Hi there. I am hoping for some advice. We have a 9 month old husky pup and she eats everything, as in she swallows it, sometimes whole. We jokingly call her the vacuum, but it has lately became more serious. She has eaten her dog bed, her blanket(s), her toys, the water dish, the kiddy pool, anything and everything in backyard... She especially likes to tear out the grass and eat the roots. It is just the weirdest thing I have ever seen. And most probably think "well, she's just a puppy" but she is damaging her GI tract. We have had to take her to the vet several times for things she ate that caused GI issues. We have practically taken everything away from her except her Nylabone because that is the only thing she can't swallow (and she only gets it when we can watch her- just in case). And she now has to be on a leash whenever we let her outside so she doesn't eat the dirt, trees, bushes, grass, etc. Is this normal husky behavior? I have had several types of breeds before, and our other dog is a German Shepherd, but this is my first Husky and I am at a complete loss on what to do. We feed her plenty of food, and it is a grain-free, top of the line food, so I doubt it is hunger. HELP!

Just to be safe-- what are you feeding her, how much, and how often?

How much exercise does she get daily? How often does she get training sessions?

Is she literally constantly trying to eat things? Or is it only when you turn your back? Out of 24 hours in a day, how often is she trying to eat things?

We feed her natural balance (limited ingredient- our GSD has bad allergies, so they both eat the limited ingredient blend), 1.5 cups, twice a day. Right now she is on the chicken and rice diet due to her latest GI issue that she is recovering from. She runs with me and gets walks daily. She is also very actively playing with our GSD all the time. She doesn't eat these items every second of the day, mostly when we are not looking, or if we are gone. But if I tell her to "drop it," she swallows it whole so I can't take it from her. She has been through basic obedience, and she knows all commands other than "drop it" as I explained above.

I actually don't think she's getting enough food. Check the feeding guidelines-- as a growing dog, she could need between 3-4 cups a day. My first thought would be to increase her food. If she doesn't gain too much weight on it, it should help.

I would also start training more with "Drop it". Do you work on this command at all? When you do, you should try to always give her something of higher value than what she has. Start with toys, and give her bits of hot dog perhaps when she performs the command.

I would increase her mental stimulation as well as her physical stimulation. Huskies are extremely intelligent. A couple of 10 min training sessions a day can really help to wear them out. She's likely bored and hungry... so she's finding things to eat.

The vet actually told us to cut down on food when we told him how much we were feeding her. I can try bumping it back up to two cups/2x a day (that is what she used to be fed). Otherwise, she gets a lot of mental stimulation, as our GSD requires the same or else they get stir crazy and bored. We still work on "drop it" but it has more or less turned into a game of "catch me before I can swallow it." She isn't driven much by treats (and we have high value treats), but rather her toys. But I am nervous to give her back any toys. Stuffed animals are basically forbidden in our house (those are the easiest for her to swallow), so its basically just chew-type toys.

On a side note, she has been eating non-food items since we brought her home at 8 weeks. So this isn't necessarily something new- it is just getting more serious since she is eating bigger, more harmful items. She has always LOVED eating the roots in the grass?!? She is just a very odd dog- but I am willing to try anything at this point. Thank you.

As long as she isn't getting fat/overweight, I would bump the food back up-- but if she's putting on too much weight, I'd listen to your vet.

How do you train "drop it"? If she's not food motivated, I would use whatever motivates her. Trade treats for toys then... figure out what motivates her and use it to your advantage.

If none of that works... I wonder if it's anxiety ridden? I guess essentially I would start by trying to figure out when she DOESN'T try eating things and recreate those situations as often as possible and praise her.

We train drop it by giving her a toy, ball, etc and saying "drop it." If she drops it, we give her a treat/praise. And repeat. I try to use several different toys and practice the same command. However, she does not drop the grass, etc if she can just swallow it or eta it. It may be anxiety, but she is always left with her sister (our GSD) and she is very independent. I am a professor, so I am only away from the house usually no more than 4 hours a day at the most. They are left outside together in their large dog run, and they play the majority of the time. So she doesn't spend any time alone.

She isn't obese, but she grew really fast between two vet visits, which prompted our vet to ask us how much we were feeding her. I will try upping her food and work on more mental stimulation. Thank you.

I would perhaps try training "leave it" instead of "drop it".... drop it is a hard command to catch and mark. Here's what we did:

-Hold a treat or something she wants in your hand (it's best if it's something small you can cover with your entire fist). Naturally, she is going to nose at it and try to take it away from you. You want to catch her when she backs away from it. If it's something high value (which it should be), you may have to catch even the SLIGHTEST of movements away.
-When she backs away, say "Leave it! Good girl" and give her a treat (make sure it is NOT the treat that you were tempting her with).
-Repeat this and try to catch longer and longer movements away. Eventually, you'll want to open your palm and hold it straight out. Again catching her when she "leaves it" or backs away.

At this point, with Koda and Hailey, I can throw treats at them, and say "Leave it" and they won't even look at the treat. They'll keep their eyes fixated on me until I give them their treat.

You might have better luck with this one

I agree with all of Koda's advice. Loki also eats grass including the roots but I don't think that's actually problematic. Huskies are known to do that. I'd also give the pup a smart toy- something that she has to outsmart to get the treat out of. If she continues you may have to add corrections (popping the leash or rolling over) to get your point across. Loki was great at "leave it" except for dirty dishes off the counter, and after a few corrections followed by pos. reinforcements, the message finally got through.

She knows a command similar to "leave it." We trained with "wait for it" and I can throw a treat down, or put her food bowl down and tell her to wait for it, and she will sit there until I say okay. So she already knows that and she does it perfectly every time. We use "leave it" if we want her to not pick something up (like on a walk, we will tell her to leave it when we walk by a fruit tree, so she won't pick up the fallen fruit). She does the leave it pretty well. Its the "drop it" (once she has something in her mouth) command that we are having a hard time with.

We have two different mentally stimulating treat balls that our pups play with. We have them both set to the most difficult setting, and both of our pups are extremely smart. Our husky figured it out within minutes (took our GSD a little longer). But those toys will still keep them busy for hours.

And the biggest concern is when we are not home, or cannot watch her. I honestly look at her poop to see what she has been eating/swallowing when we are not home. I feel terrible at night when she sleeps because we had to take her bed, blankets, etc out of her crate, so she just sleeps on the plastic tray. But I can't trust that she won't eat it through the night.

track1636 wrote:

And the biggest concern is when we are not home, or cannot watch her. I honestly look at her poop to see what she has been eating/swallowing when we are not home.

If she were mine she'd be locked up at these times for her own safety.

We do. She only gets her nylabone when we are watching her. All other toys and things that she can swallow are removed.

Although, today she ate a huge chunk of her kiddy pool (something I did not remove because I didn't think she could/would eat it).

I guess I misunderstood. I thought you said your biggest concerns were when you are not home. I honestly don't think your situation is very uncommon at all. My house has never been cleaner courtesy of Evie. If it is on the floor, she will eat it. ESPECIALLY things that are not hers and that she knows are a no no. They go down in one swift gulp so I have trained myself, my husband, and my kids to be diligent in making sure nothing is laying around. When she was a pup she would eat rocks, so everytime she went out I was with her, watching like a hawk. It could be a matter of life and death to the dog. If she eats her toys, she wouldn't have toys. If she's chewing her dishes, take them away. Your girl is still young and learning and she'll catch on with your guidance. My dog sleeps on the plastic crate tray and she is fine. She's also a grass eater.

Thank you JillC. It makes me feel a little better. We will just have to be very diligent as you said. Luckily its just my husband and I, so that shouldn't be too difficult. It is a matter of life and death, and after I saw the kiddy pool today, I just freaked out. It proved to me that she will eat ANYTHING! We pick up her dishes after she eats, but the water bowl we obviously have to leave down. We did buy a metal water dish so she cant eat it. Glad to know I am not alone.

Koda wrote:

I would perhaps try training "leave it" instead of "drop it".... drop it is a hard command to catch and mark.

Chuck is pretty good at 'leave it' already, I was just wondering to myself whether I should teach drop it as well. I've used leave it successfully for both situations when I want Chuck to not pursue something or to ignore, and when I want him to get rid of something he's chewing on. He's better at the ignore part then the dropping thing situation, but I think it will be effective with both. With that being said, do you guys think there's a good reason to also teach drop, in addition to leave it? Sorry for the minor hijack, still fairly relevant though.

Good luck with the eating - that's really rough. There are some things I can't get Chuck to leave with leave it right now (chews) but working on it...will definitely continue to monitor this thread for tips thanks for posting.