Even though I feed her well, 'Tia' my 3 month old Labrador still has a fancy for l'escargot (commonly known as snails). I try every morning and evening to rid the garden of these horrible slimey creatures but she always manages to find them and by the time I get to her, as she can run and crunch at the same time, she is already half way through eating it. I have read all the links to snails on the search facility and it has really scared me. I immediately ordered some Panacur and have given it to her for the last 3 days. Apart from me having to pull every single plant out of my back garden....in the middle of which she always seems to find the offending little (well actually quite large at times) creatures I am at a loss of what to do. Will she grow out of it? or am I to contact Lynford Christie to go into training for the 100 metre dash. Our garden is puppy proofed and I would love to be able to leave her out in the garden for a while on her own whilst I get ready in a morning as apart from the snails she is really sensible and such a good little girl, she loves being outside but I feel that I always have to be with her supervising her every move. When I am playing with her she does not give them a second glance but I am no super human and cannot keep on playing for the whole day. I have already lost 10lbs in weight since we had her, she has been the best diet/excercise I have ever had!!!. I hope that anyone who has had experience of this could give me some helpful tips and not just scare the pants off me with stories of what can happen i.e. lungworm. For example are there any offending plants which attract snails or plants which repel them, or even any way of destroying them without harm to animals. All advice would be gratefully received.
Many thanks for letting me pipe on!!!!!!

euwww.. lol ...sorry.. but yuk! Do you have any garlic to go with it? :D

I was sitting here thinking what would I do? She is still young so this may not work, but you can try it... (I know you said when she was with you she never gave them a second glance, but try it anyway.)

I would leave her in the house while I went out and found a snail and then put it outside by the back door.

I would then go back in and put her on the lead and take her outside where she could see it. If she goes to pick it up, I would stand still with the lead and say, "NO! leave it!" and lead her back in. Hopefully after a few attempts she may understand that she is not to pick up the snail. Then I would lead her around the garden and if she sees another one tell her "NO! Leave it."

If she leaves one alone while you are walking her around the garden you could give her a treat and tell her she's a very good girl.

*Shrugs* ...just telling you what I would do as another lab owner. :)

~Sharon

That's a really good idea...I am very new to having a puppy and look for any guidance from other owners.....I think that Tia is a 'one-off' she makes some really strange noises when she plays in her bed and of course her tendancy to eat french delacacies.

We have just got back from a wonderful wet and muddy walk ..... I am hoping she will be tired now as I am going out tonight for the first time since we brought her home.

Many thanks again for you help it does make sense......now wheres those nasty snails!!!!!

Kind regards

When my dog was a puppy we had a terrible problem with the wash basket and tea towels. Whenever pup was in the kitchen alone, clothes would be pulled through the sides of the wash basket and chewed to pieces, tea towels would be taken off the worktops for the same treatment. If anyone was present this didn't happen. The way I stopped it was to put a handful of dried peas in a small tin and balance it so that it would fall when the wash basket was disturbed. The same with the tea towels. This took about 48 hours to take effect and I didn't even have to be present for it to work. Mind you I needed a baby milk tin with dried peas in it to stop tea towels being chewed :D. I didn't wait till we went out, but created "opportunities for learning" over the 48 hours :D :D.

First, go into the garden and collect as many snails/slugs as you can find and put them in a lidded tub for safekeeping (you need these for temptation) Then get a some small tins and put pebbles/peas inside, you need to be able to conceal them in your pocket/hand. Place your snail in a prominent position and allow your pup to "discover" it. Don't say anything but toss the tin to land near the snail and try to look uninvolved :D. When pup leaps back in surprise (well maybe not leap, but you know what I mean:) ) call, praise and treat for leaving the snail. This will need to be repeated many times and in various parts of the garden until your pup has got the message. If the noisy tin doesn't work you may find that a water pistol will have a better effect. Please make sure that any small children do not see this as a game though.

Another suggestion is to shake cayenne or strong chilli sauce over them but she may just think its more of a gastronomic delight :D :D :D

Dylan loves spicy things. I tried the hot chilli sauce on something and he went and licked it all off :rolleyes: I'm told it's the bitter taste they don't like.

Sarah

We found that with Charlie too! He had that delightful puppy habit of eating his own business, and the vet told us to try hot sauce on it - Charlie sniffed it, licked it, then munched the lot, licked his lips and looked for more :rolleyes:

Majix

Right, I've just found something that Dylan seems to dislike the taste of. Going on the 'dogs hate bitter' theory, I squirted some Jif lemon on the carpet where he has been trying to eat it. Next time he went for a dig and chew, he took one lick and turned his nose up in disgust. Think I might be on to something.....

Sarah

Hmmm - off the top of my head I'd say she is eating these snails because she knows you will chase her - therefore eating snails equals fun with owner.

Give her more toys - try giving her a special one that is introduced only at playtime, therefore she knows that she will get played with when you get it out... Also, get her a kong, and when you put her in the garden give her the kong with some cheese or peanut butter in...just try to distract her until she forgets about them

Smart pup - what breed is she?

Edired - ah, Labrador.... sounds about right :rolleyes: :D Up her training, keep her mind occupied.

All great advice ....thanks everyone, with regards to the tin of dried peas....is it a baby milk tin I need and is that because there are no sharp edges...... I will have to duck tape round the top so she cannot get in to it as she would probably like dried peas as well knowing my luck.

To be honest apart from this she is doing really well....she is very intelligent and I am very proud of her. She is 3 months old and will sit, lay down and roll over. When we play frisbee she will fetch it back and drop it (all for a food reward of course....well what do you expect she is a labrador!!! lol).

She still pulls a little when walking but we are stopping and walking backwards each time and I think it may click any day now that she is not getting anywhere very fast by doing this.

Thanks again everyone,

P. S. Yes great idea about the peanut butter in her Kong...tried it today and she loves it.

We have used the tin method with our bullies, what we use is a beer can (budweiser at the moment) with a few small stones in it and lots of tape around the top. It works really well.
Karen.

Tia,

My Cairn likes a nice snail too. I do not worry about it. Dogs can pick up worms and parasites in many different ways. My Cairn likes to eat fox poo - I do not even want to think what's in it.

Dogs also pick up worms and parasites on their feet. When they lick their feet they ingest them.

Don't panic. Don't make trying to get a snail from her a game in her mind, as others advised. If she eats a few snails the likelyhood is nothing will happen, other than her protein intake will go up a little bit.

Of course, make sure to have Tia wormed regularly.

Stacey

Thanks Stacey....you just hear such awful things but then again you cannot watch them for every second that they are out in the garden. Can you tell she's my first puppy....paranoid or what!!! I feel a bit better now. I wish it would stop raining though then they will go away. I live in Wales and it has rained everyday for 2 weeks. What's the weather like with you???

LOL "baby milk tin?"

No :) the size of tin you need for general use is one to fit in the palm of your hand/pocket so the pup can't see it (altoids mints or similar). I only used a baby milk tin once - pup wasn't getting the message about tea-towels at all. but after that he did, the important thing was that I wasn't 'involved'. The snail thing can be a real nuisance, my friends Mini Schnauzer does this tho they've never chased him or tried to stop him :rolleyes: but he does get the runs from it.

I live in Wales and even in the recent heatwave the garden was full of the *&^(*! things at night