Hello

Our 9 week old cocker pup is constantly trying to eat the sheets of newspaper on the floor! Usually, we manage to get him to "drop it" and feast on a toy instead but sometimes he has already got the tiny ball of paper nice and wet and to the back of his teeth so we can't get at it!! Will this harm him? At least he's getting fibre...! He does this at all times of day, whether he's just had his dinner or not so I don't think he's hungry. It's possibly the intruiging rustle of the paper he likes and the thrill of the "chase" and he eats a strip as a "reward" to himself! who knows...

thanks v much in advance for any responses!

wisleyma

Newspaper is cellulose, you will find a lot of commercial dog foods contain it and so the short answer is that it should do no harm unless eaten in incredible quantities which could cause an impaction.

Maybe this is the answer to 'Ready Wrapped'! :)

My puppy did (and still does to some extent) love newspaper and as soon as I would put some down for housetraining purposes, she would grab it and run through the house like it was Christmas.  Fortunately we noticed that although she would tear it, chew it, make it all soggy, she would then spit it out and start again with a fresh piece so in the end I just left her to it until the novelty wore off.  If she swallowed any it would be tiny pieces and certainly wasn't the objective of the game - check to see if your puppy is actually eating the paper and if not then try to it ignore it and the novelty will probably wear off....in about 4 months time lol.  Millie does sometimes do it when newspapers come through the door but only for about 10 seconds and gets bored.  She also sits and waits for me to open the post so that she can have the envelopes to chew up and spit out all over the floor...

....I just need to teach her not to swallow the stuffing from soft toys now, she finds that much more edible than newspaper!

thanks v much for responses. I'll watch carefully to see if he's actually swallowing it. We're onto cardboard now (destroying the lovely box-house thing his arts and crafty mum has made him!) so I'll watch out for chomping that too!

wisleyma

Err did you say 9 week old...the things going to eat anything it can get its wee mouth round!....pick your newspapers up that might help..just leave things hes aloud to eat at flour level... like toys and stuff....sheeesh!

I would imagine the papers are for house training purposes!! Duhh

Best thing you can give any pup - cardboard boxes :D lots of them :D

We rarely have any cardboard boxes - then one day I realised that every week I finished another box of cereal and threw the box away...da dah!! Instant toy.:-D.

Other than that, every time we finish a roll of kitchen roll - Millie gets the cardboard tube.

No wonder i spend half my life picking up tiny bits of cardboard from under the armchair.........

Snap, Jessthepest.  I spend far too much of my time picking up soggy bits of cardboard!  When you have finished with your cereal box, put a treat inside and then close the box, this makes it an even more exciting toy  :D

Grass and lots of it - is my strontium dogs favourite titbit of the moment. I have read though that terriers need a certain amount plus berries as part of their diet and of course loo rolls and not just the cardboard bit in the middle, Hamish is kleenex dog reincarnated.
A

Oh, and I forgot, plastic bags, plastic coverings infact plastic anything he loves the noise, tearability and elasticity of it. He doesn't seem to eat it, just tears it to shreds. I don't knowingly let him have any plastic but if he does manage to get his paws on some he's in doggy heaven.......................