# 4 month old puppy picking up and chewing rocks!



## Cheryl (Mar 5, 2016)

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum. We are first time vizsla owners. I've found it very helpful. I have gotten alot of good tip's reading through it. So we have a male going to be 4 months old and he picks up rocks and sticks on our walks! I am able to grab them out of his mouth but afraid he might swallow one. How can we get him to stop picking up and chewing rocks!!!! Thank you in advance


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## Oyster (Mar 7, 2016)

Wow, I love this forum! Thank you all for the therapy and sharing!  

My 10 month old has recently started swallowing rocks. I just had a talk with the daycare she's at once a week, because I think it's always been the morning after that she pukes up a consistently quarter-sized smooth rock that looks like landscaping... They're pretty good there and the human to dog ratio is great, and they do a lot of activities and group sits and so on, but... She's a Vizsla... there's a lot of energy there...

In that same span of time she has found her chewing potential and a lot of the chew toys I had to remove because she was shredding stuff into pieces that looked easy to swallow so I wonder if it's in any way related...

Is he chewing on the rocks or just picking them up and walking around with them? I got mine at 9 weeks and spent probably 2-3 months (maybe a little more) following her around and giving her different things to chew on every time she tried to chew something she shouldn't (with the occasional, EH! thrown in when my curtains were under attack). We got into a rhythm where eventually she'd open her mouth over something and l look at me to see if it was ok (well or to make sure I was paying attention). Now (when I'm around) she's basically got it figured out and I'm experimenting with longer periods of time where I leave her alone. The rocks thing isn't happening on my watch... 

I guess my point is though, that at least for me, I was able to get past the picking up and chewing on of random objects (when I'm present, anyway). It took a long time though and constant supervision. Now I just have to figure out how to stop her from eating the shed if I leave her alone outside for more than 10 min...


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

There are two things you can teach here which will help with the rock situation and many more as your pup grows up. First is a "leave it" command and second is a "give." Feel free to search around for a method you like to teach these. Here's how I'd do it though.

For leave it, you can take treats or kibble, show it to him and then place it on the ground under your hand so he can't get to it. Normally they will paw at or nose your hand trying to get the food. As soon as he gives up, even if it is just for a second, reward him with a treat, but not the one under your hand. Have a second stash of treats in your pocket or another safe, but accessible spot. Once he seems to pick up on the concept that avoiding your hand gets him treats, you can start adding in the command of your choice such as "leave it." Work with him until he responds very quickly to the command, then increase the difficulty by leaving the kibble uncovered and as he progresses, by stepping farther away from the food, tossing the food, and applying the command to other objects, like shoes, toys, and rocks. Only change one variable at time though and if he regresses, return to a previous step and end the training session with him succeeding. 

While you're working on that, I'd highly suggest training him to happily give you anything he has in his mouth. I personally like my dog to bring things to hand, but a drop command, where they just spit out whatever is in their mouth is useful too for particularly gross things. You can hone that skill later.  The important bit here is to always praise even when they are carrying around something you'd rather they didn't. Scolding a puppy will only result in them avoiding you or the things you want them to retrieve. In training, you also want to avoid too quickly taking what he's carrying or again he'll likely avoid you. Start practicing this with a toy. Let him carry it around and lavish him with praise. If he walks near you, stroke him. Let him do this for awhile and when you have an opportunity remove the toy from his mouth, look at it admiringly and hand it back to him. Do this a few more times and then put it away. Eventually you can put a command to the action, just like with the first skill.

Teach these things and then even if the first command fails and he still picks up rocks, you'll have a dog that wants to bring them to you and will readily give them up. Fair warning you'll also probably end up with a dog that thinks you want them to carry everything around all the time. Shoes? Check. Balls of yarn? Check. 

One other suggestion is to bring something else along for her to carry.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Oyster said:


> My 10 month old has recently started swallowing rocks. I just had a talk with the daycare she's at once a week, because I think it's always been the morning after that she pukes up a consistently quarter-sized smooth rock that looks like landscaping... They're pretty good there and the human to dog ratio is great, and they do a lot of activities and group sits and so on, but... She's a Vizsla... there's a lot of energy there...


Our weim also has a thing about rocks (although thank goodness, she just wants to carry them around and doesn't purposely swallow them). It is VERY dangerous for dogs to swallow rocks. It can easily cause an obstruction that requires surgery, so I would start discouraging it/monitoring it ASAP. Health insurance for your pup might not be a bad idea either, at least until they outgrow this stage or really learn their commands. Our V quickly outgrew this behavior as he grew up (he put *everything* in his mouth, including broken glass!) but our weim has not (some weim lines are just obsessed with rocks, it's more of a breed trait.)



Cheryl said:


> Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum. We are first time vizsla owners. I've found it very helpful. I have gotten alot of good tip's reading through it. So we have a male going to be 4 months old and he picks up rocks and sticks on our walks! I am able to grab them out of his mouth but afraid he might swallow one. How can we get him to stop picking up and chewing rocks!!!! Thank you in advance


Einspanner offered great suggestions. The only thing I would add is when he does have something that you can't give him back (like a rock) - trade him for a treat when you have to take it from him (even better if he gives it to you) along with heaping on the praise. Our weim is pretty good about bringing me her new rock to exchange it for a treat. And she's sooo sneaky about finding them, it's pretty impossible to prevent her from getting one every once in a while (unless she's on leash) so it *really* helps when she's the first to let me know she has one! (Except for those days she tries to sneak it out of the yard and into her crate with her... along with crickets, frozen poop, and her other "treasures" :.)


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## Cheryl (Mar 5, 2016)

Thx for all your Grt advise. I am telling him to drop and let go when he eats rocks! It seems I have to keep opening his mouth and grap stuff out! I just never saw a dog chew rocks before. We are learning alot from this forum. Again first time vizsla owners. Loving !


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Cheryl said:


> I am telling him to drop and let go when he eats rocks! It seems I have to keep opening his mouth and grab stuff out!


Every time you grab something out, either give it back to him after a minute (if it's something safe for him to have) or pop a treat in his mouth. I took everything out of our V's mouth as a puppy (he picked everything up!) but looking back, I think it contributed to his resource guarding issues (he is very possessive/aggressive about some items he thinks he won't get back). So at least trade for a treat to make it a positive thing and practice when he has safe items, too.


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## Cheryl (Mar 5, 2016)

This is all Grt advise ! Thank you so much. I will keep you all updated!!


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## Pecan_and_BB (Jun 15, 2015)

I agree with einspänner and dextersmom on how to train for drop it and leave it which is how we have trained Pecan. We also added a "Get that" (that's OK to pick up), "GIMME THAT!" (I'm going to chase you) and "tug-o-war" (let's pull on this) commands to objects she is allowed to have which promote play times with the correct things and a desired behaviour. 

It has taught her that if she is in a play mood (which is every moment she is not asleep) and there is something she is unsure about grabbing wherever we are, she looks for our queues now for the green light to pick it up or the red light to leave it.


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