How can I stop him doing this?

[TicketyBoo83]

Our rescue pup is nearly 6 months old. Rescued from a shelter in Romania and fostered here for 3/4 weeks before we got him. He’s amazingly good natured, eager to please and well behaved, we can’t believe our luck!

The only problem we have is when he is out in the garden he eats everything! Leaves, and especially bark from a small strip of ground along the fence. He loves running round the garden and while I want him to get plenty of exercise I’m worried about him crunching and eating the bark in case he makes himself ill. In the house he responds well when told to ‘leave’ something (usually my shoes) but in the garden he thinks we’re playing and either ignores us or runs around with the bark in his mouth.

We’ve taken to not letting him off the lead in the garden for now but I feel awful that he can’t get a good run around. Has anyone got any ideas how we can stop him eating this bark?

How long have you had him? Was he living on the streets in Romania or born in kennels?

He’s been with us just over 2 weeks. He was a street dog, rescued from a kill shelter but no idea how long he’d been in there. He’s been with us just over 2 weeks and has been so easy to train in all aspects except this!

Could be something called pika, but most likely just puppy (perhaps anxious) stuff. My dog chewed rocks when she was a puppy, would then bring them in the house too.

Can you distract him with a favourite toy? Or could you fence off that area temporarily?
My dog was (and still is) obsessed with tissue of all kind - kitchen towel, paper napkins, loo roll. I just ignore her now if she gets hold of some, half the fun for her was me trying to take it off her, and although I originally thought she was eating it, she was just ripping it into tiny pieces and spitting it out. He will probably grow out of it, eventually.

So he's been used to scavenging and eating anything he finds. But tricky trying to undo that habit, hopefully over time he will realise he doesn't need to eat anything he stumbles upon. Maybe when he goes for the bark or leaves, stop him and give him a treat instead.

I agree with others that this is likely rewarding for him because of the attention he receives for it. Two weeks is also not an awful long time to stop this habit.

I think I'd focus on giving him attention for all the right things: using treats to do a few tricks, playing with me and and toy, etc. Other than a quick and boring "leave it" or "stop that" I would blank him when chewing and only give attention back when he stops - even if I have to wait for a split second stop to do so.

It might be worth not letting him in the garden unaccompanied for a little while, just so that he doesn't chew when alone in the garden and allow it to become habit.

Mines is now 3 and a half and has feasted on a diet of rotten twigs since she was a pup.
I do try to discourage but its been going on for so long now with no obvious side effects that i don't get too hung up about it.
It almost looks like she's giving her teeth a clean the way she gnaws and shifts it around in her mouth.
If I make a move to take it from her she'll run ahead to get enough space to finish.

Dogs/ pups often do chew bits of wood or bark (one of mine is a devil for this). I am with you I don't think it is terribly good for them and you wouldn't want them to get bunged up/ bloated with bits of wood in their tummy. For now I wouldn't leave your pup unsupervised in the garden, as they almost inevitably WILL find something to eat that they shouldn't. Rather I'd be out there with pup playing and teaching him tricks etc. That is a good a way to tire them out as running around (i.e. mentally) . It's sounds as if you are generally getting on well (if he will obey a "leave" command in the house) so my guess would be he will gradually grow out of it.
And well done, for giving a pup that needs somewhere a loving home!

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think pp are right about him liking the attention. I’m hoping he’ll grow out of it once the teething stage is over but for now he’s on the lead in the garden.

I’ve started clicker training for recall so hopefully once that’s more established a wee click will divert his attention and he’ll come looking for his treat.

I think my DH and I are maybe expecting a bit too much, he’s quite a big boy and was crate/toilet trained in foster care so we’ve had it pretty easy tbh.

Here’s my big brute 😍

He's absolutely gorgeous! His back end looks German shepherd.... sounds wrong but you know what I mean!

Yeah we’re all pretty sure there’s German shepherd in there, vet reckons whippet is in the mix. He certainly runs like one!

Tickety you can get doggy DNA tests now, might be worth doing. I've requested one for my birthday!

Most of dog training is prevention and management.

Generally when he is in the garden I would be with him and interacting with him so fun training games.

Game one would be to throw food away from you and then when he has eaten it call him back to you for another treat. This helps with recall.

Game two would be to hide food in a safe area of the garden (not in the bark some bark is toxic to dogs so be careful with it) let him sniff out the food. Hide it under empty plastic flower pots for example.

Game three may be a game of hide and seek you hide and then call him to you and reward with treats

Game four would be someone else holding him and you running away and dodging him and calling him to you - yep he gets rewarded when he comes to you.

Game five is the catch game (this also helps with heel work) Have food in your hand and drop the food for him to catch - some dogs find this really hard to do - make sure he is looking up when you drop the food not anticipating it falling to the ground.

Game six would be to sit down with him on a lead when he looks at you feed him - this is a fantastic game for building a bond simple but really easy.

He will get all the running about he needs like this but will be interacting with you which will pay benefits for all his training

If he is staying in the garden I would give him a kong or food toy to distract him if you want him to amuse himself in a safe area.

He is gorgeous

My former street dog used to lick cement, eat chicken poo and all sorts of odd things. I think it was a scavenging reflex, and she stopped after a few weeks of being with us. She's young and still loves to chew a stick to pieces, but I don't think she eats it