# 9-week old puppy eating rocks



## sargesc

Hi!

We have a 9-week old puppy who likes to eat rocks. Every time we take him out for a walk, he somehow manages to eat some rocks. The last couple of poops had lots of rocks in them. 

He also eats grass and pine cones when he gets to them. I was not too worried about them as much as the rocks.

Any advice on how to stop this from continuing?

Thanks a bunch.


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## MaggieRoseLee

This is a huge problem and you are right to address it. They can break their teeth ($$$). They can get the rocks stuck in their digestive tract ($$$ and can be fatal). 

You need to always watch when your dog is outdoors. If left unattended in the fenced yard, my dogs destroy/eat wood which can cause issues, meaning my dogs are NOT left unattended in the yard. EVER. If they are out, then so am I to monitor for their health.

This is what you need to do also. When your dog is in the yard or on a walk. Merely walking alot faster will help. Plus you can start up with all the fun training that we need to do and learn about http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...0-intro-clicker-training-perfect-puppies.html then more particularly


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## sargesc

Today was a much better walk. I tried to treat him most of the 2 mile walk especially when he was walking by my side without tugging not the leash and looking at me. The only negative to that method was that whenever I bent down to treat him he was lunging at my hand. Once he scratched (bit) my thumb hard enough to make it bleed. Otherwise, he was a model puppy walking on the leash without eating anything from the ground. Till we had to go potty in the backyard. Then his pine-cone eating started again. But no rocks today!!!

On a completely different note, his ears are up today!


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## Laney

When my boy was 9 weeks old he ate EVERYTHING he could get his mouth on. It was terrible...and exhausting. He didn't stop until he was around 12-13 weeks. The very first command I taught him was "leave it" since I realized how important it would be for him. He learned quick, but I had to be there to tell him to leave it otherwise he would still eat things. supervision is really important. Training and age will help break him of that habit. I highly suggest training leave it as soon as possible though. 
I'll share a story real quick to emphasize the importance of this. When Rivers was about 11 or 12 weeks old my SO and I were playing with him at the park. He seemed a little lethargic and I started to worry. My SO thought I was overreacting, but I could just tell something was off. Even I thought I was probably over-reacting but I wasn't about to take a chance with my little guy. So we drove him over to the vet. By the time we got there he was barely moving and his eye had swollen quite a bit. The vet examined him and thought something was stuck in his throat since Rivers yelped everytime the vet went hear his face or back of his mouth. They had to partially sedate him to even look in his mouth. They came backs and said he has a stick stuck in the roof of his mouth! It turns out he was chewing on a stick (unwitnessed by us) and it splintered and got stuck in the roof of his mouth. It went all the way up through his nasal cavity and was touching the bottom of his eye (hence the swelling). They had to sedate him all the way and go into emergency surgery to remove it cause they didn't know how far into his eye it went and they we're worried about infection. They also had to drill a bigger hole in his mouth to make sure te rest o the tiny splinters would drain out. Then he was on antibiotics and strong pain meds for weeks. Over $600 dollar later (pre-pet insurance) my boy recovered but it was REALLY scary. And expensive. 
Be carefull!!


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## lzver

Laney said:


> When my boy was 9 weeks old he ate EVERYTHING he could get his mouth on. It was terrible...and exhausting. He didn't stop until he was around 12-13 weeks. The very first command I taught him was "leave it" since I realized how important it would be for him. He learned quick, but I had to be there to tell him to leave it otherwise he would still eat things. supervision is really important. Training and age will help break him of that habit. I highly suggest training leave it as soon as possible though.
> I'll share a story real quick to emphasize the importance of this. When Rivers was about 11 or 12 weeks old my SO and I were playing with him at the park. He seemed a little lethargic and I started to worry. My SO thought I was overreacting, but I could just tell something was off. Even I thought I was probably over-reacting but I wasn't about to take a chance with my little guy. So we drove him over to the vet. By the time we got there he was barely moving and his eye had swollen quite a bit. The vet examined him and thought something was stuck in his throat since Rivers yelped everytime the vet went hear his face or back of his mouth. They had to partially sedate him to even look in his mouth. They came backs and said he has a stick stuck in the roof of his mouth! It turns out he was chewing on a stick (unwitnessed by us) and it splintered and got stuck in the roof of his mouth. It went all the way up through his nasal cavity and was touching the bottom of his eye (hence the swelling). They had to sedate him all the way and go into emergency surgery to remove it cause they didn't know how far into his eye it went and they we're worried about infection. They also had to drill a bigger hole in his mouth to make sure te rest o the tiny splinters would drain out. Then he was on antibiotics and strong pain meds for weeks. Over $600 dollar later (pre-pet insurance) my boy recovered but it was REALLY scary. And expensive.
> Be carefull!!


Our pup is 15 weeks old and he is still picking up everything he can get his mouth on. We have started working on the leave it and drop it commands. Leave it works well with a treat, but its still a challenge outside. 

I agree that it is exhausting at this stage


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## Natural Beauty Farm

on a different note: Watch those 2 mile walks... too much fast exercise before a year old can lead to bad hips


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## sargesc

Our walks are not that fast, just long. How do I give him exercise otherwise? I use the walks as training sessions for sitting and walking by my side. Should I not do that? I don't want to hurt the little fella.


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## Maika

I have the same problem with mu 6 week old pup, we have gravel around the BBQ area and she loves to try and chew the stones which I am worried will get stuck in her throat. She to is now learning the command "Leave It"


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## paulag1955

Two miles all at once just seems like a long way for a little guy. Could you break it up into a couple of shorter walks? Thor is almost 9 weeks old and he is big and active and I can't even imagine him being able to go that far.


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## doggiedad

if your pup is leashed and you're watching him how can he
eat things that's bad for him?


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## Maika

doggiedad said:


> if your pup is leashed and you're watching him how can he
> eat things that's bad for him?


With all due respect I don't leash my GSD or any of my others, they are as free as the wind within a 5000 m2 fenced garden obviously.


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## Sunflowers

Maika said:


> With all due respect I don't leash my GSD or any of my others, they are as free as the wind within a 5000 m2 fenced garden obviously.


 Free as the wind is great, if your dog is not doing things that could cause him to die of a blockage.


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## sargesc

doggiedad said:


> if your pup is leashed and you're watching him how can he
> eat things that's bad for him?


He is definitely leashed. But for some reason when he sees rocks on the road or sidewalk, he cannot seem to leave them be. I am constantly keeping my eyes out for potential rocks that he might be interested in and trying to keep him away from them.


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## Maika

Sunflowers said:


> Free as the wind is great, if your dog is not doing things that could cause him to die of a blockage.


That's why I watch mine as much as possible and when she goes out in fenced land then she is free to run as much as she likes but then I have a lot of grass and only a small amount of gravel but I have trained her to leave that alone. Only hope she was listening.


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## Sunflowers

The only way I have found is to have treats with me at all times and trade him for the rock/dirt/plant part/stick, etc. I say"Leave it," put my closed hand with treat inside close to his nose, and when he drops whatever it is, I immediately say "Good leave it!" and treat him.


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## Dakotasmom23

Smart of you to be worried! I would keep the puppy on a leash, work on the command "leave it" and/or "drop it" and trade the rock in the mouth for a treat. I just want to add that my puppy had to have surgery for an obstruction when she was only 4.5 months old. What did the vet find? Rocks! She's now almost 7 months old and I'm happy to tell you that her rock obsession ended about a month or so ago.


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## katdog5911

My Stella used to love to eat rocks. I had to constantly watch her. She was quick to scoop them up even when leashed. She learned leave it and also NO ROCKS command. It was kind of funny after she understood it....she would scoop one up and I would say NO ROCKS and she would spit it out.:laugh: That phase finally ended. Now she seems to prefer cow poop.....


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## bocron

What food are you feeding? Usually when we've had clients with this issue a food change has helped.


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## doggiedad

to teach "leave it" i use to lay treats on the ground. i would walk my
dog to the treat. when he went for it i mmediately turned him away
from the treat while saying "leave it". i use to place treats on the floor 
indoors and do the same thing. outside i use to place treats along our 
path and repeated the "leave it" exercise. i also taught my dog "drop it".



Sunflowers said:


> The only way I have found is to have treats with me at all times and trade him for the rock/dirt/plant part/stick, etc. I say"Leave it," put my closed hand with treat inside close to his nose, and when he drops whatever it is, I immediately say "Good leave it!" and treat him.


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## sargesc

bocron said:


> What food are you feeding? Usually when we've had clients with this issue a food change has helped.


Kirkland Signature Puppy Food. 1.5 cups, 2 times a day.


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## bocron

sargesc said:


> Kirkland Signature Puppy Food. 1.5 cups, 2 times a day.


An okay food, but not one I would pick for my top 5. Also, it's a Diamond product and I quit trusting them after their huge issues years ago, this current recall has re-affirmed by decision to avoid all Diamond products.

We haven't bought puppy food in some time, but the popular ones among our clients are Acana, Orejen, Fromm, Blue Buffalo and Instinct. Also, depending on the food you don't have to look for a "puppy" specific food.


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## Smithie86

Blue is good. Origen and Acana are way too high in protein for a small puppy.


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## childsplay

We started feeding Fromm and the desire to eat rocks seems to have decreased. I don't really know if it is because of the food switch or just maturity.


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