Our boxer eats ANYTHING she can get her mouth on!

[Boxergirlgg]

Hi everyone:

My 7 month old female boxer, Gigi, eats everything! No really. She's honestly a four legged furry garbage disposial! This is very alarming to me, mainly because I'm concerned she is going to eat something that may hurt her!

I recently changed her diet, from Beneful Puppy Chow to Purina Dog Chow in hope that the Dog Chow would give her a more full feeling! No go, it seems to be even worse now! She's fed up to four 1 pint cups a day, we do more smaller meals a day to avoid her becoming bloated!

She generally eats diapers(mostly poo), cat poo, and anything the kids drop on the floor or that she can successfully snatch from them. She's also been known to consume items like her training clicker, treat bag, napkins, baby wipes, etc... She's passed everything she's eaten successfully, but I'm concerned that one day she may not!

I'm pretty sure that her diet is to blame for the strange eating habits, since the change in diet did change the eating just in a bad way! I have absolutely no problem spending more money on high quality dog food, but I don't really know where to start or what to buy!

Please if anyone has suggestions on a high quality dog food that may assist in the current issue, please reply!

Thanks in advance. Jennifer and Gigi

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[DawnStorm]

All I can suggest is learn to be proactive: put foodstuffs and other items where she can't reach them. I learned this the hard way: when she was a puppy, Flanders tore up two hard-back books, one of which I was still reading. Little creep. If Gigi is counter-surfing, maybe some of Victoria's sound-aversion techniques can help: I've heard that a can filled with pennies is very effective. Just put it in the area, and when it rolls off the counter, it'll clang and clink and sound just horrible. I've never tried it, that's just what I've heard. You can also try Bitter Apple on some non-food items, but I would be leery of putting anything like that on electronics for obvious reasons.
As far as the food goes, I feed my jokers NutroMax kibble and Verus canned (the latter is not available in the chain stores). Bruce and Flanders have always done well on the NutroMax and I don't have to feed them as much. Can't complain about clean-up either!

Good luck!

[Ocelot0411]

One other thing is DONT CHASE HER. I did this with my pup as like you, I was concerned about her eating things and harming herself (socks and stockings in her case). So I tried to be vigilent but every time she outsmarted me or I took my eye off the ball she would grab the sock and run, I would try to get it off her and she would eat it. All a big game in her eyes.

She will still take socks but if she does manage to get hold of one I don't react at all and certainly don't try to get it off her. When I don't chase her she soon gets the idea that its not going to result in a game so she drops it on the floor and finds mischief elsewhere

I also think that pups eating everything in sight is in some part, their way of exploring the world, so its certainly not that unusual. Just best to limit it as far as possible.

[Boxergirlgg]

We'll definitely give it a go!

[Mattie]

I try and do a swop for something that is even tastier, I keep them in the cupboard in the kitchen and if my dog get something they shouldn't, instead of trying to take it off him, I run into the kitchen saying in a high, excited voice, "Look what I have got". It never fails, all my dogs run out to me and I reward them with a high value treat. I can then shut them in and go and pick up what my dog had.

This also helps with the recall.