
Both of my labs will eat any food left lying around and they will destroy anything chewable (especially shoes) if its left lying around when I go out without them. Also, as my dogs can open locked doors we have to barricade the fridge and other cupboards when we leave the house. Also, Buddy has a habit of just carrying things in his mouth. He doesn't eat them or even chew them just picks up shoes, toys, remote, bath plug etc etc and carries them around for a while. I thought this was a labrador thing but maybe not?
Hi All, I was going to ask some advice on this very matter as Riley does this picking things up and eating some of them She is nearly 7 months old now but after reading all that has been said in the above posts I feel a bit lucky really. One of her loves is cigaret stubs, every time we walk passed a bus stop she pulls and pulls to get at the half finished ciggy stubs. I hope she grows out of this soon or I might have to get her one of those E/cigarets. I think I will definitely try the swapping the stolen item for a treat trick. Thanks everyone
I would be working on stopping her pulling in the first place and then being able to reward herself by picking up rubbish. I would also train a "leave" to stop her picking up rubbish, or anything else, to begin with rather than swapping for a treat afterwards.
Riles is really good on the lead almost all the time but when she seas another dog that is when the problem starts I've tried calming her changing directions tempting her with a treat but she gets so excited
