# Not again...



## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Maizie ate another sock! We've all been so careful about laundry loads with socks this week, but this sock happened to fall out of a bed sheet I was folding :argh: I dropped a few of her favorite treats in front of her, but she swallowed the sock immediately. So off to the ER we went for another stomach pumping. The vet on call recommended getting a behaviorist, so we will be doing that!!! 

Here's a pic of Maizie and me when we arrived home. She was really sleepy so I had to carry her to the car and into the house, but after a nap in her crate, she's already pretty much back to herself.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

What a crazy problem you have on your hands ! The idea of a behaviorist is great, I hope it cures her of this terrible and dangerous habit !


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## Muggles (Mar 14, 2015)

Poor silly puppy! Definitely hope you get this sorted out.


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## Beaches (Jan 25, 2014)

My Dobe was very fond of socks and underwear particularly if we had company she could parade it in front of.....but fortunately the spoo has never shown any interest. Good luck with breaking that habit.... Lol. I don't know how you carry her, she's almost as big as you are...


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

What a naughty girl! Hoping you can cure her of this. Must be scary (and expensive!)


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

She's only 29.48 lbs, Beaches  

Arreau, this girl has a naughty streak a mile wide. I guess that comes with the territory of having so much personality. 

Oh, and I'm beginning to develop a phobia of socks...


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Oh Dear! Looks like you have a problem...............................hope you solve it!!!


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

A behaviorist for sock eating? It sounds like pretty normal puppy mischief, sadly with ER visit(s) as a consequence. I will be interested in what tactics a behaviorist might suggest, beyond "drop it". I hope she naturally loses her taste for them after this second trip to the vet.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Mfmst said:


> A behaviorist for sock eating? It sounds like pretty normal puppy mischief, sadly with ER visit(s) as a consequence. I will be interested in what tactics a behaviorist might suggest, beyond "drop it". I hope she naturally loses her taste for them after this second trip to the vet.


Thank you--me too. However, there's a high probability she will continue to have an appetite for socks (the vet visit and induced vomiting is not an immediate consequence so she's not linking the behavior). We've had a lot of puppies and not one has eaten socks. So, I'm at a loss and need all the help I can get.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

maybe the behaviorist can help switch her over from sock swallowing to toilet paper shredding. toilet paper shredding sounds so harmless (and much cheaper) compared to what you're going through with socks!


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## Elliii (Aug 12, 2015)

That sounds really bad. I hope she will grow out of it. Yoshi also steals socks, doesn't matter if they're clean or dirty. But fortunately just runs around with them and doesn't eat them. He had eaten one plastic bag but I knew that if that happened that if he doesn't poop it in the next two days we will have to go to the vet. Fortunately it went out naturally. The worst thing about teaching him not to do that is that he thinks it is a playtime, the chasing game.

But I'm glad that your girl is alright and happy.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

My little female Standard came to us at ten months old and had only lived in a kennel. We had only had her about a month when she ate panty hose and knee highs. It very nearly killed her. After the emergency surgery, the vet told us that she would always go for socks and that if we didn't want to lose her, we were going to have to keep her away from all socks. I don't know how we managed to do it with three kids and three adults in a household, but somehow we instituted "sock safety". The poodle lived to be fifteen yearls old and never got another sock. I don't think she could have been trained to leave them alone, but thank goodness, we were scared enough to learn "sock safety".


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

Charmed said:


> My little female Standard came to us at ten months old and had only lived in a kennel. We had only had her about a month when she ate panty hose and knee highs. It very nearly killed her. After the emergency surgery, the vet told us that she would always go for socks and that if we didn't want to lose her, we were going to have to keep her away from all socks. I don't know how we managed to do it with three kids and three adults in a household, but somehow we instituted "sock safety". The poodle lived to be fifteen yearls old and never got another sock. I don't think she could have been trained to leave them alone, but thank goodness, we were scared enough to learn "sock safety".


Friends of ours had the identical experience years ago with their Dobe pup. They were scared shi***** and managed to keep all hose safely stowed from then on. I have my fingers crossed for Maizie going forward, it's _so easy _for a sock to sneak off and hitch a ride on something (darn static cling!) and put itself in reach of a dog. REALLY glad Maizie again survived her mishcief pretty much unscathed. (Your poor nerves and wallet, *zooeysmom *!!)


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

patk said:


> maybe the behaviorist can help switch her over from sock swallowing to toilet paper shredding. toilet paper shredding sounds so harmless (and much cheaper) compared to what you're going through with socks!


Pat--unfortunately, she is a toilet paper eater as well!  I have successfully kept the TP out of her reach thus far...



Elliii said:


> The worst thing about teaching him not to do that is that he thinks it is a playtime, the chasing game.


Elliii, yes, chasing is not good when they're resource guarding! I tried to make it a game like what I had in my hand was waaay better than the sock, but she still swallowed the sock. 



Charmed said:


> "...The poodle lived to be fifteen yearls old and never got another sock. I don't think she could have been trained to leave them alone, but thank goodness, we were scared enough to learn "sock safety".


I think that's how it will have to be here. That's wonderful that you trained your family so well :adore:




Chagall's mom said:


> Friends of ours had the identical experience years ago with their Dobe pup. They were scared shi***** and managed to keep all hose safely stowed from then on. I have my fingers crossed for Maizie going forward, it's _so easy _for a sock to sneak off and hitch a ride on something (darn static cling!) and put itself in reach of a dog. REALLY glad Maizie again survived her mishcief pretty much unscathed. (Your poor nerves and wallet, *zooeysmom *!!)


Thank you for your kind words, Chagall's mom  I really appreciate everyone's support on this issue, as, like I said, I've never dealt with it before. I am committed to making sure it doesn't happen again.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Oh wow, that really sucks. Thank goodness the vet was able to get them out!
The only suggestion I can make is to make leave it or drop it commands a high priority.
Work on it every day, several times a day. Always have treats in your pocket so that you can practice it spontaneously idifferent times and different situations. Ultimately get it so well trained that you can practice with actual socks (maybe use big men's socks and stuff with something at first so it is too big to instantly swallow if she tries, then work your way up to smaller unstuffed socks as you become confident in her reliability).
Just practice, practice, practice! Eventually work up to having her stay completely away from a sock that you put on the floor, building up the duration that she will stay away until it so long that she would forget it is there, because you also need her to stay away from dropped socks that you don't even know about!
Hopefully as she matures she will lose her taste for non-edible things!


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## TrixieTreasure (May 24, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> Maizie ate another sock! We've all been so careful about laundry loads with socks this week, but this sock happened to fall out of a bed sheet I was folding :argh: I dropped a few of her favorite treats in front of her, but she swallowed the sock immediately. So off to the ER we went for another stomach pumping. The vet on call recommended getting a behaviorist, so we will be doing that!!!
> 
> Here's a pic of Maizie and me when we arrived home. She was really sleepy so I had to carry her to the car and into the house, but after a nap in her crate, she's already pretty much back to herself.



Man, she's literally eating you out of house and home ( money wise)! So sorry this happened again. Hopefully you can get this straightened out! It does sound like a behaviorist is a great idea!


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Oh, just to be clear, I might have tried to train them... but the credit goes to everyone in the house. We we all so scared we were going to lose that precious pup to a killer sock, that we policed each other!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Yikes, Maizie you are a naughty spoo girl. Stop eating socks. I am glad she is ok. I hate to say it, but Lily has an obsession with eating tissues, napkins and the like that is as strong at 7 years old as it was at 7 months old.

You might try setting her up for it to be unpleasant. Take one of the odd socks left over from her mischief and soak it with tabasco sauce. Drop it on the floor and let her take it. She may get a mouthful enough of bad taste to decide to stop.


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

lily cd re said:


> You might try setting her up for it to be unpleasant. Take one of the odd socks left over from her mischief and soak it with tabasco sauce. Drop it on the floor and let her take it. She may get a mouthful enough of bad taste to decide to stop.


 This was EXACTLY what I was thinking while reading through this thread. Our previous spoo girl was, unfortunately, a poop eater. We kept bottles of tabasco and Siracha sauce in the back yard and "seasoned" the poop for her. It took about a month I think, to get her to stop.

Good luck with your precious little Maizie. Such a scary situation!


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## Shellie (Jun 3, 2015)

Poor Maizie! Sorry to hear about your troubles, *zooeysmom*. I can't believe she would even be able to swallow socks like that! It seems like they would get stuck in her throat...


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Wow, you've been through the ringer with this. It sounds like much more extreme than regular puppy grabbing things if she's just gulping them down that fast and is so obsessed with them. I'm glad you're getting a behaviorist to help you. Gosh, I'm sorry you're having all this worry and expense! Let us know what the behaviorist says. Are you saying she resource guards it once she gets it? Yikes. Well, you'll get help with that. Let us know how things go.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Pb, maybe I'm mistaken, but I consider the swallowing resource guarding. She doesn't growl or anything.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Oh, I don't know...could be. I'd definitely beef up (with beef) the trading game and make it well worth her while to give up a huge variety of items before you practice with socks. Then be sure to hang on to the other end of the sock while you practice. I don't know how to avoid her getting into them other than extreme diligence, which is very hard, I know. Or a basket muzzle which I hate the idea of because it's just not nice. Well, see what the behaviorist says. 

You can also look up Shirley Chong's doggie zen. She has several lessons and it's a very good concept and really should become a way of life...a way of thinking when interacting with our dogs. I try to keep it in mind all the time. Of course, I don't succeed all of the time. But yeah...I love the whole way it teaches self control. Excellent reading.


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