Hi I have a 15 week old Gsp. She is very good at most things but lately every time she goes outside she picks up a stone or stick or sheep poo and runs away with it in her mouth. Most of the time she drops it but I'm worried about something getting stuck in her intestines! I shout leave it! I try keeping her on a lead. I tried pet corrector-the hissing aerosol! Don't know what else to try! How do we get over this problem?

She'll grow out of it :-)

Practice swapping items in the house, for something of higher value. So if she picks up a shoe, offer her a piece of cheese and say leave. Eventually (not now) she will leave anything even at a distance and run to you to see what better thing you have.

All of mine have done this, eating any disgusting thing they can find outside, for the most part I try to ignore it and only interfere if it looks like something dangerous. If I have to try and get something off a puppy who does not yet have a solid leave I try the excited running the opposite way, with a high pitched excitable voice and yummy treats.

Hi chaumsong, Will try the cheese method. She does this for pure devilment I'm sure.. likes to be chased! Maybe getting her to chase me would be more exciting! lol . She is good with recall on the whistle but only when there are no other distractions around..i.e runner, cyclist or mainly another dog! I know it's early days yet and also I have been use to a 12+ year old Gsp..maybe I need a refresher course! Thanks for your advice hopefully she will grow out of it!

Never chase a pup who has something you want ;-)

My bro's Weim was treated like this when she went through the picking up everything stage.   Bug fuss,  chase the dog and try to remove whatever she had.    In the end, this led to her swallowing things, just to stop them getting what she had !  

Best way, is as above.   Stay calm,  and train the pup to bring things to you, it's what they were bred for, so they will be 'mouthy' and want to pick things up :-)    when the pup brings you the 'prize'  swap it for something really high value.    Use lots of 'lovely voice' at the same time to reinforce it :-)

If you do a lot of this in the house and garden (little and often is best -  I use the adverts on itv :-)   as they are short and frequent)  then you can eventually do it on walks too.

Pick a good word and stick to it.     We used 'taaaaa'  (like with a child lol )   and all our dogs will bring us what they have.    I have one retreiving Bedlington (not really a retrieving breed)  who, when I point at an object and say 'taaa' will pick it up and bring it to me very proudly :-)

You can also train a 'leave it'  to stop them picking up things too.  Which is also useful when on a walk.   Fox poo and cow pats come to mind ;-)

Zuma did same, I had about 3 tubs of 'special' treats around and ALWAYS did 'swappsy' he usually went into his crate with whatever but even in the garden we could do a trade.
He learned so well as a pup - now nearly 7yrs old - that twice last year he came shooting in from the garden into his crate..............and plonked down the socking great hedgehog he had 'found' and waited for the swap :-D :-D

LOL

And what did you give that's higher value than a hedgehog?    :-D

A Biiig piece of puffed jerky...............stinky stuff but he likes it

:-D

>..............and plonked down the socking great hedgehog he had 'found' and waited for the swap :-D :-D

ROFLMAO    Bless!

Remember that a GSP is bred for this.  As a member of the Hunt Point Retrieve group her impulse will be to pick up and bring you things - add that to the normal puppy impulse to put EVERYTHING in her mouth then you have a highly driven dog!

Never chase her, never tell her off, never force her to give you anything.  Do not use aversives of any kind.  Seriously NEVER do this stuff - you really don't need to

Pups are daft and you are far clever than she is - a puppy can always be tempted by the next best thing.  Keep some good rewards about your person, at all times - toys as well as treats.  Congratulate her for everything she picks up and teach her to bring it to you for a swap. Make a noise, wave, throw a treat on the floor, run the opposite way, fall to the ground etc.  She's always going to come and check what you're doing.  Of course you do not want a lump of sheep poo but if you train yourself to be pleased with everything (and more important sound pleased) she will always look to you for reward.  If you sound cross or disapproving then she will run away from you - it's that simple.

Get her to classes and train a strong leave as well as a reliable swap command.  Both are vital with an HPR :)

It's worth remembering too that if she is trundling round picking up lots of stuff then she is also letting you know she is keen and ready for some action - and maybe a bit bored with what you are doing - so do some training with her.  Get her to connect the dots and go find something you want her to pick up.  These dogs learn hide and seek very easily

Thank you for your advice. I 'm working on it. She's not fond of treats but I've found very small snippets of cheese work wonders. I tried to get her in from the garden last evening by running away and making an awful commotion... she responded as well as half the neighbours! lol

One of the dogs I handle has a big problem with this and we have taught her to carry a toy everywhere she goes. That way she gets to have something in her mouth and we don't have to stress over her eating everything in sight. Makes walks much more relaxing.