Snails

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Hi all

So Frank is a sod for snails. He's 14 weeks and we had an issue at about 11 weeks where he ate a snail and had diarrhoea over night every hour 🤢. Fine the next day

He's managed to eat a small snail again today (must have missed one) and has thrown up but fine in himself
How do I stop him eating snails? We try and distract him and throw them over the fence but long term is it easier to kill the snails?

Thanks

Teach a strong, firm 'leave', and be motivated by the snails to practice it and make it really solid. It's a vital skill anyway. If he picks one up, don't chase him to get it back – if he knows you want the snail, he's more likely to mess around and turn it into a 'fun' game for him. Either trade it or just ignore him (which is my tactic with 'stealing' of any kind) and he'll likely give it up on his own.

Bit mean to kill the snails – puppies grow out of it. My girl stopped with the molluscs pretty quick, it really didn't last long. They're just learning about the world, but that process can be quite gross.

Make sure he's up to date on his lungworm protection, as they can catch it from snails and it can be fatal.

We had the same problem with our puppy, not just snails but everything, when he went towards something he shouldn’t I said the word “dirty” and soon he knew when I said that in a very stern voice, he left it alone. We also checked the garden a lot, checking for snails and slugs, both are really bad for dogs. After a while he left them alone, he destroyed our garden anyway, so we put away all pots and this was mainly where the snails were, so that helped, he still tries to catch flies and bees though.

Killing snails usually involves poison - birds can die after eating baited snails, so I think by trying to kill the snails you're potentially putting your puppy at greater risk. I'd think teaching him to leave snails is a better long-term solution because you'll end up taking him lots of places with snails during his life.

Give him something else to do whilst he is in the garden. Can you give him natural chews, food dispenser games, chew toys etc (obvioulsy not unsupervised) . If you just let him go self employed he will find things to do that are not wish choices!

Snail eating is usually a puppy phase and will stop. However as said they can get lungworm from snails so best to prevent it happening.

Keep him on a lead in the garden so you can gently lure him away and so that he can’t go self-employed.

I wouldn’t kill the snails as if he gets one by accident he’ll ingest the poison which is even worse. And as PP have said, make sure he’s up to date on his lungworm treatment.