German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[abbyw]

Hi! My 8 month old GWP keeps eating sticks out in the yard! We can't seem to stop her! I can see them come out when she goes to the bathroom in her stool, and the other morning she threw up and it was all sticks! I try to pick them up in the yard so she can't get them, but she always seems to find more. Why is she eating these??

[cheerio]

Buy her a couple of these compressed rawhide stick that you find in Petsmart for about $12, the very long skinny ones. She will soon leave the wooden sticks alone...

[Baron]

That may or may not work. I have one pup that had all the toys, rawhide chews, and bones any dog could want. However, when he was outside, sticks were what he wanted to chew and eat. He finally out grew that obsession, but I had to watch him all the time until he did. Good luck!

[ENL]

I read about calf hooves on a different forum and sure enough...they're cheap and offer the dog a job because, as far as I can tell, they are almost indestructible.

I still let my dog have a little bark that falls off the wood, here and there, though, because I don't think it hurts.

ENL

[admin]

Boy do I understand this problem.. only with my girl, it's bamboo! She LOVES to eat the young bamboo shoots coming up outta the ground.. only problem is, they are razor sharp and tear up her stomach... resulting in bloody stools and vomit.. ACK!

I have to keep a close eye on her and also keep the bamboo trimmed.. catching the new ones as they come up. Rawhides, hoovies, throw toys, nothing else has discouraged her. You'd think that getting sick after she ate it would stop her.. but not a wire!! LOL!

[Baron]

She probably doesn't connect getting sick with eating the bamboo. Have you talked to a vet about how dangerous eating bamboo could be? If she is at risk for serious problems, I would suggest using an e-collar to correct the behavior.

[admin]

If I could catch her at it, I would love to stop her... but she manages to do it when I'm not looking (I've hollared at her before for doing it) I know it's bamboo from the stools and the vomit...

But if I do catch her.. it's e-collar time!

[dualgwp]

Sticks and stones may break my bones... oh, that's not what this is about.....

A couple of "watch outs" for stick eaters. Sticks can lodge across the roof of the mouth and get stuck! If you happen to notice your dog pawing at it's mouth, check it out. You can remove the stick normally by just grabbing it with your fingers and giving a gentle tug, or get a pair of tweezers. The stick can leave some nasty sores......and may need antibiotics.
If your dog is a stick eater, you may also catch the above by the rotten smell of his breath.....

One other thing to be aware of, little pieces of splinters can get into the flesh in the mouth and then migrate and cause some real problems. We had a bitch that chewed wood, unfortunately not sticks, hut a wooden dog house. One day I noticed a rather large swelling on the side of her head, and after numerous vet trips, and surgerys they found a small splinter that had gotten into the side of her mouth and abscesed. Nasty business! So beware of that one also.

[Browndog]

I have the same problem with my 2 GWP's. They get plenty of exercise, etc but they just love munching on tan bark in the back yard. It doesn't seem to be affecting them in an adverse way but I wonder is there something lacking in their diet, or is this just a behavioural problem? Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Browndog?

[FLITTERBUG]

Some dogs will chew sticks, eat dirt out of anxiety. If a dog is left alone all day long, never allowed out but to train, they are just like humans, they begin to experience anxiety (mental). Does your dog get lots of exercise? Allowed to run and romp, just have fun? Dogs that stay kennelled all day long seem to have more of this anxiety than those that do get out for FUN.....