[Jenna09]

My 10 month old 10.4 lb chihuahua/jack russell female pup Fibi eats everything and anything. She has thrown-up some horrible looking balls of stuff and some of her poops consist of nothing but fluff from stuff toys, hair, sticks, plastic, etc. Some of the things she eats include:
- my other dogs poops (once before it even hit the ground )
- my cat poops (not anymore moved box)
- fluff from her toys she rips open
- tennis balls, green fur and rubber
- rawhide (no longer give her these because she threw up about 2 cups of it)
- paper
- plastic
- shoes (laces and heels)
- paperclips (we dont even know where she gets them)
- hair
- anything that grows or comes from nature including dirt, rocks, grass, sticks, leaves, bugs, worms on days that it rains and they come out, bird poop, bird feathers, weeds, flowers, etc etc.

Alot of the things she was eating inside the house have been removed and I know that it is our fault she eats them. But we cannot control everything that she puts in her mouth and eats. None of our other dogs do this.

She gets fed twice a day about 3/4 cup each time. Our vet told us to cut that down or switch her to over-weight formula because she is overweight but I think its just her body structure, because she is very active so Im not switching or cutting back her food.

Our vet also told us we werent properly "puppy proofing our home" but if we put away everything that she has eaten or attempted to eat we could be sitting in empty rooms on the floor, none of our other dogs would have toys and we could never take her outside.

Is there any training tips to get her to stop putting everything in her mouth and eating it?!?!? Right now to get her to drop stuff we ask her "do you want a cookie" and she will drop it right away and then we give her a cookie...I know that this is the wrong thing to do because she only drops it if she is asked if she wants a cookie but we have had to do anything that will work!
Please Help!

Thanks
Jenna

[Durbkat]

I would enroll her in obedience class and they will teach her the leave it and drop it commands. You should do this before she eats something that could kill her.

[Kotone]

I don't see why saying "do you want a cookie" is so bad to get her to drop things...That's kind of similar to how i get my pup to drop stuff. I just take out a treat and he drops it immediately. But I usually make him do something like sit, or lie down, so he can "earn" it, besides dropping what he had before. I agree with putting her in obedience classes. Drop/leave it are very important commands...sounds like they could save your pup's life sometime. Good luck!

[shewolf4]

There are people that are nervous eaters, there are also dogs that are nervous eaters. Start her in obedience, give her a job and have her either with you or crate her- same for outside. It takes awhile to get over the bad habit, but it also takes some work to let her find her own and calm down with it. Right now I bet its all tense and allot of "No-Drop it, dont eat this" in your house, so put a leash on, keep her with you and praise. If it gets real bad, might even put a muscle(sp)? on her where she cannot eat, but can drink and not chew anything up. I have a terrier mix that was horribly abused- she would chew anything - it took me almost a year to get her over this and yes- I used the muscle- please correct my spelling if this is wrong anyway- it will take time and patience. Shelby is one of the best dogs ever now. Might give her a check up and make sure she is not missing any minerals, and is healthy otherwise. I would however- leave my household pretty much the same and let her observe to see the "rythm" and how it runs. Give her one toy- maybe a kong- one only- so she knows this is hers, the others are off limits, but she has a outlet for her chewing tension

[MineIsAHeinz57]

My dog used to eat all kinds of stuff....especially my good shoes! I don't buy her toys anymore that have the stuffing, or the "fluff". I also monitor what she has availible for her to grab; trying not to leave things out for her to chew on. It's a great excuse for my son to pick up his toys I also had to put her on a leash and keep her with me so she wouldn't go off in another room and find something to eat (the last straw was the DVD remote control!). It has worked and now I think she finally gets it.

[Jenna09]

Thanks everyone. Fibi has been to obedience class and was the best in her class for her drop-its and leave-its but unfortunately she will not do them here at home?!?! She would even drop her cookies at class its so weird!

Anyways Im going to try the muzzle approach, I am worried about her getting an obstruction.

Jenna