I'm talking about white mistletoe berries here, not the red ones. These ones: https://www.google.de/search?q=whit...l_PaAhUB2qQKHSjpCbAQ_AUICigB&biw=1536&bih=686 There are a lot of birch trees where we live, and birch means mistletoe! It is a parasite that "nests" in it. And then drops the berries. They are tiny and white, very hard to spot on the ground. And apparently as poisonous as a yew tree - one berry can apparently kill a dog instantly. I'm just finding all of this stuff SO stressful. Like, now I can't even walk my puppy down the street! EVERYWHERE has mistletoe berries all around the ground. And will most of the year - from now until at least November. You can't sweep the area, you can't keep your head down on a walk because half the time you can't see them. If someone has stepped on one and just left the remnants, it's near impossible. Do other people just not worry about stuff like this? I mean, everyone where I live walks their dogs everywhere, through the parks covered in mistletoe, etc, and obviously there are not dogs dropping dead all around. So what is the answer? Do I have the only dog who picks up EVERYTHING? Yes, yes of course - teach him not to. But seriously, that does not happen overnight. He knows the command "leave it" but on a 15 minute walk that means (no exaggeration) saying "leave it" at least 75 times, once ever 1.5 seconds. Puppy has no fun, I have no fun, the whole time just becomes SO stressful. Avoiding mistletoe areas pretty much means puppy stays in my garden (neighbours' tree drops mistletoe into our garden so that area is fenced off and still causing us stress). Today we got out of the car in a paved parking lot and walked ten steps and I looked down and there were mistletoe berries all around us. I basically DRAGGED him through it, feeding treats non stop, but that is also unreasonable. Do people just generally not worry about this stuff or what is the answer?
Hi it is a huge worry and you a great puppy owner and only doing what feels right for you. I would try and continue to do your walks as normal and over time with those distractions he will not be bothered by those pesky berries. I too avoided certain walks for fear of Mason picking up things but I thought I like this walk and hopefully over time he will too. And he did in fact he prefers to walk that way every morning/afternoon! Plus in garden was ocd about berries that fell into our garden and I spent 3months clearing these berries away and he hasn’t even been interested in them at all I hope this helps a tiny bit
No we do worry about it and I understand how stressful it is. As they get older though they are not so intent on eating everything and anything in their path. This time last year I was hyper alert all the time - in the garden, on walks. Now my puppy is almost 17 months, yes I do still have to supervise to a degree and I get very twitchy when she starts scouring our borders but it’s a lot better. On walks she ignores things she scooped up last summer. Hang on in there - it will get easier.
When I googled Mistletoe, I read that it was only mildly toxic to dogs. and unlikely to do serious damage. I did read that the white berry varieties were worse than the red, but still not terribly toxic. There are lots of things that are considered toxic, but don't cause any problems in small quantities. Chocolate and onions come to mind. You should not be feeding them, but if your dog happens to get a bite, there is normally no harm done. Most toxic things in nature are also bitter. Children and dogs tend to not eat bitter things, though as adults we become more tolerant. (80+IBU IPAs come to mind) I make sure there are no commercial poisons in my yard, but I really don't worry about most plants or other things humans eat, as long we haven't tried to feed onion soup or hand fulls of raisins to the dogs.
My pup was brought up in a garden that was not secure, with cherry trees in the garden, trees full of mistletoe and regular visits from rabbits and squirrels. W,e, managed to get through puppy stages without eating the cherries (apart from those offered to her, minus the kernel, as a treat) or mistletoe, also without chasing small furry creatures mainly through the trained use if 'leave' and not allowing chasing.
It might be worth it to call your vet and find out just how careful you have to be? There's a big difference between one bite=emergency vet, and one bite=make sure he doesn't do it again. Could give you peace of mind at least (or not).
