Hi,
I posted on here a while ago regarding my rescue springers recall. I am pleased to say his recall is now excelent, and he really has turned into a fantastic lad. (After 18 months of hard work)
The only problem that doesnt seem to be getting any better despite my many efforts is his obssesion with eating sticks while we are out on a walk.
He will always pick up any stick he can find, it seems as though it is almost like a security blanket to him as he seems to have more confidence whe he has one in his mouth. However depending on the size it is usually chewed up and most of it swallowed within seconds.
I have tried taking other toys on walks and trying to replace the sticks with balls and getting him to retrieve them. He soon gets fed up of the boring ball and finds a nice log to demolish.
Im asking for advice as i cant imagine its doing him much good, his poo's often have chewed up stick in them. I will add that he is never sick after eating them, and i always make sure he has none stuck in his teeth or gums. He Just seems to love chewing them up and eating them.
I even bought a stick dog toy to give him to carry. He wasnt impressed.
Any ideas on how i can improve this behaviour would be great. Or if anyone thinks what he is doing is fine then please tell me. It doesnt seem to be doing him any harm, but then i cant see in his stomach lol.
Thanks

I'm sure that there will be lots of helpful advice and many reasons why you should stop him but I just wanted to say that my 15+ year old lab/staffy (or boxer, we're not sure) has chewed sticks all her life and I've never been able to stop her! Luckily it's never caused us any problems.

Yep my previous gsd was obsessed with sticks all her life I decided she must have been a bird in a previous life and was nest building LOl. She didin't swallow to much but would either carry things the size of fence posts around our walks or stop and strip one to bits. Not sure how you stop it when they are that obsessed apart from the usual praise and titbits when she is doing other things and responds to leave.

Oh god no - it sends a shiver down my spine to see a dog carrying a stick.

Many years ago, my first dog got a stick caught in the back of her throat whilst on a walk. She could barely breathe and it was the most horrific few minutes and myself and my partner tried to free the stick from her throat. As we were in the middle of nowhere, getting her to a vet was not an option. Eventually it was sheer luck that I managed to get my fingers down far enough to hook the stick and manipulate it round so that I could free it from her throat.

I would try and create a "special" toy with my dog. One that's owned by me and she is allowed to "borrow". I've created these for pups in the past by running round the house having lots of fun, showing her the toy but not allowing her to play with it. After some time, I "allow" her to play with the toy for brief moments before putting it back on my shelf and reclaiming what is mine :) On a walk, I would slip this in my pocket to produce when I needed immediate attention.

I always have treats with me and he will leave the sticks sometimes if the treat is tasty enough!
When he has ones the size of 'fence posts' its ok as all his concerntration is on trying to carry the thing and not banging into trees with it. Its the smaller ones that he hoovers up in seconds.
Like i have said it doesnt seem to be doing him any harm, apart from passing the chewed up reminants the other end.
Thanks

Well it would seem i jinxed myself in saying that he never gets sick from eating them. As i have just got back from the shop to find four piles of sick in the kitchen, two which look like his breakfast, and two of bile full of chewed up stick pieces.
I guess its going to be distraction and reward when he trys to eat them from now on. With me putting in 100% and not being half arsed about it.
He has a sensitive stomach as it is so i really dont want him to be ill because of my allowing him to carry on with this behaviour.

If he is totally obsessed could you not muzzle him?

> If he is totally obsessed could you not muzzle him?

I had thought about it a while ago, but it seemed a bit extreme. Maybe it was more the idea of the funny looks and comments from people when they see a muzzled dog.
Im going to try and distract him when he goes to pick one up, and take plenty of his favourite treats with me and see how we get on.
Muzzling will be a last resort.

there was an article a few years back in the horse and hound about a woman who threw a stick for her BC to fetch only the dog got there before the stick did, tried to catch it and stick went through the dogs jaw like a javelin. sticks terrify me. by BC once bit one up at a wedge got stuck across the roof of his mouth. i though he was going to have a heart attack with all the panicing he was doing, luckily we levered it out before any serious damage was done, just ended up with cut gums. occasionally he goes to pick one up but he knows the drop command to a fine art now and throws it back down before it has the chance to get spit on it. the smartest dog i have ever known he is, wired up to the eyeballs tho lol, typical BC lol!

to be honest, as harsh as it sounds i would consider muzzling. would rather get funny looks than have a dead dog on my hands... my leo used to be obsessed with frogs and toads, so much so he ended up at the vets from toad poisoning, see past posts, although they arent supposed to eat them as they taste foul, i think he loved the chase more than he hated the side effects. he used to get the toads in the garden. after a word of advice from the vet i muzzled him when he went out for a wee for just over a week. although a vet normally isnt really one to take behavioural advice from, in this case he was right. it was enough for him to break the cycle of toad catching and he could have just as much fun splattin them with his feet, we now have several dozen leo feet shaped toads on the garden! touch wood, since then he hasnt had one in his mouth. probably best piece of advice a vet has given me.
im not saying it will work, but it is something to consider, a little bit of discomfort for him now until he gets out of his habit will be well worth it if it saves him from major surgery later when he does some serious damage.