Any ideas on how to get my puppy to stop eating dead things.

[Julie and Max]

So last week Max found a duck wing on our walk. I don't know if you've ever seen a duck wing, but they are quite large. He gobbled down the whole thing as fast as he could, and then later that night I ran around after him while he puked up duck wing, cleaning it up before he could eat it for a second time. This is not the first dead thing he's eaten. 

Max is a great puppy, he has learned all the basic commands like sit/stay, drop it, leave it. At home and even on walks he does all these commands beautifully for everything except dead things. I work with him every day on drop it and leave it. I can leave a whole line of chicken on the floor, and he will walk by it, sit near it, walk over it and I can even leave the room and he will not touch it.

I can let him run off leash where we walk and he is awesome with his recall, and he stays very near me (it's a safe place to off leash). In pretty much every way he's a wonderful dog until he finds a dead thing. The problem is his nose obviously is so much better than mine, so he can sniff out dead things from quite far. Tonight he found a dead thing in two feet of snow. He seems to have a fantastic nose. He finds dead things either on the leash or off the leash it doesn't matter. He snaps them up so quickly that a lot of the time I can't stop him. 

He will drop it and leave it anything else, except a dead thing. I know that dogs are scavengers and their stomachs can tolerate a lot, but I am worried about him getting sick obviously or something getting stuck that's not fully chewed. 

So I have considered a muzzle for this reason, but I really don't want to muzzle him. Will he grow out of this? Do I just have to tolerate this? Besides obedience and drop it and leave it is there anything else anyone has heard of to stop the eating of dead things?

[Shari Becker]

We don't have much access to the dead animals in the city, but this past summer while on vacation, lexi was obsessed with eating other animal's feces. She actually picked up a parasite from her obsession. Our holistic vet said that frequently dogs know instinctively that their system is missing something - flora, vitamins, minerals, etc.... and that they try to find what they are missing. I know it is controversial, but you could consider adding raw food to your dog's diet because that seems to be what the puppy is looking for. He also might not be getting enough food. Our dog made herself sick eating plants when she had a growth spurt and we didn't up her food. We had to ignore the food packages and just feed her more! Good luck. Not pretty.

[Bob Johnston]

why was there only a duck wing on your walk. where was the rest of the duck.

[Kyoko]

LOL!!!

[Kyoko]

Mine always find deer poop. Even under the snow and try to eat them.

So I began carrying cheese and kibbles on the walk, and when they find the poop, I tell them to leave it and give them cheese. I too have them off leash in the large field in the county park often... but usually I can tell if they are searching for it or smell it, because of their behavior... so, that gives me a cue to tell them to leave it and come to me for cheese...

Sometimes they continue to want to go to where they found the poop. And when they do, I just leash them up and leave the area, and they loose the privilege of being off leash. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This sounds like perfect advice to me.  I'd carry a real high value treat and be sure Max knows you have it.  Maybe do a little "leave it" exercise at the beginning of the walk and reward with this high value treat.  I would probably not be comfortable letting him get far enough away from you off-lease at this stage of the training where you can't quickly get to him to remove the "dead thing" if he doesn't respond to your command.  I might walk him on a long line until I was more confident.

[BG and Gavin]

Well it sounds like you are doing everything you can to teach leave it.  Max is so young and is doing very well in his training.  I think he has a lot more focus than most puppies his age.  Tough to set this one up though.  It is not like there is dead stuff laying around that you could "pick up" for practice.  I would be tempted to try some aversion training for this.  The only thing I can think of is carrying a small air horn with you and giving it a blast when he has the dead thing.  This might shock him enough to leave it - then call him back to you and reward with a high value treat.  Just thinking on my feet.  Others will likely have some hands on experience with this.  Good luck - I am guessing that cleaning up duck wing vomit is no picnic :(

[Julie and Max]

Shari, my dog eats better than most people lol. He gets acana large breed puppy food, he gets raw soup bones, cooked chicken/steak/turkey, plain yogurt, bananas, watermelon, peas, carrots (he will not eat the green beans and just picks around them) . I give him the correct amount of dry minus what I think the other stuff works out to. He gets his dry plus one of the above mentioned as a "topping" as my kids call it.  Thank god she doesn't eat poop our previous dog used to eat poop all the time. He also loves to eat grass too though, just there is none right now. 

For treats he gets the orijen freeze dried meat treats and the mother hubbard cookies what could he be missing. :(

Bob honestly I am so glad it was only the wing even though it's weird! I a not sure where the rest of the duck was lol.

Kyoko I have tried that also, carrying high value treats, and trying to get him to give up the goods but he will not, he doesn't care about the chicken and steak, he just wants the dead thing, even if I leash him and take him away he doesn't care. The problem is he doesn't really seem to sniff around that much, it's like he knows where it is long before we get there and then bam he's got it in his mouth. He does this even when leashed on a fairly short leash, and the only time he doesn't do it, is if I am making him walk right beside me and not letting him smell at all. I do that for portions of our walk every day, but I am not going to make the dog walk six miles without ever being able to sniff. 

Jane I was thinking about trying the long line, I did buy a 30 foot training lead, but again at the point he has found the dead thing the high value treats don't matter, and I don't know maybe I'm getting old because I seem to be too slow to catch him before he's actually got the dead thing. The few times that I have noticed the dead thing before him, I have been able to get him to leave it, it's like if I can catch him before he goes into that total primal mode it's fine, but once he's got it, you can see the change on his face. I honestly would be happier if he'd just roll in dead stuff. :(

BG the air horn might be a good idea to try I never thought of doing something like that. The only good thing about cleaning up the duck wing vomit (gross lol) was that I made him go outside when he started and it was so cold that it just froze instantly and I could use a platsic bag to get it. I am super proud of Max, he does really well with training, he is a very well behaved boy most of the time, especially for five months. I wonder if I could use raw meat as a substitute for dead things, run up the trail just before we go out and drop some and use that as a training tool?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

With the long line you will be able to "make him" leave it.  Every time he gets to keep a "dead thing" the behavior is reinforced.

[Julie and Max]

But he won't trade the treat for the dead thing Jane, well, actually yesterday he did really well, he rolled in something dead rather than ate it. Although I don't want him to smell like dead, I'd rather that then he eat it. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

If he's on a long line and refuses to trade that's not a problem....at that point you can just take it away.

[Julie and Max]

Well big setback today. :( He found a dead bunny (I don't know why there is so much dead stuff on the path we walk, you would think if another animal killed something it would eat it?) He did not want to leave it, I finally got him away from it, leashed him immediately and then made him walk right at my side all the rest of the way home. I was not mean, just firm, and I did not talk to him, or look at him, and I haven't since we came inside. This is really difficult to do, but I am hoping he gets the picture, otherwise it's going to be no off leash, or a muzzle. 

Jane, I have a really hard time taking the dead stuff away, not because of him, just because it's so gross. You'd actually probably laugh to see it. When I have to touch the dead thing I start gagging, it's not even that bad right now because everything is frozen, I dread when everything thaws out. 

[BG and Gavin]

Sorry for that Julie!  I wonder if the ultra cold snap we are having right now is playing a factor.  Unfortunately the opposite is happening on this side of town.  Our neighbour has a compost pile that is attracting live critters including a big old Opossum that is making Gavin's last outdoor visit of the night a challenge for us.   My big worry is skunks.