He should be called Hoover

[starjj]

after the vacumn. My new poodle is 9 months old and I have had him about a month. He picks up everything off the floor and eats it. Kleenex ,papertowels, leaves brought in from outdoors, toothpicks, newspaper, magazines. He even found a TINY TINY place on my laminate baseboard where the laminate had a chip in it and proceeded to rip it off and eat it which resulted in about 170.00 in vet bills before I found out what he did. Thank God no surgery was required. He was raised in a breeder's kennel and she was going to keep him for a stud but he got too big for her program. He is under 5 lbs but over 4 1/2 lbs and she only breeds under 4 lb dogs for males My question is WHY does he do this? Is he bored? He has my other poodle to play with and he is not left out if we are gone. Do some dogs just do this because they can? Anyone think he will outgrow this?

Edited to add I really don't have all this stuff on my floors lol but on any occasion things do get dropped or brought in on shoes. We work hard at keeping things away from him but he has radar.

[starjj]

48 looks and no replies? NO one has ever had this problem? Short of keeping every door in the house closed I am at a loss. He is now eating my artifical treee

[Selena]

Have you had him checked for worms or other parasites that may cause him to be hungry? I'm more of a cat person truth be told but puppies and kittens are like small kids, you have to watch them every minute.

[starjj]

Thanks for the reply. Yes he is parasite free. I think he is into the puppy stage thing (at least I hope) and he may outgrow it.

[ladyrua]

Dingo, my furry son, has had this problem since we brought him home from the pound a year ago. One vet told us it was some obsessive behavior from the trauma of living at the pound (he was there almost a year), and another said it was just his puppy-hood and he'd grow out of it.

All i can tell you is, distract him with chewy complicated toys (and try a couple till you find one type he loves), and baby-proof the house. Actually, it *was* a nice motivation to keep the house free of chew-able clutter and stuff on the floors.

Best of luck. If he's obsessive, and the vet can confirm this, there are some medications that can help. They're mostly sedatives, but there's options.

[starjj]

I have a feeling because he was kenneled for the first 9 months of his life (I have only had him a month) he was never exposed to things to chew on and this is all new to him.

[Maura]

Pica is a condition where dogs eat things that are not food. It can be caused by a nutritional deficiency. I don't know what you feed him, but consider upgrading his food. I would also give him fresh bones (at his size, a chicken wing would probably be a good size). He's going to prefer bones to your flooring or kleenex, and the nutrition wouldn't hurt him. Give the bone outside or in his crate, and watch him to make sure he handles it well.

I agree that being a kennel dog, he hasn't matured in the normal manner, whether or not he had things to chew on. Work on training him and playing with him to stimulate his mind. Clicker training works well with abused or neglected dogs.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by Maura

Pica is a condition where dogs eat things that are not food. It can be caused by a nutritional deficiency. I don't know what you feed him, but consider upgrading his food. I would also give him fresh bones (at his size, a chicken wing would probably be a good size). He's going to prefer bones to your flooring or kleenex, and the nutrition wouldn't hurt him. Give the bone outside or in his crate, and watch him to make sure he handles it well.

I agree that being a kennel dog, he hasn't matured in the normal manner, whether or not he had things to chew on. Work on training him and playing with him to stimulate his mind. Clicker training works well with abused or neglected dogs.

I'm not a dog expert, but I NEVER give any of my dogs chicken bones. they will splinter. Get a beef or pork bone from the market and let him chew on that. It won't splinter like chicken bones will.

[starjj]

I have heard only cooked chicken bones splinter. People do feed raw chicken bones and all to their dogs. I personally do not feed any bones cooked or uncooked. I do feed Purina Pro Plan because that is what his breeder had him on.

[GoldenMom]

Raw chicken bones do not splinter. My dogs are eating chicken quarters as I type.

[FrodoLass]

My 3-year-old Boston Terrier STILL puts everything in her mouth. I think BT's are notorious for chewing things up though. I put her in the garage when we leave the house and I can't even have a small carpet for her to lay on b/c she destroys it. We recently had to take her to the vet b/c she got a small spring from a ball point pen stuck in her mouth (I can't figure out where she got it from). She's in perfect health, came to us as a puppy, was never kenneled, gets lots of attention...I think it's just how she is. BTW, she IS deaf, so some of it could be from sensory integration issues. Good luck!

[Maura]

A four pound dog is going to treat a chicken wing tip the way a larger dog would treat a ham bone. Raw, of course. Dogs this size also have trouble with their teeth setting, and chewing on raw bones is supposed to help set the teeth, but at nine months it may be too late.