# Pica



## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

Is there any danger in eating odd things? My dog seems to be obsessed with eating worms. When I take her out in the yard during the day to pee or poop, she gets so distracted sniffing around and eating worms that I have to remind her a bunch to do her business!

Also, she seems to poop a lot more than she pees. I'd think the frequencies would be reversed. She has unlimited access to water.


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## PonkiPoodles (Feb 25, 2009)

I doubt there is any danger if it's just plain old earthworms... not so sure if it's other kinds.


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm hoping it's just added protein. LOL We don't use chemicals on our lawn, so at least there's that. People eat crickets and stuff, so I guess I should be glad at least she's not eating her poop! Ewwww!


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

The better the food, the less poop you will have. What are you feeding her? Could be she is lacking something and that is part of the issue.


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## pgr8dnlvr (Aug 7, 2011)

HAHA! My toy girl does this too! Has done since day 1! I live in BC, right in the pacific northwest rainforests, and we're having the rainiest June on record so there's LOTS of worms available all the time! 

I'm not worried though, I know she gets good quality food with VERY high protein, so I'm sure it's just fun and yummy for her. Gross for sure, but not as gross as my golden retrievers coprophagia! YUCK! 

Rebecca


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm feeding her Natural Balance chicken and sweet potato. I'm trying to stay away from too many grains. She gets NO "people" food. She's a shelter dog, about 2 years old (?), but we've had her about a month. I have no clue of her history; I think she was a stray.

My Westie peed a bunch of times a day, but pooped only 2-3, best I can remember. Her last few years, she was really geriatric (along with having Addison's). I just figured every one's an individual, like people.


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

Also, any hints for bad breath?


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Bunny said:


> Is there any danger in eating odd things? My dog seems to be obsessed with eating worms. When I take her out in the yard during the day to pee or poop, she gets so distracted sniffing around and eating worms that I have to remind her a bunch to do her business!
> 
> Also, she seems to poop a lot more than she pees. I'd think the frequencies would be reversed. She has unlimited access to water.


If she was eating rocks or glass, I would have a long post about un-training this behavior. Worms are fine.

If it becomes irritating or causes housetraining problems because she's too preoccupied to pee outside, you can pursue some training.

Whatever you do, take a video of it and save it for after she passes. It's the little odd things unique to each dogs that we treasure the most when they're gone.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Bunny said:


> Also, any hints for bad breath?


Dental exam!


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

thanks tortoise. She's being boarded next week when I'm on vacation, so I'll mention it to the vet. If she was a stray, she was probably eating a lot of trash which didn't clean her teeth. I give her dentasticks occasionally; not sure it's helping.

I never thought about filming her eating worms! I do find it funny, and probably not harmful, but y'all are such a great source of knowledge I wanted to be sure. 

And now I'm feeling guilty about boarding her...so soon after she's found her forever home. We're doing well with training (main things I need to extinguish are jumping on people and obeying "come" command). I need to find the training thread! Another issue I have is that she has chosen me as her person, even though we got her as my son's dog. She won't really obey anyone but me.

ETA: she was pretty well housebroken when she got here. I'm home all day and take her out several times a day after our long morning walks. She only has gone once in the house and it was my fault.


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

Worms must be fun and yummy, LOL. Never heard of that before, but at least it's not something like stones or wallboard or something like that that is indigestible. Worms shouldn't hurt her. I understand about being distracted that she won't pee. Lily is like that too, but she's obsessed with chasing chipmunks. I have to distract her or walk her on the leash saying "Lily Go Potty" every 5 seconds.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Bunny said:


> We're doing well with training (main things I need to extinguish are jumping on people and obeying "come" command). I need to find the training thread!


I train those - and the leave it - as the same behavior. It's really easy. I'll tell you the applications and ask if you want any help training the behavior.

Use your dog's name as the cue/command and it means "look at me, come to me". For worm-hunting, you say your dog's name. She looks at you. Now that you have her attention you can redirect it to what you want - go potty. For jumping up during a greeting, you stop it before it starts by saying her name to get her to look at you and then redirecting her with a sit or down cue.

It turns around the relationship with your dog. Instead saying "No" and punishing your dog, you get to say "Yes!" and reward good behavior.

It's fun, easy training. I'd be happy to share if you want to know more.


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

_And now I'm feeling guilty about boarding her...so soon after she's found her forever home. We're doing well with training (main things I need to extinguish are jumping on people and obeying "come" command). I need to find the training thread! _

Wow Bunny, it sounds like I wrote this post. I am having the exact same problems with Lily. We adopted her about 3 wks ago and we're working on the jumping and come command. We're also planning vacation, although not until the end of summer, but I am feeling guilty about boarding her already. Good luck with training. I will be reading your posts with interest to see how I keep pace with you.


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

PonkiPoodles said:


> I doubt there is any danger if it's just plain old earthworms... not so sure if it's other kinds.





tortoise said:


> I train those - and the leave it - as the same behavior. It's really easy. I'll tell you the applications and ask if you want any help training the behavior.
> 
> Use your dog's name as the cue/command and it means "look at me, come to me". For worm-hunting, you say your dog's name. She looks at you. Now that you have her attention you can redirect it to what you want - go potty. For jumping up during a greeting, you stop it before it starts by saying her name to get her to look at you and then redirecting her with a sit or down cue.
> 
> ...


YES I'd LOVE to hear more about help with this. I know she knows her (new) name, but she rarely looks at me when I say it. She will happily come when she's in a sit in which I've placed her (she's pretty good about this when we're in "training" mode - which I pretty much try to just incorporate into every day living). But if she's across the yard sniffing around, she has the same thing as my son - selective deafness! LOL

I would love to channel her jumping into "tricks" - she's a terrific jumper, but I don't want her jumping on people. It's the worse when I return or first thing in the morning. I've been trying to ignore her till she settles down a bit, but when I then greet her (calmly) she gets all wound up again. She jumps on me equally in front or back and will sometimes even "tackle" me...run full out and jump up and push my leg. She's only about 15 lbs, but I don't want her to do this ---- I'm gonna be unhappy when she does this with muddy feet and I'm in nice clothes!!

Another issue I have with her is her mouthiness. She gets overexcited when we're playing and starts nipping (in a non aggressive way) and she also likes to nip clothes when she's jumping on me.

Help!! tortoise, should we start a thread for you and Lily's mom and me? LOL


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I will be gone for the weekend so I will leave you with some video clips. The first video is a tutorial and the others are examples.






This one is introducing a puppy to distractions. She has a couple weeks of the above training before this video. Yeah, that's my ex-husband that can't follow instructions :lol: NEVER use the dog's name as the distraction! I would throw a fit if someone did that today. I'm a little excessive on how attentive I want my dog to be - he's a working dog, not a pet. I don't let my son or fiance use my dog's name. When strangers ask (often) I don't tell them!






Here is a non-clicker way that is equally as effective. Notice I want my dogs to put their feet on me - but not in a disrespectful way.






Adding a distraction later. I love this because she spins around so fast when I call - the leash doesn't get tight.






And for the record, I am completely obcessed with jumping dogs! I love high jump and dock diving. This clip is of one of my old performance dogs. That dog rarely touched the ground. You don't need to fear or punish your dog away from jumping. My dog will put his feet on me on cue, not otherwise. If he forgets as quiet "off" command gets his feet on the floor. I don't allow my dogs to touch other people. I don't like to inhibit jumping - I find it valuable. I do set rules for it so it doesn't become irritating or injurous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mcJZHfG_h0&feature=plcp

Here's that puppy as an adult. You can her attention on me in a crowd and her ability to do her thing off-leash. You can see where I invite her feet up and ask for them off. And there's a jump trick at the end. (she only misses it twice, lol) I think it covers about everything in this thread. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knri09PBIkA&feature=plcp


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

tortoise - WOW those are fantastic! Seeing these is so much more helpful than reading about it (actually I need both ways - I'm visual AND auditory!). I'm so glad you understand about how I value Cookie's jumping ability. She will always be a family pet, but that doesn't mean she can't do some fun tricks! 

My main concern is her coming when I call; if I'm in the front yard visiting with a friend or pulling weeds or whatever, she needs to come right away if there's a car. Standing in the road sniffing a pine cone is just not going to do.


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

You make it look SO easy, Tortoise! I am going to try your techniques and hope it will work. I have to work on training my husband to use the same commands as I do . As you said, they can't follow instructions  Thanks you very much for taking the time to help and post these videos. Have a nice weekend 
OK, Bunny - we have our work cut out for us!


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## Bunny (Jun 14, 2012)

Lily, she does make it look so easy! My dog is maybe 2 years old, not a puppy, so I don't know if that makes it easier or not. She came from the dog pound, although she had been in a foster home getting her adoptable.

ITA - the husbands are harder to train than the dogs! And my 12 year old son...fuggitaboutit!


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

It really IS that easy. It's not magical. 

The dog in the first video I rescued at 4 months old. She was a death-row dog and they told us she was "untrainable." She was halfway neurotic and we almost returned her to the shelter the next day! 

But when I was finally introduced to clicker training, everything fell into place and training became fun and easy. She was my first performance dog. She's an old lady now, retired and happily enjoying life in CA. (She hated our cold WI winters!).

She is a greyhound mix and now I understand their reputation for running! The attention / recall training saved her life a few times over. It was worth every (fun) moment.

Try 100 repetitions per day - but not more than 10 at a time. If you need instructions google "Sue Ailsby". She trains it similarly and has excellent videos and written instructions available online. The reason I recommend her stuff is because she always includes a detailed troubleshooting section.

If it's not working, stop until you get a solution to the problem. It's better to not train at all than to train poorly, IMO.

I'm heading out camping, have a lovely weekend! Believe in yourself and your dogs. But mostly, have fun!


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

Bunny, my dog is about 3 yrs old - also a rescue so we are just guessing. And she was in foster for about 7 months waiting to find her forever home with us. I'm glad to have an older dog that is already well mannered for the most part and house trained - that makes things much nicer  Will give this training a try - fingers crossed!


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