ok so the past couple of weeks my almost 5 month old husky pup has decided to eat and throw up socks. I don't know that he eats them until he is puking them up on the ground. I am glad he is throwing them up rather than them getting stuck and having to go get emergency surgery. I am very anal about picking up things that he could choke on or being potentially harmful for him, but have no idea where he gets these socks as me and my fiancé are not missing any! He has only thrown up 3 socks since he started this fetish. Last night he was running around being chased by an older pup we have and felt the need to swallow the little piece of fabric from a toy to guard it. So far he has not yet thrown that back up. Does anyone have this issue with their huskies?

Puppies are garbage disposals and teaching leave it or drop it early on is often a necessity for many husky owners. A thorough look through of the house might be a necessity as well. Make sure there aren't old socks that have been trapped under a bed or dresser from so long ago you can't remember or from a friend who may have stayed over and lost things the pup is finding now. Does someone puppy sit during the day when you are gone who could be leaving stuff around? Some small things puppies can digest so I would just monitor for puking that doesn't produce anything as well as lethargy and/or constipation. Chances are the little piece of toy will digest and pass through his system. Most of all supervise at all times that they aren't in the crate and don't let them wander the house out of sight. Some have been known to figure out how to open drawers and steal things. Too smart for their own good.

TwisterII wrote:

Puppies are garbage disposals and teaching leave it or drop it early on is often a necessity for many husky owners. A thorough look through of the house might be a necessity as well. Make sure there aren't old socks that have been trapped under a bed or dresser from so long ago you can't remember or from a friend who may have stayed over and lost things the pup is finding now. Does someone puppy sit during the day when you are gone who could be leaving stuff around? Some small things puppies can digest so I would just monitor for puking that doesn't produce anything as well as lethargy and/or constipation. Chances are the little piece of toy will digest and pass through his system. Most of all supervise at all times that they aren't in the crate and don't let them wander the house out of sight. Some have been known to figure out how to open drawers and steal things. Too smart for their own good.

He does know drop it and leave it, he is very sneaky about this I am assuming. he is crated when we are at work and is always around me or my fiancé when we are home or playing with an older pup at our house. when he is in his crate he gets his hard chew toys like his kong and teethers, things that he cannot swallow. I am not sure where he could be getting the socks but I have been looking everywhere in little spots since he started to make sure he is not hoarding them somewhere

Yep, as the saying goes - Been there, done that! As Jenn says, the pups getting them from somewhere and it's, obviously, up to you to figure out where before he gets into real trouble (emergency surgery isn't fun and is expensive!)

To maybe help you along, as Jenn suggests, an unsupervised puppy is an accident waiting to happen - and given time, it will happen. I have two who have 'indulged' my Alaskan has literally chewed the crotch out of two pairs of jeans - obviously the sweat from the days 'labor' was too enticing - and thank the gods he's gotten over that. Sasha, my enjoyable problem child, will chew handkerchiefs and various 'unmentionables' if she has access to them. Since I also have cats who might need a safe space, I have a gate between my kitchen and the 'back rooms' and the laundry basket is in the back room.

While my pups have the run of the main part of the house (house trailer - shotgun style) they don't have access to those area where they can get into things they shouldn't.

The downside to this is that while you have a puppy - and chewing anything is a common problem with puppies - mine are full grown (5+ years old), so I'm going to suggest that you might really want to keep the little one on a house leash until you can determine where he's getting them from and, sorry, clean up your act because he's seriously finding what you (or someone) has left behind. (said with a smile - though it may sound 'smart', I'm also a bit of a wiseacre)

Hey Michaela Isak

I wouldn't say Echo has issues with socks, but he definitely LOVES INHALING sticks. We'll be at the park sometimes and it's an hour of his nose on the ground and swallowing sticks non-stop & anything else that seems somewhat edible including pebbles & poop...The next morning it will be *glug* *glug* *glug* **BARF*** and a huge fist size pile will come back up...

Short of putting a muzzle on him I've tried it all...leave it, treats, time outs...I've had to switch dog parks multiple times just to find one that is easier to digest through his stomach. I've settled on one that is pure grass and he literally is a cow and grazes on the grass...but the grass seems much better at flowing through his intestines than sticks...so there's been considerably less vomiting these days...

It's remarkable how durable husky stomachs are...Echo ate two pounds of pebbles once and pooped them all out...that was a very expensive vet bill...but non-surgical so I was lucky...

Just keep an eye out on his behavior, and poops, and if all seems well I wouldn't be too concerned. Stop where you can but it's come to a point where I give up on chastising him in the park, because it's becoming not very enjoyable for me taking him out when I'm constantly following him around and telling him to leave it...drop it...and moving his muzzle away from whatever he's trying to sniff...

Echo is 7 months now...I will say it's gotten slightly better, and he listens a bit better when I scream at him from time to time to leave it/drop it...i'm hoping once he grows up a bit more and becomes less food driven I'll finally have some relief...

Trust me you're not alone! Good Luck!

Echo and Rorschach must be cousins.
Rorschach eats anything not bolted to the ground, and even then he'll give it a try.
Pine cones, spiders that bite him, rocks, sticks, nuts and washers (as in hardware), bottle caps, dead animals, fencing. Boards in his kennel area look like a beaver has been living there. I have yet to break out the grass trimmer this year because he takes care of the edges for me.
He gets plenty of exercise, and we honestly overfeed the guy, but nothing stops the constant eating of literally anything he can get in his mouth.
One day he was outside playing with a tether tug, I stepped inside to use the bathroom, and when I return, he's uprooted the tether tug and is was eating chunks of it.

hahahaha Hey Kmanweiss!

Echo and Rorschach should meet one day. Though I think they'll be too busy sniffing out the next thing to swallow to even realize there's a husky friend around

I will say, while Echo does like eating everything, he has never chewed anything in my house other than his toys (which included ingesting a whole squeaker - thankfully that came back up in his vomit 2 days later =P).

Thankfully I live in a condo so I don't have a yard where I can set him free and leave him on his own. I'd definitely be hesitant to set him free in the yard...cause he'd probably rake up all the sticks for me and swallow them all. He had diarrhea for the first time the other day and after fasting him for 24 hours, and restricting him to leash-only walks on the sidewalk, he was still pooping out sticks 48 hours later

OOohhhh Ecccchhooo!!!

Paper towels and socks.. sherlock goes nuts for them. 3 weeks ago he snuck into our bedroom (off-limits to him most of the time) and he grabbed a sock before we chased him out. Now that i look back, chasing him was a terrible idea, because this threw him into resource guarding mode and he literally swallowed an entire sock hole. Needless to say, he now knows "drop-it" and "leave-it" now. It was an awful week waiting for something to happen, when finally 5 days later right before he was about to eat he threw half of it up.. the other half made its way out the other end the next day. For the most part in the house and without other dogs around he will now listen and drop something if he hears me say it.. but I'm always hesitant to bring him to a dog park because he ignores everything i say and will eat anything small enough to keep the other dogs from getting it.. its been a work in progress so i understand your frustration!