Dog eating bones he found when out walking

[PookieDo]

I live in a very clean and tidy residential area (cul de sac). I walk Ddog locally round the streets but sometimes take him into the fields etc

Today is the 3rd time in pretty much a similar spot in the past month that there have been some bones (chicken I think) in the middle of the pavement. No other litter or food or debris. I don’t think they were there when I left the road but they had appeared when I returned. This wasn’t outside any specific house either

Ddog sees them before I do and obviously starts eating one. I can’t get it out of his mouth fast enough before he chomps and swallows. Luckily he didn’t choke. I have picked up the other bones again and thrown them away (possibly in a temper and swearing).

We do have food waste bins in the street and it is possible an animal took these from someone’s bin, but 3 times? This just seems fucking careless and it has probably irrationally pissed me off!

No it's not irrational to be pissed off about this, chicken bones can be dangerous for dogs.

I used to live in an area where people threw food all over the place. I used to spend half my walking time with my dog watching the ground and trying to stop her picking up other peoples discarded crap.

The trouble is once a dog finds something tasty they'll just keep looking out for that spot again, so the only thing you can do is be aware that he is going to be looking out for the chicken bones and somehow steer him clear of it before he gets there.

Where I live now there are loads of cats and my dog loves cat poo. Several times we've been in the same field and she's gone back to the same spot to 'harvest' the cat poo that she knows is going to be there, and because cats also use the same spots to poo in over and over again she usually strikes lucky.

I'm on to her now though and keep on the lead until we're well away from that bit of the field.

I suppose ideally the dog should be trained to have a really reliable drop. Unfortunately, when it comes to things like chicken bones and cat poo I've never managed to achieve that with my dog.

Having to watch for things like this doesn't make for a nice peaceful walk though.

Please be careful with chicken bones (and all cooked bones) as they can splinter and cause internal damage.

It pissed me off too - here people chuck them into hedges so you can't see they're there. My dogs favourite hobby is snuffling around in grass and bushes - I've taught him a pretty solid "leave it" command but it doesn't work when the item is already in his mouth!

He also refuses to learn "drop it"

Mine will usually agree to ‘leave it’ but not ‘drop it’

I am keeping an eye, he has no discomfort
It wasn’t the largest of the bones it was a smaller piece at least

I think people are ingnorant! Im still pissed off. I don’t think people understand that they should dispose of them carefully

Yes, my dog is also better with 'leave it' than 'drop it'.

I can often get her away from interesting things with leave it. Once it's in her mouth though, I suppose it's every woman for herself as far as she's concerned.

I m had similar problems when I used to work in an office and took my dog to work occasionally. He lives sleeping under my desk and I took Nik out every coupe of hours to stretch his legs but we had to run the gauntlet of people's discarded food, much of it chicken bones from numerous fried chicken shops.

I managed to leach him a secure 'leave it' for these situations. After learning this he would either drop whatever was in his mouth or not pick it us depending on how quick I was to give the command. He's a Labrador so very good motivated and greedy so I recon if I managed it then others should have a good chance.

To teach it I always rewarded him with some awesome treats. He began to see a firm 'leave it' as a cue for receiving something totally amazingly delicious. For a long while I kept such delicacies on me to use whenever needed.

Worth a try.....

It’s grim. If you can’t train then perhaps muzzling when out is the best option for their safety? I see a few dogs outs and about on walks muzzled because they have a habit of eating dangerous or iffy ‘street treats’. I know the general public don’t always respond well to muzzles and automatically assume they are for aggressive dogs but if it keeps your dog safe, does it matter?

Muzzling is a good idea if it's a real problem.

I used to know a very sweet little dog that had to be muzzled when out because he kept getting ill from things he would pick up.

He was just about the least aggressive dog you could wish to meet, but I imagine people did think it was because he couldn't be trusted not to attack.

He used to wander around enjoy a jolly good sniff of everything and no doubt wanting to eat everything as well.