I am a new Labrador owner; in fact Lewis is my first dog. He is now ten months old and the problem I'm having is his obsession with stones. He loves to play in the river but all he wants to do is dig up stones, huge ones. He will also catch stones if anyone throws them and has already lost a tooth because of it. I make sure nobody throws stones when he is in the water but am at my wits end trying to break his digging obsession. I've tried throwing a ball, frisbee, plastic bottles etc but nothing else interests him. He doesn't even want to play with other dogs once he's in the water. Can anybody suggest something I could do other than keep him out of the river? Thank you.
I'm sorry that I don't have any advice but am really curious what the others will say to help. One of the dogs in my dog walking group is like this and I always think, "If that was my dog he'd drive me stark raving mad". And I do worry about his teeth, but apparently he's not had any ill effects (and he's over 8 years old at this point). His person did put a command to it (something like "Search the stone" in German) which means she's also got a "stop searching the stone" command, which is helpful when he goes over the deep end on the stone obsession. Kind of like you have to teach "speak" before you teach "quiet". I have to say, I'm rather fascinated with him because she will throw a small stone into the river and that dog will actually dive down into the water, rummage around down there completely submerged, and then come up again with the stone in his mouth. I've never even had a dog who could swim, so seeing that dog "deep sea diving" is really impressive!
I have a crazy stone digger as well. He loves fishing them out of the creek behind our house or when we take him to the lake. He used to love to go find them in the woods if you tossed them in there, but after a few episodes of accidentally swallowing smaller ones and barfing them back up at 3 am, we've stopped that. The OH still occasionally tosses larger ones into the lake for him to find as a break from non stop water retrieving and swimming in circles. I really have to say that I use the "leave it" command for a multitude of things and digging stones is one of them. I don't think I can ever stop him from doing this altogether, but he will stop the activity and move on to something else if told to "Leave it!" I read on this forum the importance of "leave it" and made it a priority when he was a pup and it has come in very handy.
Our old Lab Scooby was a devil for stones - He was too set in his ways to stop him. Here is is with his friend Isla..he is diving for stones (not thrown in ones - he just decided to bring a stone up)
I think Fiona had a bit of a problem with something similar, although might be mistaken. @snowbunny? I'd keep him by the water, and work on engaging him in a game with you. Then in the shallows, and so on, until he can stay engaged with you and playing games with you while he is in the water. Or, find a river without stones if that's possible.
My dog sounds exactly like the one in your walking group. He does understand the leave command but when he's really excited he chooses not to hear.
This is like watching my Lewis. He does exactly what Scooby did, diving down really deep in the water.
I think you're right. Yesterday I took Lewis to a country park where he charged into the reservoir (very shallow due to hot weather) and there were no stones. He bounced about like a spring lamb thoroughly enjoying himself and he listened when I called him out. However I'm still going to continue working with him at our local river.
Yes, I had the same problem with Willow when she was a puppy. She was a devil for picking up stones - the bigger, the better, and out of water were the best kind. I just used regular distraction and replacement techniques. I'd ask her to drop it and throw her a cone or something instead, or give her a treat. She very quickly stopped picking them up at all. Then, ages later, both my (now adult) dogs suddenly started picking up massive rocks on walks, out of the blue. They would leave or drop for a treat or a game, but this time they would remember where the rock was and, once the game was over, they'd dash back for it. So I ended up carrying them with me, and surreptitiously throwing them away when the dogs weren't watching. It was a bit tedious, but didn't last long; maybe a month or so until they gave up again.
Thank you. Lewis is not interested in distraction with other toys but loves his treats so I'll give your suggestion a go.
