Any one with kids?
 

I'm at my wits end. I clean, and vacuum. A LOT- and chews is afraid of the vacuum, but I do it for her. My husband cleans. We pick up food the second it drops. We even noticed her chewing on the bags the second we put them down after grocery shopping and up those went, too.

In the past 6 months, chewie has gone into the vet or the er vet for things that my daughter leaves out. Pencils. Crayons. Plastic tag holders. METAL for gosh's sake. Dark chocolate macadamia nut cookies one time!!! 60 friggin dollars to a poison control. I always calm husband down while keeping my daughter from getting "upset" at him yelling at her.

Well, yesterday, she left an eraser on the #$#$$ ground, and this was AFTER I put her art pencils, charcoals, markers, paints, etc, in either pencil bags or bins. FOR her. I have it easy for her to pull out and put back into each space. Chewie tore it to shreds and ate some before I caught her. It took all of the 2 minutes I was doing daughter's hair not even 8 feet around the corner of the stairs. I, for once, couldn't pretend that everything was alright. I lost my temper, and said, Sorry is NOT good enough. You are 12 years old, and it isn't CHEWIE'S fault, it's YOURS. She's a puppy doing what puppies do. Her response? She's not a puppy any more! She'll be a year on Halloween.

It's a good thing she was going to school. She's going to hurt Chewie badly. I am to the point where I just want to toss every single thing she owns. Is there any one on here that has dealt with this?

I hate to sound like an old fogey, but if I did that at her age, I would have been corporal punished. I wasn't allowed to act like that. I'm on here because I've been told by other people, oh my dog eats stuff like that all the time. Um.. your dog isn't 4 pounds.

I've given up worrying about what Max inhales! They are the equivalent to a vacuum on their own. I sew all day and about the only thing he doesn't get is pins I drop, thank goodness! Don't put all the blame on your daughter..the dogs 1/2 of the problem. They just live to put things in their mouth. Yesterday I pulled out a cough drop, toilet paper cardboard, hooks we use to tag product, Romano cheese packets from Olive Garden...twice! A shipping label, product tags...and sooooo Much more. The best was a big chunk of the cats fur! He would have coughed up a hairball if I hadn't grabbed it. Unless you put them in a bubble they will find stuff to chew on. Max looks guilty and runs away, that's how I know he has something...I get a squeaky toy and he gives it up for his toy.

double posting

Oh, I know when Chewie is up to no good, too. She's my shadow. When she's NOT my shadow, she's into something. Pure and simple. I understand the toilet paper, orange peels, and anything she snatches from the trash. It's the pencils, elastic, yarn, metal, plastic, chocolate, straw wrappers, otterpop wrappers, and anything daughter leaves on the ground. Yes. Ground. Her room. Which I clean twice a day and it's still not good enough.

I see what you're saying, but it's always something dangerous. It's what upsets me

hmm - 2 young kids here - very chaotic house- and my dogs have all chewed on things, legos are a favorite, followed by erasers and other soft rubbery things ...
My dogs have eaten all kinds of things too and ... they are quite alive and well ...

I am not saying that it s not important being careful .... but over the last few decades with quite a few small dogs I realized that most things are not immediately deadly to dogs ... my oldest pooch is 13 years old and has been chewing on every kids toy imaginable, erasers, gotten into the trash, halloween candy, grocery bags, has killed and eaten wild birds and mice- and nibbled on rotting stuff ( yuck!) his entire life ... he was a rescue and he counter surfs when nobody is looking - he is healthy as a horse - still running to the fence and jumping up chairs ...
I have given up on running to the vet every time they chew on " stuff". I have found all sorts of interesting things in poo ... crayons were a favorite here for a while ... to all those concerned ... not toxic and they pass right through ;-)

I think your chewy will be fine - chewing is sort of normal behavior ... my dogs love nylabones ( lego replacement) and rope toys and I give them fleece blankets to destroy in their special area and of course other toys they can take apart ... but NOTHING will be ever as coveted as a dropped eraser - sigh! ( they are also non toxic and pass right through even if ingested - same for the pencil graphite and wood ...)

This is exactly why i posted, and It's good information. I don't have any friends with tiny dogs, so this is all very new. I grew up with dogs that ate everything in sight. It was par for the course, but I know that these little guys can get stopped up very fast. So when a person with a boxer tells me that their dog ate a stuffed bear, it's hard for them to understand.

The pencil actually WAS a big deal. My vet was NOT as laid back about that one, and chewie had to have a special medication to have that pass her intestines.

It's nice to know that they all do it. I know that many of them do it, but I like being reassured and it helps me not feel quite so much like I'm failing in that department. I know, though, from all of the wonderful information on here that pencils, hair, and plastic are a no no for them. Sadly, they can get obstructed quite easily with those things.

The eraser makes me laugh a little, though, so thank you for taking the time to answer.

well - I have two vets ... a countryside vet and a " town' vet ... the fancy " town vet" would offer me all sorts of treatment for eating stuff ...
My countryside vet ( who also owns a yorkie ) has the " let's wait and see " approach ... He is super laid back ... He always tells me to watch the dog ... if dog is acting normal, eating and pooping - keep a close eye on him - otherwise bring him in ...
Funny thing is that the same dog that eats all sorts of inappropriate things without an issue ... gets the worst stomach upset from some type of treats ... he will also get really sick from eating too much snow ( which he seems to love)- nobody knows why ...

Shaking my head about my crazy dogs ! They are like kids ...

My son ingested a marble once - my daughter ate candies with wrappers and rocks ... and the things kids can put into their ears and noses ... having dogs is like having toddlers that never grow up

You might need to put the pup in a play pen when you cant watch her for her safety. At 12 there is no reason your daughter cant pick up after herself. Have you tried a reward system like allowance for doing certain chores? You could also take the stuff she leaves out and make her do chores to get them back.

A play pen sounds like a good idea!

I don't have kids, so I cannot possibly relate to the children side of things, but have you by any chance tried to train Chewy the "leave it" command? It actually comes quite handy! :)

Because max snuck downstairs all the time to get into no good we put up a gate with a door. Maybe that in your daughters room would work. Will keep out the dog but she can come and go without having to shut the door all the time. In a few years she'll want the door shut 😀

Exactly! The town vet wants to X-ray, treat for everything under the sun but our country vet who also owned a yorkie said don't worry, most things will pass...and you'll know when it isn't going to pass. The town vet wants to test my moms dogs all the time if they throw up. I told her once isn't a problem, just a upset tummy. But she ends up spending hundreds to be told feed them a bland diet for a day! I wouldn't even want to know all the stuff Max has eaten lately. Besides the dead bunny in his mouth, twice! Yuck and he didn't even get sick

I think this is a great idea also a baby gat across her bedroom door plus an Iris pen from Amazon is Very reasonable compared to a vet visit.
Daughter needs to learn responsibility and this sounds reasonable to me, but then I am not a12 year old.:p

I'm thinking if a dog had to pass a Lego it would be the last one they ate! Ouch!
Max ate the plastic adjuster from my winter coat today. I'm hoping I don't have to adjust the waist strap ever again. And it's October and he found a piece of Easter candy...Easter! He must think I won't share since I'm always pulling out of his mouth everything he finds...all the good stuff you know! And he didn't get to eat the cat fur he found tonight either!

ROFL:lol tears
Love it you are toooo funny but so true lol.

I have 4 kids. We haven't had any issues with our dog eating anything that wasn't food. Cat ate some cord and thread a couple weeks ago and had a long surgery and removed half his intestine though. It's hard to keep everything up. When our dogs were puppies, they just chewed things, not eating things. Well my collie ate an entire bowl of Kisses, she was a puppy but was fine. Maybe look into training the dog not to chew on things that aren't toys. I don't know how to do it. We did use trainers with our dogs and it did help with lots of behaviors.

OH!!! WOW! I had NO idea there were more responses! I'm looking back through them to read. P.S. I skimmed and any one that said they were being harsh- No. I agree and am ANGRY. This morning I picked up five cherry stems and couldn't stop chewie from grabbing one. I wasn't fast enough. I had to take several deep breaths and calmly tell my daughter- and yes, I was very angry, that cherries. are. not. good. for. them. ONly reason why I calmed down was because I know it's the pit. She IS being trained. She's just so darn fast! Hubby dropped her benadryl on the ground- the half tablet we were getting ready to cut again, and she had it in her mouth, but spit it out when I asked her to. She is trying. It helped it was gross.

I"ll come back and read more. thanks ahead for all the advice!!!

I once had two puppies when my daughters were 10 & 12. This did not happen at our house. They were taught how dangerous people things could be for the pups. So IF they were messy with their stuff I threw it away. No telling them to pick up over and over again. I swear it only took once.
They knew their Mom & Dad meant business.
Now at ages 37 & 39 they have very clean houses.
Mom just DO IT!

Maybe change Chewie's name? ;)

I would try setting her up, with tidbits sprayed (soaked) with bitter apple, or if she likes bitter apple, maybe try 1 drop of tabasco. Not more than one drop, even then I know that is harsh, but eating things can kill her.
I do know a very small dog who died after ingesting very little chocolate, and a huge dog that died after eating a second dishrag. And another small dog who lost half his intestine to eating a piece of round plastic (from a milk jug).

Start to leave pieces on the ground, and drop the doctored things on purpose without saying anything, don't look at her, don't make any point to it, don't acknowledge.
A cherry stem, or eraser would be perfect. Something that will really soak up bitter apple would be good, and keep doing it. Percentage wise if more of the things she grabs taste bad than good, she may learn something?

Honestly it doesn't sound to me like she is "trying" the benedryl just tasted bad. Dogs don't "try" to be good unless they understand the concept ;)

As far as your DD goes, I would put up a baby gate, and she can leaves things laying anywhere she wants "in that room only". BTDT :)
When setting up the gate, try to (without shame) explain to why it is going up, and try to help her to understand how horrible she would feel if Chewie became very ill, or died after ingesting one of DD's things. I would hate for my child to learn that the hard way - much less how horrible it would be to lose a dog that way.

Looks like you are getting good advice, I hope something clicks. Good luck

They can grab things fast. Once, when I was 12, I dropped a pencil on the floor while doing my homework and the yorkie i had at the time, who was just a puppy himself, zoomed right up, grabbed it, and zoomed away. I chased him back and forth until I finally slipped and ended up fracturing my foot. right after that he finally dropped the pencil lol.

The two I have now will eat any and everything. Once I pulled a tooth pick from both of their mouths (they each had half) after a guest missed the garbage pail when throwing it out. Talk about scary. Another time one of them ate part of a mini rubber duck that had been my last yorkie's and that I passed on to him.

Shicks, excellent parenting!! :thumbup: Will turn to you for advice when I have kids :D

I second this, and agree that training is absolutely necessary, because really we cannot afford to lose our babies because we (the humans) 1. left things for them to ingest, 2. didn't teach them properly that they cannot chew everything. I'm not trying to be harsh, but just wanting to reinforce the importance of the training, which you mentioned that you're working on. Because the consequence of them dying due to our negligence...is just not an option (imho)! :)

Let's assume for a second... your daughter never learns to pick up after herself, then the next option is to fool-proof your dog. I don't have kids, but I think dogs are easier to train :p Understanding each pup is different with varying degrees of challenges, I'd like to offer what I've tried which had good results...

Clicker + treats!

1. "Leave it"
Use either her kibble or treats. Put it in your hand in front of her. Without saying anything, if she turns her face away from the kibble/treat and looks at you, click + treat (you can give her the treat in your hand, or give her an even yummier treat from the other hand). If she goes towards your hand, close it and look away from her. Do this several times in silence. Once she seems to know that she needs to look at you to 'ask for permission' rather than impulsively charging towards your hand for food, add in the "Leave It" command. Do this several times.

Next, repeat the above with the treat/kibble on the floor with your hand over it. If she charges towards it, cover it quickly with your hand and look away. If she looks at you for permission and sits like a good girl, click + treat! Again, first do this in silence. Then, add in the "Leave It" command once she 'gets it'.

Next, repeat the above steps with the treat/kibble on the floor without your hand over it - granted she's good with 'leaving it'.

Next, leave the treat/kibble on the floor and stand up, using the "Leave It" command. If you're standing, there might be a tendency for her to try to get it. So, have your foot handy to cover the treat/kibble.

Next, leave the treat/kibble on the floor, use "Leave It" command, and actually walk away. For this, I usually give both the "Stay" and "Leave It" commands.

Obviously do these steps over a few days, maybe a couple weeks, depending on how quickly she picks up on it (no pun intended :p). But most importantly, don't increase the challenge until you feel like she's ready. If she fails even once. Go back one step. Key is to prevent failures and have only victories.

2. Practicing "Leave it" with other things.
Put your non edible stuff all over the floor. Put her toys that are hers on the floor. On a longer leash (make sure it's loose so she doesn't know she's attached to you) and let her sniff around. If she goes towards her stuff, click + treat. If she goes towards your stuff, give a firm "leave it" and be prepared to stop her with the leash before she gets close enough to touch it. Repeat this until she only goes to her own belongings. Once she's good at it, take off the loose leash and practice more.

To increase the ante, put your edible stuff on the floor. And repeat. Make sure you have a party each time she successfully "leaves it", regardless with what it is you're using. You can give more "good girls" and more treats with each increased challenging step.

Sorry for the lengthy post and maybe you've already tried this. But I just want to say that I had great success with this. I can actually have both of my furbabies on the couch with my plate of food on the couch and they won't go near it. Don't get me wrong, they want to. But they know they're not supposed to.

Good luck!! ;)

No, please, no sorries. I saw this update and had to come on and say THANK YOU!!! My amazing trainer could NOT train since July- her facility kept getting pushed back and pushed back on opening. She does one on ones. That's fine, but not in place of her usual training,. I will try this right away. Chewie is awfully smart, and I'm not saying that as a doting owner. :)

:) Excited for you to get started on your own! My theory has always been... dog trainers train dog owners to train their dogs. :D You can totally do it without your trainer!! :thumbup:

My daughter is 13 and actually has gotten to a point that Emma is not welcome in her space if Emma is going to poo, eat or tear up her things. Also I agree that your daughter is at an age where she can accept more responsbility for her actions. Her response to you was a bit smart a$$ but not uncommon for teenage girls who like to press buttons. You can nip that in the bud too, with whatever discipline you see fit for your household.

I agree that sometimes we as small dog parents often worry about the things our pups eat but sometimes we can just follow the wait and see approach. Hang in there, I'm sure it'll get better with some reinforcement and watching Ms. Chewie carefully which I already see you're doing.

Great training Canana!! Now that I read it. We did do a leave it command with clickers. It has been too long & I just don't remember those little things. I guess I take them for granted now!!! :)