Fecking Dogs Grr <boak> - anyone got any clever ideas to stop scavenging?

[KingCanuteIAm]

My sweet and lovely puppy is doing so well, I am a very proud dog owner, happy, settled and content.

However, I still want to kill the little so and so every time I come back from a walk

So does anyone have any ideas how to stop him picking up and eating dead things? He particularly likes dead birds - there is nothing like turning to see your puppy trotting towards you crunching with wings out of each side of his mouth... He eats the whole thing and will not come anywhere near me until it has all gone. [blurgh] (and all of those other words)

So, what on earth can I do? I don't want to keep him on the lead all the time and it is not actually seeming to do him any harm, he isn't sick and his stool continues as normal, I just don't like it!

Won't you have to work on the kennel club to include the pedal function on the tail in the breed standard?

FOOBL

you're right, not to mention the flip top bit...

... yes, Honey Bee Personal Hygiene a lovely bitch, beautiful action...

FOOBL?????

waz 'at then??

fall out of bed laughing

Ahh, oh how much more refined than PMSL - mind you that does often seem to be quite appropriate for threads on MN

It's only because I've run out of tena pads - or the lab has eaten them all.

Oooo Oo Oo... yuck

Right I am off to bed, night night!

nighty night

Read the title and I have an idea.

Scanned the thread and I don't want to know what he/she has been eating

My tip is:

feed twice a day if you don't already - they don't get so hungry then.

bella - have you ever had a labrador?!

Thanks Bella!

So you think the 4 times a day is not enough then?

Although there may be something to think about there, he is always hungry, I am not sure if it just greed though as he scavenges just as much straight after a feed.

Bella, with your lab and lab x gsd, which one is the most prone to scavenging? I wonder if it is a prey thing or if it is a greed thing....

Oh, btw, did you get that puppy in the end?

Hallo KC!

Between my lab and my lab x GSD, it is definitely the lab x GSD who is the more consummate scavenger. She would eat anything. The only thing I have ever found in 11 years that she would not eat was a prawn and bless her, she kept going back to it and trying to eat it! Dead birds/rabbits etc are delicacies and ,as we walk through a field of lambs, the little tails that are dropping off the lambs about now are very sought after...

Have just realised this was your thread to start with KC - I was somewhat spooked by the things I saw later in it!

You need to get your 'leave it' command sorted - it can be a life saver if they try to pick up something toxic (I'm thinking secondary warfarin poisoning from dead rats, etc.) Always always keep a little tibit in your pocket on walks and do a quick swap for the offending item. You may have to prise his little jaws open in some cases but best to get him used to this now, rather than when he's a full grown brute.

Does this help or did someone already say all this? Bella has just had her tea so is not going to read the whole thread

And yes, pup is about 10 days old - aw!

But I don't get her until end of June of course (lest I get flamed!!!!!!!!!)

Yes, such an innocent thread, how did it descend into such disguting territory

He does leave and I do have titbits but, it seems, there is nothing more important or tempting than scavenging. Further up the thread I did wonder if I could use a particulrly vile tasty treat just for recall on walks so he learns that it is worth coming back, even if he has found something particularly rank. Someone suggested liver cakes . Do you think it is possible for them to learn that certain commands bring a particularly fantastic treat?

When do we get the first pictures of your new addition then? I can't wait!

Sorry bella - you obviously know your labs - I wasn't paying attention.

I've found that more than two meals a day and the lab puts on weight - she's not a working dog. To be honest, she wasn't so interested in the dead things in the field til the terrier taught her to be (who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks).

She never steals food - justs drools, just has a thing about, er hygiene products...

Mine is on 4 meals a day as he is a garbage bin young pup but I have heard other people saying that feeding them just once leads to them trying to steal food more often.

Out of interest has anyone seen an over weight GSD? I can't think of a single one, I wonder if they tend to have responsible owners or if they burn it all off in nervous energy

I have seen some plump GSD's, yes, at my obesity clinics when I was a vet nurse, but no, they don't tend to have weight problems as much as some other breeds.

Labs are very prone to it of course but then they have a higher % of body fat anyway, dating back to when they were fishermen's dogs in cold water. Try telling that to my lab who still won't go in puddles

Going back to the original question I think in your situation, with him being so young, you really just need to let him chomp a juicy dead thing now and again. Otherwise, if it is going to be a real struggle to get near him to take it off him, I think you risk mucking up your recall and that's much more important.

tbh, with my own dogs, I do let them bring back dead things unless it was something I was worried about them eating. It's their neature after all, and a nicely decomposing rabbit must do wonders for their intestinal flora! I'll sometimes do a 'swap' once we get home but often I'll just let them get on with it. I knew a very healthy lab who used to bring home dead rabbits and leave them on the lawn for a good couple of weeks to 'ripen' - then eat them just as they were about to pop. Literally. She did once miscalculate, in the middle of summer....I'll leave that to your imagination

And yes, tattifer, my lab likes a nice panty liner given half a chance!

Ewwwwwwwwwwww

Thank God I use a Mooncup, is all I can say .

Might go to the butchers tomorrow and get some grim tasty morsels to see if she'll swap. There's always roadkill where we walk and the fields are full of baby bunnies so I could do with nipping it in the bud asap.

I've not actually seen one so wouldn't know if that would be lab-proof or not

You don't put it in the bin, put it that way, so unless she's into raiding the bathroom cabinet you'll be okay!

Might be mistaken for a Kong, I guess .

Olihan I don't want to distress KingCanuteIAm any further but the lab comes and stares at me when I'm on the loo - are you aure there wouldn't be any opportunities to er, you know, grab it

Ooh you horrible lot, I am now going to bed with those images - my pup loves his kong

lol, and thanks for the mooncup image. I, too, hadn't seen one either. Didn't realise they looked so much like a wine glass - I had imagined them to look like my diaphragm of old!

dd would have great fun playing tea parties with one of those!