Hi. I have a 7 month old gsp girl. When out on walks she picks up rabbit and sheep poo, sticks, stones, litter (tissues and paper bags) and eats them! She thinks it's a game and loves to be chased! I often have success in the "leave it" but it's the times that I don't which worries me! Do they grow out of this phase!? I don't want to have to keep her on a lead for the entire walk as this breed needs to "run" . I'm wondering whether her intestines can withstand these "foreign bodies" as they would if living wild!

I assume gsp is German Short haired Pointer? :-)    It sounds to me as if she's starting to go self employed :-D    And as you know,  some of the things she picks up,  could be dangerous to her.

Whatever you do,  no matter what she picks up,  NEVER,  EVER CHASE HER for it.    Doing that practically guarantees that she will swallow whatever it is!  

She doesn't have pockets and you chasing her gives the message that she's got something really valuable,  and the only way she can hide it or keep it,  is to swallow

A better way to redirect her,  is to teach her to swap.    She can learn this at home,  by you having really high value,  but tiny treats -  think pinky fingernail size ;-)    tiny cubes of cheddar,  cooked liver,  sausage,  whatever she'd sell her soul for.

The idea is to keep her wanting the treats :-)    At first you'll need to  set up  things that you know  she'll pick  up  but give up easily,  and work up to high value objects slowly.   

Then when she has something you want,  swap it for a treat -  always.    If she gives up something you know she values highly,  give her a small jackpot of treats,  but only do this occasionally.   This works like the one armed bandits that keep people coming back for more ;-)

Once she learns that she can make you give her treats for the things she picks up,  she'll be ready to learn to do the same outside  the house.

Along with a solid 'leave it!' and teaching her to retrieve things that you have thrown or 'dropped'  that should help to keep her out of trouble.

A better way to redirect her,  is to teach her to swap.

I can vouch this works...............twice Zuma has come in from the garden, rushed into his crate, put 'it' down in front of himself and waited for his 'swappsy' treat...................both times 'it' was a socking great hedgehog!!!!

Another vote for swapping here, my much missed boy Spud would quite often take himself off upstairs only to reappear with an item from the wash basket, bum and tail going ten to the dozen, expecting a treat.
When he did pick up something outside, I only ever had to say " what's that son ?" for him to come trotting up proudly presenting me with his treasure.

What your girl is doing is totally natural to a GSP/HPR :) I have found the best way to handle this (alongside the 'leave' command) is to teach her to retrieve to hand. At times you do have to brace yourself for what you receive (always carry a small packet of wet wipes in your pocket!), but until she has learnt the 'leave' command, then it is best to teach her to bring it to you - no matter what it is! When she does, give her lots and lots of praise and accept her gift with a 'dead' or 'leave' command. If you consider 'praise' is not enough, some kind of reward as others have suggested. Eventually, you will be able to 'swop' the 'gifts' she brings to you with a retrieve of your own choice (dummy, ball etc). In fact, I would be introducing an 'acceptable' retrieve now.

GSP's require a great deal of mental stimulation and if you do not provide it, then they will find their own 'fun' and this is what she is doing now. You need to channel that 'need' into something productive and there are many ways you can do that :) Try running a search using the facility at the top of the page. There are many threads on whistle training etc, that will give you some great suggestions and idea's to keep her stimulated.

Thanks for all the responses! I have been doing all the things that you have suggested! As I said most of the time it works! Yesterday she ate something with a tail..and consequently had diarrhea and sickness in the small hours! She fortunately is over it - this time! She will bring apples and other items in from the garden and accepts a treat for it! But usually at the end of her walk which I think is due to tiredness, she starts being silly picking things up! I previously (for 12 years) had a gsp girl, but I don't remember her being such a garbage collector! Hopefully she will grow out of it- or else perhaps I'll muzzle her ;( .

I do sympathise, my 10 month old standard poodle ate a rat this morning while out on a walk. He was looking for rabbits, caught the rat, killed it and then refused to come back to my other half. He is quite well-behaved normally, but is a great hunter, unfortunately. Can't afford to spend ages trying to lure him back on the morning walk, as we both work, I am part-time though. He will be on the lead in the morning, as the same walk is done everyday. Luckily he threw up on the way back. I took him the same walk this afternoon and off he went looking for it and anything else he could scavenge. I managed to lure him back with cat treats, but only because he didn't find anything tastier!

Ha ha I'm sorry I found that funny! Now you have my sympathy--- it's so frustrating to feed them expensive food and delicious treats and then for them to go and eat vile things! I don't feed before a walk so my dog probably is hungry--but that's no excuse! I'm finding she is worse at the end of a walk when tiredness sets in (she is only just 7months old) so like you I tend to then leash her. Thanks for you input! Good luck tomorrow!

I often have success in the "leave it" but it's the times that I don't which worries me!

The 'leave' command is one of the three most important, potentially life saving & always freedom giving obedience exercises, the other two being the down and a reliable recall, of any one of those is not taught effectively under serious distractions then any active dog might end up being a life of misery on a leash for life or dead.

Seven months is good age to complete that exercise, the leave with distractions is always taught with an exercise with any object the dog holds as a high value positive reinforced stimulus, balls are the best things to use if the dog is interested in them, of its not then something must be found that it is interested in. Once that is sorted outed then the leave exercise can start properly & within 2 weeks it can progress to the 'Leave' with the recall command following straight after - Your dog is seven months now & that combination is taken up your dog will have as much off-lead freedom for life as you want to give it.

The vids below are a real life, unpredictable, unexpected emergency where the 'leave' + recall (whistle) were used, I say "Ous" instead of "leave" & the second is the leave reinforcement exercise, if you use that exercise you will get a reliable leave - theres no sound on that vid but its in writing whats happening, hope they help.

The leave command in an unexpected, real life emergency
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYsduZjPGck&list=UU2MktiTK0FWV_zmtKYndqpQ

The leave command reinforcement exercise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42tNOWAbEE8&list=UU2MktiTK0FWV_zmtKYndqpQ
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I have read your response with much interest. I shall endeavour to install those exercises! Saffi is really becoming good at my commands now-- she seems to understand what I am trying to do-which means we are half way there! I will study those videos and persevere in my training ... I know consistency is the key! Thank you so much for your time and input to my problem... I will get back to you with my success ! Thanks.

I know consistency is the key!

Yes, you got the right element smack on the nail! - the only caution I can add to that is, be very mindful not to give an instruction command when you think your dog may ignore it under all the circumstances you think are existent at that point in time -

What actually happens to any dog (or human) when a command is ignored is that the command signal becomes conditioned (learned) as something to take it or leave it, a human comparison might be taking chances & going through traffic lights just as they turn to red, the first couple of times someone gets away with it then that behaviour is 'positively reinforced' (strengthened) & it becomes a habit with all the risks involved....the same learning principle applies to dogs
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