Leaf eating, dirt munching!

[Michelle & Ruepunzel]

My SWEET sweet little puppy will NOT leave our flower pots alone. When she rings the bell to go "potty" outside, she just likes to play in the snow and dig up leaves and eat them.

 

Does anyone else have this problem? How do I try to correct it?

 

We tell her NO! when she gets into the flower pots and she will stop while we are watching her, but the second we turn our backs, her nose is right back in the dirt eating it. We have also tried the bitter spray and nothing seems to work. She just loves it.

 

Yesterday, she ate an entire orchid, uprooted the plant and ate it. It's not that we are not watching her, she is just so quick!

[April S.]

My Luna LOVES to chew on leaves and then spit them out.  When it snowed in early November - she would dig the leaves out of the snow and made a game of pouncing on them once she uncovered her treasure.   I always told her no - and "leave it" and she would promptly spit them out.  I'm not sure how to keep her from thinking of them as a treat though.  I haven't had the dirt eating thing though...

Can you maybe put some kind of wrap or cover around your plants or pots?  Mesh of some sort to discourage your puppy from finding them so appealing?  

[Michelle & Ruepunzel]

Outside, she loves to pounce on the leaves and uncover them from the snow so that they blow in the wind and she can then pounce again. She doesn't swallow them, just munches and spits back out. I'm not as worried with the leaves outside as I am the flower pots. .

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think until she is mature and trained you may need to keep her on leash.

[Michelle & Ruepunzel]

Since the incessant bell ringing to go play in the snow, she now gets a leash, does her business and comes back in since there are not many leaves floating around today because of the 10 inches of snow we got yesterday.

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Try some leash work, take her out on leash and walk her right up to what she can not have, when she moves toward it a slight tug and a very firm/strong Eh-Eh will teach her that is not allowed.  As she learns this you can stop the tug and just say eh-eh and it should stop, patience and diligence...

[Michelle & Ruepunzel]

GREAT idea, thank you!!

 

I guess I am new to puppy owning by myself. My last pup I got was when I was 15 and just had a really horrible car accident, I missed the first few puppy months with him since my mom had to take care of him. This is all pretty new to me.

 

Thanks everyone for your great ideas and feedback! :)

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Apart from a crate, a leash is your best friend when you are at that puppy stage :)

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Leash, leash, leash ! And make sure, since she is so fast , to remove any poisonous plants. You'd be surprised how many common household plants can be toxic to our pets!

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-t...

[Bonnie and Kona]

Reading through these posts I'm thinking you are concerned about your pup eating plants in the house. No one has specifically said this, but you can put her on a leash in the house. It is a very good training method called "tethering". She will learn what you expect of her this way. I didn't know about this technique when our guys were pups but I would use it if I had a puppy now. It helped our younger dog be more obedient even though he was over a year when we started working with him this way. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Well, I was quite concerned when I saw my goldendoodle eat some fresh cow poop after his run with my husband's bike back on Halloween.  He had never done that.  We took him to the vet and ended up with some tummy meds and antibiotics.  He was back to normal quickly but sick again in the middle of November.  Turned out he has cancer and had a splenectomy on Nov. 24.  The biopsy showed it was cancerous and he also had some nodes on his liver.  The vet (the great one!) agreed that he may have been trying to self-medicate by eating the cow poop.  Dogs seem to know when they are missing something and will try to eleviate (sp?) their problem by eating something they think may help.  My husband always leaves a section of tall grass in the dog run because they both eat grass frequently.  Leaves?  Grass? Why do they eat them? 

[Jill, Woody & Maxi]

We also have a new puppy who loves leaves..The leash is constantly on her, dragging while in the house, and we always take her out on leash. When she goes to pick anything up outside, we just say "no" and quickly tug on the leash. We even practice inside..bring in a few pieces of mulch, leaf, etc..and keep setting her up. 

[Michelle & Ruepunzel]

Perfect!

 

Thank you Jill :)