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eating snow

3.4K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  ioreks_mom  
#1 ·
i was just wondering if anyone else's dog eats snow? since we got snow on saturday iorek is eating TONS of it. when we go out for potty breaks he spends his whole time eating snow and not doing his business!! it is getting really frustrating to me. especially when it is late at night and it is the last potty break before bed and all he wants to do is eat snow...

does any one have any ideas of what i can do? it is really hard to re-direct his attention when he is as focused as this. maybe next time i will bring out some treats and see if i can get his attention back to me and the "business" at hand ;) what do you think?

thanks!

mindy
 
#2 ·
ha! Your name is Mindy? Mine is too! :D

Anyway, both Eddie and Uallis eat snow. They know when I say, "Get a move on"...it means to well...move on to something else. lol When I would go out with them and I wanted them to move I'd grab their collar and move them while saying "Get a move on" so now I just have to say it. It didn't really mean to teach them that though...however, I'm glad they know it now.
 
#3 ·
My black lab was a big-time snow-eater. He could clear an average driveway faster than an 8-horse Toro.

I have no idea how it came about, but we developed a little "cheer" to remind him why he was outside, and I used it when it was getting close to bedtime or we had other pressing obligations.

The sound could best be described as "jiggy-jiggy-jiggy-jiggy-jiggy!" Apparently that means, in retrievereese, "Get a move on, Big Guy!"

I have no such problem with Esther. She's a multi-tasker and can pee, eat snow and bark at the neighbor's dog at the same time, while keeping a watchful eye on Molly.
 
#5 ·
My girl has only seen it once or twice thus far which is surprising in this climate but she tries to eat the snowflakes as they're falling. It's hilarious. She loves when it's on the ground as well.. except when a snowball hits her square between the eyes which happened once since she was smart enough to try and catch it in her mouth.
 
#6 ·
This is Tyson's first winter, and he's loving it!! He also would rather eat snow than do his business. I just keep reinforcing hurry up. When I get a stern voice and tell him "hurry up, it's cold out here" he seems to do better. He also likes to catch the snowflakes. I tossed him a snowball and he couldn't figure out where it went when he tried to pick it up!!:p But he also has to do a couple boxer burns around the house before coming in.
 
#8 ·
Matrix is the exact same. I try to find a bushy area that doesn't have much snow around it. If that's not possible, as soon as he goes down to eat snow, I say "no, hurry up!" and pull/drag him to a different place, and keep moving to different places until he goes. After he goes I toss him a few snowballs. He seems to be catching on to the "if i go potty fast, I get snowballs!!"

Best of luck!
 
#9 ·
thanks guys. i will have to try that snowball trick! so far has been out 2 times today and still no poopy... :( i have to go back to work in about 20 minutes so we are going to go out and play for a bit and hopefully we will get a poopy then...

iorek is so crazy for snowballs (he doesn't catch them...i don't know to teach him to catch, unless i throw things at his face then he might eventually learn?) he will go and find the exact snow that we threw and then he will eat it!