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  #1  
Old July 10th, 2006, 10:49 AM
surveychick surveychick is offline
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i have a dirt eating puppy

my 13 week old golden retriever thoroughly enjoys carrying & eating clumps of clay soil & carrying rocks. I have been teaching him "Leave it!" and he is getting quite good at "come" and "drop" but we just can't for ONE second take our eyes off him---he'll have a clump of dirt or a rock in his mouth! I always trade his treasured mud pie for a toy & he is happy for a second then off again on a quest for dirt. Our "lawn" is a work in progress and dirt is plentyful. I have tried putting pepper on a clump of soil but it didn't phase him one bit! Any other ideas for enjoying play time in the yard? I prefer to avoid a muzzle until i have exhausted all other ways (i'm not against them--just a personal preference) Mayeb tonight i'll try cayenne pepper.....
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  #2  
Old July 10th, 2006, 11:21 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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What food are you feeding? Maybe he isn't getting enough nutrients?
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Old July 12th, 2006, 06:37 AM
surveychick surveychick is offline
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IAMS smart puppy
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  #4  
Old July 12th, 2006, 07:00 AM
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mastifflover mastifflover is offline
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Change the food to a high quality puppy food. Rule of thumb if your vet or the grocery store sell it don't buy it. They are filled with corn and other fillers no nutritional value. I have not used puppy food for years but I am sure Prin or one of the other members who really know there foods can make some suggestions. I would say wolf king or canidae. Read the pet food section and you will learn a ton about foods and peoples opinions of them.
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  #5  
Old July 12th, 2006, 12:50 PM
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papillonmama papillonmama is offline
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I agree with mastifflover. I don't know if it's the same for dogs, but for pregnant women, some experience a craving for sand, they say that the craving is due to a lack of iron in their diet. Perhaps your pup is lacking something nutritionally, I'm assuming it's protein, Iams is not exactly the greatest, in my opinion.

You're doing a good job with training him, don't worry, with a 13 week old puppy you can't take your eyes off of them for one minute anyways. They are just naturally curious. Does he play fetch, maybe playing fetch with him will get his mind off the dirt for a bit while you're outside.

Good luck!
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Old July 12th, 2006, 04:00 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Here are a couple of good puppy foods:
Solid Gold Wolf Cub

Wellness Super5MixPuppy

Canidae All life stages

Innova Large Breed Puppy

Take a look at the ingredients in them and compare them with the Iams..
If you don't want to switch, you could always supplement the food with either a canned food or another kibble.
Here is a company with great canned foods:
Merrick
They have a few types that are soft enough to be easily mixed into the dry food.

There are also supplements like Solid Gold Sea Meal and others that you can add to the food to be sure they're getting all the vitamins they need.
Sea Meal

Otherwise, as a last resort, there are some cookies on the market that give them different things too. One that comes to mind is Wellness' cookies. Boo was eating a lot of banana and I thought, maybe he's not getting enough nutrients (like potassium) that come from bananas. So I looked and sure enough, Wellness has cookies with Banana. Maybe it's a good idea to give treats that have no common ingredients with the food, so on top of just being a tasty reward, they might fill a possible nutrient void.
Check out the Wellness ones-
These are the banana ones: http://www.omhpet.com/dogs/wellness_...tDogWbarFrtYog
But they also have fishy ones and peanut buttery ones, too.
Other brands like Canidae and Northern Biscuit make healthy cookies that can provide a bit of extra nutrition to an unsuspecting drooler.

Good luck.
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