My puppy is a sniffer

something is weird with my puppy. i dont know if this is normal or not but my puppy (belgian shepherd) spends most of his time when outside sniffing.

if i take my puppy out for his walk he is always sniffing everything! you can see his nose mark all over the concrete floor and its really annoying since i have to keep dragging my puppy on his walk. if i take my puppy to a grassy area we cant walk cuz he is just sniffing the grass non stop.

another issue my dog has is he is a hoover. he picks up anything off the floor and starts chewing it, pebbles, rocks, bottle caps, screws.. you name it.

is this normal?

thanks

I'm not an expert, but I'd say most likely, yes. My dog does the same thing, but he was bred to be a sniffer. How old is he, and how long have you been walking him in this area? If you were to go to a new place, you'd probably keep looking back and forth, trying to take in all the new sights. Your dog is doing the same thing with smells. You can start training him to pay attention to you, instead of the environment, and let him sniff when you allow it.

Make sure you puppy proof your house, so that he can't get to things that would be dangerous to swallow. Puppies are known for chewing anything and everything.

Great advice Keller. How old is your puppy? If this is a very young pup, I wouldn't worry about all that too much. I believe in letting a puppy be a puppy. (within reason. LOL) But if this is an older pup, you could start working on some things. Yes, instead of letting your puppy lead you on your walks, sniffing everything in sight, get her to pay attention to her walking. Give her a job to do watching and walking nicely, stop, sit, resume walking, turns. (part of the time) You can decide here and there if YOU are going to allow her to sniff something. Then back to business.

When I walk my dogs on a leash, they are to walk nicely and follow my decisions. they are not to make those decisions. When we go someplace where they can run off leash, then they can do what they want, within reason. They have to stay somewhat near by but they can sniff whatever they want.

It's a learning process. Your pup won't be perfect overnight. And I wouldn't expect him to. Let him be a puppy too and let him take his time to mature. Little lessons along the way and he'll be fine.

hi, sorry i should have mentioned the age of my puppy, he is 11 weeks old and i am take him to walk the same place every time. there are street cats in my neighbourhood though and there used to be a dog before whose owner would let him **** everywhere and not pick up after him so i figured these could be reasons for his sniffing.

also my house is puppy safe its the streets that arent. I am thinking of doing some community service and cleaning up my street just so that i won't have any problems walking my dog.

at the moment 3 people walk my dog. my mum during the day time when me and my wife are at work. my wife walks the dog during the early evenings (6-9PM) and then me, I walk the dog after 9 and early morning when he first wakes up like around 5AM to 7AM.

I am thinking maybe because we r 3 different people walking him this might be why he ends up wanting to go where he wants to go. someone could be spoling him? Some days he is better then others. Some days he just won't budge and I have to drag him with me by force (is that ok to do btw?)

I am feeling though as if he is learning quickly and i am not expecting him to be perfect over night. I just don't want to do something that will mess things up for the future.

well i think at that age a lot of puppies will pick up stuff off the ground, if i were you i'd be careful about that don't want it to hurt itself by eating something bad

yoshi use to have the problem. what i'd do was get the puppy to respond to it's name even with a lot of distractions around. then if the puppy has been sniffing an area to much or tries to take off in another directino you can always say it's name to get it to pay attention to you and you can continue the walk

what about if it hears its name and doesnt want to move, is it ok to drag him then?

No !!!

No, don't drag your pup. You want him to see that walks are fun and that you are to be trusted. If he doesn't want to move, try enticing him and making a game. Try running a few steps the other way and making fun, squeeky noises. Give a treat when he takes even a step in the right direction.

First though....11 weeks is awfully young to be worrying about major leash walks. He should be spending more time romping and running around in a fenced yard or someplace safe. A little bit of walking is great, and good for practice but he's really young to take more than about a 15-20 minute walk at a time. Maybe he's tired when he stops and doesn't want to move. Give him time and as he matures, he'll get onto it. But make learning fun, never a drugery. Good luck.

no dragging = bad

take him inside or a fenced area and let him off the leash. call him if he comes reward him praise him make it a mini party but make sure to make it A BIG DEAL do that everytime he does it.

if he ignores you don't do anything. wait a few minutes and do it again. throughout the day just say his name and reward him a lot whenever he does come to you this way he'll figure out that when you call him good things will happen

The only thing I have to add is to be very careful about his hoover actions. My Bailey is very much a hoover, and I am constantly pulling things out of his mouth. Many things out in the streets can be dangerous for pups, and unfortunately we can keep our own yards clean, but neighbors are another story.

The reason I post this is b/c I found one day that Bailey had picked up a push pen from someone's yard and I about freaked out. I was so fortunate that he didn't swallow it. I guess it's just the joys of having a puppy that loves to explore everything and "EAT" everything.

This is a good stage to start teaching " leave it ".

Have to add also, was reading about a rescue dog recently that rather enjoyed swallowing stones!

3 operations later, it still thinks they are rather yummy

So, definately needs nipping in the bud now.

Agree about the "leave it" command. We learned this a couple of weeks ago in our class, and he is picking up on it very well. I am sooooo thankful for this command.

Amen to the leave it command! I think it's one of the first things anyone should teach their dog.

how would one teach the leave it command?

Put your pup on a leash and place six objects around on the floor...three which are his toys and three which are things he might be interested in, but are not allowed. Walk him around the objects. When he shows interest and goes for a no no, keep his head up and tell him, "leave it." The second he leaves it, or looks away, give him a treat and praise him, "gooooood leave it." The timing is important. You've got to be quick with the reward immediately when he ignores the object. If you wait too long, that is lost on him. If he goes for his own toy, let him pick it up. If he does manage to get a hold of one of the objects which he is not allowed to have, take it out of his mouth and after you do, praise him. Every day, practice this several times, changing the objects. He'll learn what is his stuff and what is not. And he'll learn what the command, "leave it" means.

Also, it was mentioned on another post that when you call your dog to come and if he doesn't, to ignore him. This is a sure way to teach your dog that he doesn't have to come if he doesn't want to. Be sure to not use the word, "come" if you cannot enforce that command. Entice him to come by making fun, happy, playful noises, running the other way and only when he is coming, and you're absolutely sure he is....and he's just about to you, say the word, "come" and reward like crazy. If he has trouble coming even then, use a long line so you can help him to come to you if you need to. It's very important to never give a command of any kind if you can't enforce it. You're better off not giving a command if he's going to get away with blowing you off.

wow thanks alot, that sounds like an advanced (and better) version of something i was trying yesterday. he kept wanting to bite my clicker so i put it infront of him on the floor and everytime he tried to take it i told him no. but your way is better because it gives him an example of what he CAN take.

he doesnt respond to the word come all the time. if he is preoccupied he ignores me.

i love training the dog, it feels like a simulation game on the computer.

My dog does that