Actually I'm learning in the eyes of a husky, everything is edible!!!

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie, but have had the pleasure of meeting a few of you on The Welcome Mat. My "sweetie" Evie is making me nuts eating/trying to eat rocks, wood, worms, mouthfuls of mowed grass, earplugs, anything her face passes over as she's sniffing along. I'm watching her like a hawk, but somehow missed the earplug til she pooped and was like WTH is that?! I've been perusing here and saw that some of yours eat whole socks and have had surgeries for obstructions. The thought of that scares me to death! I'm like a crazy person in the house making sure the kids leave nothing left low and we're walking her everytime she has to go out cuz I just don't trust her. She's so sneaky snatching up everything, I'm always prying her mouth open, pulling stuff out. She has enough bowel issues without adding rocks to the mix! Any tips that any of you have found to curb these munchies? I am feeding her, I swear!

Oh Jill...you have no idea how badly I feel your pain! Kody eats EVERYTHING! Especially on his daily walks. He's like a vacuum cleaner on the ground! My worst experience with him was that he ate 2 of my husbands work socks at the same time! One he pooped out, but the other he had trouble with. He tried puking it out, but then ate it back up. He looked like he was about to pass out. Right when I was about to take him to the animal hospital (it was a sunday) he puked it out finally. He was acting so sick =(

On Friday, he hate half of my husbands boxers...yes half! He pooped it out in pieces on Saturday. I too am like a hawk, but always find myself opening his mout hand pulling stuff out! VERY FRUSTRATING!!!

Honestly, I have no advice for you since I need some myself..LOL. I think it's just a puppy thing that is WORSE with huskies! Just keep trying your hardest to keep things out of her reach. NOT EASY!

Kody, eats EVERYTHING in the yard also! He doesn't even run and play out there...just search for things to eat!

I think this is something we can all relate to! Huskies are hoovers on four legs and they pick up everything!

Management and training is the best that I can suggest.

On the management side, basically keep doing what you're doing. Puppy proof that house to the extreme and keep a very close eye on her both inside and outside the house.

On the training side, I would recommend teaching a "leave it" and/or "drop it" command. Make it fun and interesting. Not only will 'leave it' and 'drop it' training have the potential to one day possibly save them from eating something seriously harmful but it will give your dog mental exercise and also help the two of you bond even more. Just be careful as these dogs can be too smart for their own good. I taught Dakota to "leave it" and it wasn't too long before he started picking things up and dropping them then sitting in front of me for his reward. Too smart for his own good! That was my cue to start phasing out treat rewards and only giving praise when he dropped things he wasn't supposed to have. But overall we have seen major improvements in him dropping "non-edibles" when corrected vocally. It's not a 100% foolproof thing but it has helped us out a LOT with this issue. For us, I taught "leave it" to mean don't touch it and drop it if you already have it. Some people prefer to teach them separately so it's whatever works best for you.

She's young but it's amazing how fast these smart huskies can pick up the commands that Val mentioned. And, what's more amazing, it seems like mine ENJOYS the training exercises. Sabaka is about 5.5 months old and I, too, felt like we had a period of constantly pulling things out of his mouth! It can get better. He is now much better (as long as someone is around to watch him). We even use the "leave it" command to tell him to leave the cat alone. Anything he should not touch or pick up is a "leave it" in our house. He was quicker to learn "drop it" than "leave it" (still doesn't always "drop it" or "leave it" - example: dead bird in the back yard last Friday!!).

Good Luck!!

Oh my gosh Melissa, I never would have thought they could swallow whole socks and pass them without help! Amazing! So scary too! Thank God Kody got those things out without it ending up more serious! Of course the emergencies always happen on Sundays too, $$$$$! Your 2 are gorgeous BTW even though ur banging ur head against the wall Since Evie's only 13 weeks old, I know it's going to be a long road ahead of me, but i wouldn't trade a second. Might as well buy a helmet!

Val, we've been working on drop it and she's doing pretty well with it...when she wants to! She knows what she is allowed to have and what she isn't and when she does make the grab for something off limits, she's peeking at me out the corner of her eye as if she knows she's going to be corrected, but just has to do it anyway. Then she drops it and does her nutsy run around the house LOL. I know what you mean 100% about them being too smart for their own good, she's smart as a whip and seems to learn so fast, so I hope we can teach her some manners while she is so impressionable. Little does she know, we just want to keep her safe and there are more important things than sit, down, and shake! Each of those took 3 minutes to teach her, but her stubborn nature takes over when it comes to the more important things. Ugh. I'm not giving her treats anymore, until we get her system straightened out and so far verbal praise just isn't the same. Yesterday i did chunk up a couple baby carrots and she loved them, but trying to be careful.

Dakota sounds incredible, but it's obvious he has a great teacher! I'm learning a lot from all of you.

You said it best.....in a husky's eyes everything is edible. I agree 100% with Val. Teaching "leave it" and drop it are very important and can help prevent them from ingesting something harmful and it's much easier than prying thier mouths open. Frankie does a great leave it and drop it when I am there to tell him to do so, but when I'm not around it's like a free for all, lol. We are working on "bring it" now. Management is important too. Apparently I'm not doing to well in that department. I don't even know how he gets half of the stuff he chews/eats (for example: today it was a pencil). Ugh. You would think I was starving him.

Oh geez Lisa, my cat's another story! I'll have to try "leave it" when it comes to him. Poor thing needs wrestling gear with Evie in the house! She gnaws on his ear like it's bubble gum and the cat lets her! She must be being gentle, but that doesn't last long. It's good to hear Sabaka got a little better with age, there's hope! He's just a couple months ahead of mine, so you I'll look to your posts for what's coming. I am not looking forward to when she makes her first kill and I have to try to get it from her. I can just see her swinging it around joyfully like one of her toys!

This is not a kiss on the cheek...

Jill,

Does your cat have claws? We actually still have the basement cat and the upstairs dog!! It's a VERY long story and I must run to get the kids from school. I'll continue this...

Dee I bet they could find something we thought was lost months ago! Did Frankie eat the pencil? He looks so sweet and innocent in your photo!

Lisa, my cat is declawed in the front, has the back ones. He is BOLD and is trying not to put up with her, but only time he teaches her a lesson is if he nips her on the ears or nose cuz anywhere else he just gets a mouthful of husky fur. Wasn't so bad when she was smaller than him, but Evie's getting bigger and heavier everyday and she just takes him down. Maybe we need a separate Cat vs. dog thread?

To get back on topic, I do pray that they learn to be friends and Evie doesn't eat Shadow too when she gets big!

The short story of our cat and dog is that the cat adopted us and I am HIGHLY allergic to cats. Therefore, the cat lives in the basement and outside, so she needs her claws. We are trying to get the dog and cat to tolerate each other with someone getting hurt. I think I will take this to another thread...

MelissaI wrote:

My worst experience with him was that he ate 2 of my husbands work socks at the same time! One he pooped out, but the other he had trouble with. He tried puking it out, but then ate it back up. He looked like he was about to pass out. Right when I was about to take him to the animal hospital (it was a sunday) he puked it out finally. He was acting so sick =(

There must be something about those darn socks. Willow loves, loves my son's socks. So far she has not eaten any. I am always with her so I always get them from her before she can even try. I can tell when she gets something she isn't suppose to cause she immediatly tries to hide from me. She KNOWS she isn't suppose to chew on anything but her toys but that doesn't stop her from trying.

26nikita wrote:

MelissaI wrote:

My worst experience with him was that he ate 2 of my husbands work socks at the same time! One he pooped out, but the other he had trouble with. He tried puking it out, but then ate it back up. He looked like he was about to pass out. Right when I was about to take him to the animal hospital (it was a sunday) he puked it out finally. He was acting so sick =(

There must be something about those darn socks. Willow loves, loves my son's socks. So far she has not eaten any. I am always with her so I always get them from her before she can even try. I can tell when she gets something she isn't suppose to cause she immediatly tries to hide from me. She KNOWS she isn't suppose to chew on anything but her toys but that doesn't stop her from trying.

Yep! Kody goes to hide with ears back and tail inbetween his legs all innocent looking..lol. He actually ate them that time b/c my very intelligent husband left the socks in his work shoes and didn't put them in the closet! I had fallen asleep and when I woke up in the morning and saw the shoes out with no socks in them I was like OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!