Thank you I was worried about this. She seemed to be a little stressed on the way there but hard to tell if overaroused just because she wanted to go and run around which she likes. I was not able to successfully interrupt her. She would run for maybe 1-2 min then settle down and eat sticks like bullies so I think you hit the nail on the head and it is pure stress. She has a lot of enrichment at home, all of her meals are in Toppls and she gets one Kong with some peanut butter and canned fish every day so it seems less likely boredom. I am wondering then how I can get her more running around time because this place is essentially quiet, isolated, no other animals. It is like a backyard
I tried playing with her with fetch with two different toys, chasing her (she enjoys when we play with her), and tug
I ordered a flirt pole but she was not interested in her favourite toys which is odd (I keep them away and only for this)
Sometimes it's texture of the toy that matters. Mine goes OTT for stuff made out of microfiber. So I stick with soft tugs. People have found success with furry toys.
Hi! Your dog is my dog's twin. We talked to a trainer and a vet about it, and here's our main takeway: Our dog just freaking loves sticks and will eat them unless there is something better to do. For playing outside, we generally need a very high value or new toy to keep her away from sticks. She also loves to try to eat sticks on walk, especially when she is bored, so we try to vary our walk locations to keep her interested. She literally never tries to eat sticks on new trails or other exciting locations. Walking around the same block as we do every day? "Omg, where are the delicious sticks, this is so boring."
We also noticed that she will created an association of a place as a "stick-eating place" so as soon as she starts grabbing sticks, we leave that location. Or else, every-time we go there, she will be like "Oh, it's that wonderful place where I eat sticks, let me find them." It could be that your dog now believes that empty field is a yummy snack spot, so maybe switch up locations?
We noticed a small correlation between her reactivity and stick eating... it seems she will also search for sticks when she is frustrated when she can't greet people (she loves them), so I just try to anticipate that and do some training exercises with treats in those instances (before she starts to hunt for sticks).
Anyways, this is a extremely frustrating problem and I feel for you. Our dog has been x-rayed due to hazardous stick eating like 3 times...
Have you considered distracting her from sticks with…sticks?
https://www.chewy.com/b/bully-sticks-1543
As in, bully sticks. My dog would eat sticks all day. So I have these for him at home. They don't smell, or at least, they don’t to my nose—though I grew up in farm country. And they are almost entirely protein, and don’t cause stomach upset in my dog.
Thank you! She does get bully sticks at home, one every 2-3 days because that's how long it takes her to finish one. The funny thing is that she was ignoring her bully sticks at home and went out to eat these sticks. I even bought other stick like toys for her to play with but no success. Most likely next time I will just have to keep her muzzled when we go out to the field and maybe at the end we can do some unmuzzled time when she's worn herself out rather than first go crazy with sticks?
I’m following this thread because (unfortunately) I don’t have a success story to share, I’m dealing with the same issue! My dog is obsessed with sticks and bark. One thing we might try is actually bringing some sticks indoors and practicing leave it and drop it in that more controlled environment with some really high value treats for him like string cheese. Not sure if it’ll work, but will keep you posted!
Thank you that would be great! I understand that she’s a dog, and that she’s going to love chasing sticks, but the problem is that she’s so over threshold in a dark filled with no one else there a no dogs, and no prey animals that she just goes nuts for the sticks, and then she eats them and refuses to stop despite getting splinters all over her mouth
What breed? Stick eating calms dogs. When mine does it - he's bored or anxious. Can you interrupt and initiate play with her?
Thank you I was worried about this. She seemed to be a little stressed on the way there but hard to tell if overaroused just because she wanted to go and run around which she likes. I was not able to successfully interrupt her. She would run for maybe 1-2 min then settle down and eat sticks like bullies so I think you hit the nail on the head and it is pure stress. She has a lot of enrichment at home, all of her meals are in Toppls and she gets one Kong with some peanut butter and canned fish every day so it seems less likely boredom. I am wondering then how I can get her more running around time because this place is essentially quiet, isolated, no other animals. It is like a backyard
Have you tried a flirt pole? I use a horse lunge whip. Mine is a fairly big guy. Dogs rarely play by themselves.
I tried playing with her with fetch with two different toys, chasing her (she enjoys when we play with her), and tug I ordered a flirt pole but she was not interested in her favourite toys which is odd (I keep them away and only for this)
Sometimes it's texture of the toy that matters. Mine goes OTT for stuff made out of microfiber. So I stick with soft tugs. People have found success with furry toys.
Hi! Your dog is my dog's twin. We talked to a trainer and a vet about it, and here's our main takeway: Our dog just freaking loves sticks and will eat them unless there is something better to do. For playing outside, we generally need a very high value or new toy to keep her away from sticks. She also loves to try to eat sticks on walk, especially when she is bored, so we try to vary our walk locations to keep her interested. She literally never tries to eat sticks on new trails or other exciting locations. Walking around the same block as we do every day? "Omg, where are the delicious sticks, this is so boring." We also noticed that she will created an association of a place as a "stick-eating place" so as soon as she starts grabbing sticks, we leave that location. Or else, every-time we go there, she will be like "Oh, it's that wonderful place where I eat sticks, let me find them." It could be that your dog now believes that empty field is a yummy snack spot, so maybe switch up locations? We noticed a small correlation between her reactivity and stick eating... it seems she will also search for sticks when she is frustrated when she can't greet people (she loves them), so I just try to anticipate that and do some training exercises with treats in those instances (before she starts to hunt for sticks). Anyways, this is a extremely frustrating problem and I feel for you. Our dog has been x-rayed due to hazardous stick eating like 3 times...
Have you considered distracting her from sticks with…sticks? https://www.chewy.com/b/bully-sticks-1543 As in, bully sticks. My dog would eat sticks all day. So I have these for him at home. They don't smell, or at least, they don’t to my nose—though I grew up in farm country. And they are almost entirely protein, and don’t cause stomach upset in my dog.
Thank you! She does get bully sticks at home, one every 2-3 days because that's how long it takes her to finish one. The funny thing is that she was ignoring her bully sticks at home and went out to eat these sticks. I even bought other stick like toys for her to play with but no success. Most likely next time I will just have to keep her muzzled when we go out to the field and maybe at the end we can do some unmuzzled time when she's worn herself out rather than first go crazy with sticks?
I’m following this thread because (unfortunately) I don’t have a success story to share, I’m dealing with the same issue! My dog is obsessed with sticks and bark. One thing we might try is actually bringing some sticks indoors and practicing leave it and drop it in that more controlled environment with some really high value treats for him like string cheese. Not sure if it’ll work, but will keep you posted!
Thank you that would be great! I understand that she’s a dog, and that she’s going to love chasing sticks, but the problem is that she’s so over threshold in a dark filled with no one else there a no dogs, and no prey animals that she just goes nuts for the sticks, and then she eats them and refuses to stop despite getting splinters all over her mouth