Eating tree bark????

[Julie Kudron]

My 6 mo old Goldendoodle, Maxwell, is eating bark right off the tree! He also eats sticks, meaning he chews them up into pieces and swallows them! Why is he doing this? I doubt he's lacking something in his diet, we feed him Taste of the Wild food. I'm afraid this habit will hurt him.

Has anyone else had this problem? How do I get him to stop?

[Willow and J]

Willow was not allowed to chew tree, but she has always chewed on sticks and branches. She also used to "chew" rocks - pick up a rock and enjoyed rolling it around in her mouth. We talked to our vet about it, and as long as she doesn't swallow them, that's normal, she said. Now at almost 2, she still likes branches - shred them into bits - and rarely pick up rocks. We do discourage rocks, but let her chew on branches. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna was the same way when she was little.  She used to LOVE carrying around rocks, never swallowed one though.  Now she doesn't really touch rocks, but she still loves to shred sticks.

Definitely teach "leave it" and as long as he isn't ingesting large amounts of tree (or toxic trees) then it's probably fine.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

My two doodles try to eat everything they can possibly pick up in the backyard.  I have a e-fence around my pond and garden to prevent them from getting into trouble as much as possible.  My neighbor has 3 huge trees where all the crap falls on my property including the bark which is Olivers favorite and Sasha love those itchy balls (spiky round balls), I think she is a little obsessed with them!!  Sasha is 2 1/2 yrs old and Ollie will be 2 in June.  I would practice the "leave it" command and hopefully it will sink in.   I have done this since my two were puppies but they think its a game now.  All this is totally normal puppy/dog thing.  With me it has been difficult to make them stop, I have lots of "outside" toys for them to play with which helps and I do keep a very close eye on them when they are outside.  Good luck :)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Barbara, that is so funny about Sasha and the itchy balls. We have them too from our Sweet Gum tree and Tara has been obsessed with them since she was a puppy (3 yrs. old now!). She doesn't get the same joy out of any of her toys that she gets from playing with one of those balls! I don't get it??

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

I suppose you would have to try to stop it now. Like they said teachng leave it may help or just taking out of his mouth everytime.

I doubt that it's good for them but don't really know. Ours were never into sticks except carrying them once in awhile on a walk.

Ours still try to eat everything! DH went in the yard and sucked up every little thing with the leaf blower so they can play in the yard. Now if only he could take that thing on the walks with us!!! Good luck!

[Jennifer Tramell]

Meet Charlotte, my then 8 month old goldendoodle who was caught, tried, and convicted of stripping the bark off of 2 peach trees.  We had just planted those trees, so to say we were unhappy was an understatement.  I don't know why she did this and don't remember what we did to stop it -  it was so traumatic, I think I blocked it out :-)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

OMD!!  What an adorable criminal! I'll bet her sentence wasn't very harsh!! :)

[Julie Kudron]

Oh she's adorable!!!!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree that it is normal for puppies and dogs to like to chew on strange (to us) things. It's what dogs do! LOL!  Tara didn't eat bark but at one point she liked to lick the sap from our Spruce tree. I can tell you I had one sick puppy!  So there are things like that to consider...

I too would encourage you to teach him the "leave it" command and you could try spraying something distasteful to him onto the tree in the meantime such as Bitter Apple or some type of hot sauce.

[L.M.]

My doodles LOVE wood....sticks, tree pieces....luckily not furniture.  Stella has destroyed 2 sets of our long wooden blinds.  I don't know what it is about anything wood-like, but it's the only thing that draws their attention.  (We have since replaced all wooden blinds with curtains.)  Everyone has offered you great advice and I also think that as Maxwell grows up, he will grow out of his chewing.  My pups were insane monsters between 6 and about 13 months...then they began to settle and slowly stopped many of their awful puppy behaviors.  

However...I do have to say...Seamus is now 2 and a half and just the other day we put our little fig tree sapling back outside after being in the house for the winter.  Within 2 minutes of my husband asking me if he should leave the tree outside and me saying that yes it would be fine, Seamus ripped the entire sapling out of the pot and ran around the yard with it.  lol so much for my mature boy and any hope of growing a fig tree.... lol 

[Julie Kudron]

Thanks for all your suggestions! Maxwell does well with the "leave it" command in the house, but when he's outside and has wood available he totally ignores any commands. I have thought of Bitter Apple, and even looked for it in a gallon size, since he also eats mulch. I wanted to put it in a sprayer and spray all the mulch around the house as well as the trees. Unfortunately I have searched and can't find it sold by the gallon. :( 

Maxwell also eats rocks.  We have a type of lava rock around the house that breaks like slate. He chews that up and I think he's swallowing it. I can't tell for sure since it doesn't remain whole. UGH! I just need to get him to stop eating this stuff before he hurts himself!

[Jennifer Tramell]

I don't know if this will work, but my dogs have been digging a hole at my mom's house and she bought a bunch of crushed red pepper and sprinkled it all over the hole.  Now, I thought this was clever, but I don't think my dogs dig with their nose and mouth, and I don't know that red pepper will stop their paws :-)  I think it would be more effective in an area that a dog is eating, like your lava rock and mulch.  I don't think that it is toxic to dogs and I have seen it on various gardening sites, but I would double check before trying it.