My Puppy keeps eating EVERYTHING outside!!!

[Louise_H]

With the lovely warmer weather we have been blessed with recently, Holly my 5month old jack russell has been spending lots of time in the garden playing with various toys and enjoying the sunshine. The problem is whenever she is not being constantly played with, she turns to grass and sticks and leaves and dirt and pretty much anything she can get her paws on in the garden. Today she even ate cat poo. I was just wondering if anyone else was having the same problem or have had the same problem and could supply me with some advice on how to avoid the situation, I do tell her no when she does it, but she still goes back to it. She doesn't do this when we are walking or at a park or anything, just in the garden. Will she grow out of it?
Thanks,
Louise!

[Fruit bat]

must be a puppy thing. Dennis and Emilio both eat every thing, including some bell peppers i was growing. Lucky for me I haven't seen them eat any poo.LOL

[Scooter]

My puppy tries- but we've trained her very well on "leave it!" and "drop it" so if we're paying attention, she doesn't get much down.

[killerz298]

My puppy (lab) is the same exact way. EVERYTHING goes into his mouth but he is good about letting me take it out. He doesn't understand leave it or drop it. I can't get him to do these things, he just ignores me.

[SisMorphine]

Mine just turned 16 weeks today, and she had BETTER grow out of the "eating everything random" phase! I think a lot of it has to do with teething. But they also are at the stage where anything needs to be investigated, and specifically investigated with their mouths (like human babies while they are very little, before they develop their good motor skills). I say to teach her to "drop it" or "trade" and learn to ride some stuff out while they're growing.

[Buddy'sParents]

It's a puppy, puppies explore and teethe.... but appropriate toys and redirect any behavior that you absolutely do not want.

[Brattina88]

^ "Leave it" is a very useful command to teach ;)

[Herschel]

Anything that they successfully eat rewards the behavior. Your best bet is to teach "leave it" and prevent any eating.

[Sean5033]

my JRT loves to explore and chew anything she can get her mouth around when she's outside. She's 9 months old now, and she'll still pick up sticks, chew grass, and hunt lizards/critters when she gets the chance.

[cp734]

Yep, I am having that same problem with mine! He eats rocks, sticks, everything!

[Crazy Turbo]

My puppy (lab) is the same exact way. EVERYTHING goes into his mouth but he is good about letting me take it out. He doesn't understand leave it or drop it. I can't get him to do these things, he just ignores me.

Yep same here. Its been driving me nuts since I cant take her outside as much. All she wants to do is eat crap outside.

Wont even walk with me and I have to drag her which i hate doing.

Ugh, I so hate/love this girl. :(

[StunnedMonkey]

Might as well chime in here too. Darby (4 months) pretty much will pick up anything and everything. It's not bad on walks as I can offer a "leave it" and keep going. But during free play in the yard...forget it. I'm prying stuff out of her mouth every two minutes. Hope she gets over it because I can't let her run free even in a fenced area because if there's one rock anywhere she'll locate it and grab it it her mouth. It's really annoying.

[Fran27]

My two adult dogs still do the same thing, lol. I'm guessing it's normal dog behavior, just make sure there is nothing hazardous in their reach.

[Crazy Turbo]

Should i just let her eat grass and hope she learns from throwing up?

[squirtsmom]

When Squirt is alone, she is in the garden eating the wood chips. Since her obstruction, we watch her constntly.

[Danner&Daisy]

My lab pup Daisy seems to find even the smallest of rocks or sticks. I am constantly walking the yard to look for the "treats" that seem to attract her attention. But obviously she has better vision than me because I can't find them and she can.