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How to stop puppy picking up (and eating/swallowing) everything on walks and resource guarding?

deka

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Puppy has a habit of since I got her picking up and swallowing everything on the floor especially stones/pebbles originally if I was quick enough I would use a treat and then chuck the stone away.

Now shes older and I take her on a lot of walks especially through wooded areas and places where people fly tip she picks up everything I have seen her eat things from old food, and the times I walk her in a town centre she tries eating the old dried chewing gum off the ground.

I know distraction is the key but thats easier said than done and she grabs and swallows things so fast she has swallowed them before I have had a chance to react or give her something like a treat, last week she ate a swiss roll someone had dropped on ground on the street, and she can eat things like take away leftovers like rolls, chips even if I try and walk her away from them.

And she knows I don't like it so she hides her face from me.

When I took her out for her evening poop and wee I noticed her mouth a little open just before we got in and she was trying to hide her face from me and didn't want to carry her lead upstairs, then when she got indoors she hid in corner and when I walked near her she ran into other corner until I picked up her lead, I tried a handful of treats, I tried higher value treats atnd then I had to do the very risky thing of putting my hand to her mouth (I knew it was a no no and a bad idea, I managed to get the item and she bit me and it made me drop the item which was a pork chop bone and after she got down from the chair I went to hand her the handful of treats to distract her and she bared her teeth then jumped and attempted to bite me again and got my hand, not enough to do a deep cut but left a dent in hand for a few minutes and 2 paper cut scratches then she calmed down and I gave her the treats.

To stop this happening in the future what can I do, shes a sweet girl and I overstepped my boundaries as I was worried about her swallowing something and choking.
 
Teach a good leave/drop. Note that there's a difference - 'leave' is to stop the dog picking up the object, 'drop' means to release it once they have it. Check out these videos:



I wouldn't worry about the guarding, at least for now. Hopefully, with training, you won't need to put your hand in her mouth again. And there is an argument that the dog is more at risk from the consequences if she should give a severe bite than she is from eating whatever she has. Worrying that you're going to take it off her will also make her more likely to bolt it whole without chewing it up first.
 

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