What would you do?

[Atemas]

I am assuming Red is still adolescent at 18 months so hopefully this is the right place to post this.

She is doing great apart from a few foibles .

Since the start of the lovely weather here in the UK we have been leaving our doors open to the garden. The dogs have free access. Generally I am around but not always. DH is mostly here but ensconced in his office during the day. Red has taken to going in the shrub borders and bringing out lumps of soil and depositing them on the grass. She will then lie and nibble away at them - goodness knows how much she is eating. To start with, I was getting her to swap them for treats but she got wise to this and started running off with them if I approached. She just knows I don’t like it. DH says to just ignore her. I have been doing this this week. When she is occupied otherwise, I go and pick up all the lumps or remains of and chuck them back in the shrubs. She is not being destructive or damaging the garden at all. I feel this has quickly become a habit.

When I feel myself getting irritated by it, I get a handful of small treats - just kibble - and shout ‘scatter’. Both dogs are loving this......but I can’t do this every time. Obviously when the weather changes, her access to the garden will change.

What would you do?

 

[HAH]

No solutions here, but commiserations - Kipper does similar with bits and pieces he finds round the garden (lumps of soil, wood chips from a tree stump we're slowly axing out, manure that hasn't been fenced off ) and occasionally when bored will just start pulling up grass by the roots - not eating it but just leaving it in little piles marking his trail of destruction...

I'm generally only letting him out with me, and playing scatter with 2 or 3 kibble at a time, which he LOVES and will sit quietly waiting for some time before I throw anything - I find if I throw it high the spread is wider and less predictable, so he takes longer to find it and has to snuffle it out I'm hoping he'll grow out of grazing soil etc. eventually? Soil seems fairly innocuous, but I suppose blockages are a concern...

 

[Jen]

I’d be tempted to just leave her.

You’ve said she’s not damaging the garden and you haven’t mentioned her getting an upset tummy so I’d just let her be

 

[MaccieD]

I would take the ignore option and probably not even through the clumps of earth back on the garden and see how it goes.
If the behaviour continues it may be worth looking at diet as sometimes new behaviours can be triggered by an imbalance in the diet or just that the food doesn't suit quite as well as it did.

 

[Oberon]

I’d ignore it and let her carry on doing it (as long as she’s not actually swallowing it). If she is swallowing it I’d shut the back door.

Optional: To find out if she’s actually swallowing/eating the dirt you could do what people do with horses (for whom eating dirt can be a problem....if the grass is very low or they’re fed on a dirt/sand surface). Collect some poo (this is waaay more pleasant for horse poo, haha!!!!) and put it in a jar with water to cover it well. Let it dissolve. Shake then let it resettle. Try not to throw up your breakfast. Any dirt should collect at the bottom.

Do you think she’s doing it out of a need for a bit of extra entertainment? If you thought so, is there as opportunity to throw in an extra, fun training session before peak dirt gnawing times?

 

[Atemas]

Thank you for replies.

I am sure she is eating some (think though I will pass on the poo test @Oberon ) but no tummy upsets to date. It’s not boredom as her day is broken up into a variety of things if I am home. If I am not here, DH always gives her her kongs at certain times of the day, fusses/plays with her when he has a coffee break and he does the main walks anyway.

I have recently transitioned her onto adult food from puppy food so I’m pretty sure it’s not a nutritional deficit.

I am going to carry on trying to ignore and hope this will naturally diminish when the weather inevitably changes and we can’t leave all the outside doors open.

 

[Selina27]

I'm in the ignore camp, so long as she's not causing ant damage. Most things pass. (So to speak)!.

 

[Boogie]

Keir does a similar thing with brambles - yes he chews them and swallows some! I just ignore it - he’s doing it less as time goes on.

 

[HAH]

Kipper's had a range of things that he's slowly grown out of chewing in the garden, like rose stems (phew). Still keen on brambles; definitely diminishing though. The hazel hurdles we bought a few months ago are taking a constant battering, but plenty of opportunities for practising 'leave'!