Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Discussion Groups - mainly cats and dogs > General Forum for cats and dogs

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 6th, 2013, 04:45 PM
snbd9 snbd9 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Saskatchewan
Posts: 17
Labrador Eats Wood

Hi Folks,

I have a 14 month old female Lab. She is a great dog and I love her.(Wish someone had told me that Labs are puppies for at least 2 years). She is constantly eating tree twigs. She doesn't just chew them up, she eats them. I have yet to see any problems with her so I am not terribly worried however, curious to see if this is a Lab trait. Thanks.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old July 6th, 2013, 04:57 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 4,371
My dog is a poodle mix and Marty loves to chew on sticks. I do not let him chew on it for too long as I do not want swallowing a sharp piece of wood.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old July 6th, 2013, 05:36 PM
pbpatti's Avatar
pbpatti pbpatti is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 2,874
hahahahahahaaaaa Sorry did not mean to laugh out loud. I have a Chocolate Lab that is going to be 9yr this fall and she is finally matured. Yes, Labs are a fun breed to have in your home. Be thankful that your furkid is only eating sticks. Sasha eats twigs also I try to take them away but she usually gets some in her belly. She has not had any medical trouble with eating the wood...yet.

After we got our Chocolate I learned that the Yellow Labs mature at the earliest then the black then the chocolate.
__________________
It Is What It Is
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old July 6th, 2013, 05:54 PM
snbd9 snbd9 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Saskatchewan
Posts: 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by pbpatti View Post
hahahahahahaaaaa Sorry did not mean to laugh out loud. I have a Chocolate Lab that is going to be 9yr this fall and she is finally matured. Yes, Labs are a fun breed to have in your home. Be thankful that your furkid is only eating sticks. Sasha eats twigs also I try to take them away but she usually gets some in her belly. She has not had any medical trouble with eating the wood...yet.

After we got our Chocolate I learned that the Yellow Labs mature at the earliest then the black then the chocolate.
Thanks. I try to get them away as we'll but she has a real knack for knowing exactly what I am about to do. Here is a recent picture.
Attached Images
 
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old July 6th, 2013, 07:08 PM
growler~GateKeeper's Avatar
growler~GateKeeper growler~GateKeeper is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 17,568
Have you taught her the command "leave it"? That might help if you can catch her in the act of picking up the sticks.
She is a beauty
__________________
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do

The Spirit Lives As Long As Someone Who Lives Remembers You - Navaho Saying
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old July 6th, 2013, 07:32 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 4,371
What a beautiful dog she is. Doesn't it drive you crazy how your pet know what you're about to do to them? I have to tell Marty to leave it when he try to pickup thing up on the ground but he so close to the ground I am not always fast enough and have to open his mouth and see what he has. Once it a chicken bone that had a sharp point to it.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old July 6th, 2013, 10:15 PM
hazelrunpack's Avatar
hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
The Pack's Head Servant
Chopper Challenge Champion, Mini KickUps Champion, Bugz Champion, Snakeman Steve Champion, Shape Game Champion, Mumu Champion, Mouse Race Champion
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Just east of the Hazelnut Patch, Wisconsin
Posts: 53,771
She's gorgeous! For what it's worth, our setters all enjoy twigs, too. We try to limit it as much as possible, but with a yard filled with oaks, it's impossible to keep them away from twigs entirely. Thankfully, the worst problem we've had is the occasional gagging when a piece irritates the throat going down, but so far it's a very temporary thing and clears up on its own...
__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."

"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old July 7th, 2013, 09:01 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,528
Oh she is lovely. Gave me a little tear, her face is quite a bit like my last girl's.

OK now. Chewing sticks is fine. Swallowing is not. You might have gotten off easy so far but sticks can be sharp and cause a perforation. Clumps of bits of chewed up stick might cause a blockage. My Jet, who your girl resembles, chewed but did not swallow. There was always a little pile by her stick, just like the piles under the woodpecker tree. Our current Lab swallows so I have to remove sticks.

Because Jet loved sticks so much I actually gave her one. Remember, she is the one who did not swallow anyway. But I gave her a hunk of hard cherry from a tree we had to take down. Hard cherry is very hard and I wonder if a stick that hard might work for your girl. It would be more like a bone. She could still work at it but wouldn't be able to get as much wood off it at one time, therefore less to swallow, therefore less potential for trouble in the tum, tum tummy. The piece I gave her was quite large too.

My current boy is not much of a chewer but if he gets bored while I'm working in the yard he'll eat sticks. Not so much now that he is five. At your girl's age he was bored easily. So she might grow out of this a bit but I, personally, would not want to count on that. I'd be removing those sticks.

More pictures please. Our Jet was pre digital camera. I don't have nearly enough pics of her. More of your girl please.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old July 7th, 2013, 09:45 AM
snbd9 snbd9 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Saskatchewan
Posts: 17
Thanks for all the good advice. The problem I have is we have a huge old elm tree in the backyard and therefore the yard is full of twigs. I try to get them up however, I can't be watching her all the time. Her chewing has slowed down as she is getting older so hopefully her eating twigs will gradually stop as well.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:20 AM.