Eating carrion

Discussion in 'Labrador Behavior' started by caroleb, Aug 28, 2011.

  1. caroleb

    caroleb Registered Users

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    Jun 24, 2011
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    One of my last issues with Barney is that he will anything he finds and given that a) he's a lab! and b) he was a stray is there any chance of training him out of the habit? He's now about 3 years old.

    It was eating a dead squirrel whole with no ill effects that made me try him on a raw food diet ::) up to then it didn't matter what food it upset his digestion. So he doesn't suffer any symptoms but I'm worried about parasites plus if he finds something there is no way he is coming to me until he's eaten it all. This morning he found a bird that took him ten minutes to eat, as a result we all got caught in the rain, all I could do was use the time to work and distract Rusty in the hope he doesn't try to copy Barney.

    thoughts anyone?
     
  2. pippa@labforumHQ

    pippa@labforumHQ Administrator

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    Re: Eating carrion

    Hi Carole

    Eating rubbish is a really tricky one to tackle. I had a male lab that used to do this and found that a handy command to teach is ‘drop it’.

    That way, at least if you catch him in the act, you can get him to spit it out onto the ground, and you don’t have to touch it.

    I appreciate that it doesn’t help for all those times that he does it before you spot what he is up to :(

    Pippa
     
  3. Sammie@labforumHQ

    Sammie@labforumHQ Administrator Staff Member

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    Re: Eating carrion

    Teaching a 'drop it' is well worth the effort anyway, though. I think it might be our most used command!!
     
  4. caroleb

    caroleb Registered Users

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    Re: Eating carrion

    thanks Ladies. In theory he knows "drop it" he also knows "not bloody likely" when it's something yummy!
     

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