Eating rocks??

[Angelina03]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a new GSD owner and new to this site. My puppy Rocco is always eating rocks!! I have to constantly watch him when he's outside and I have to pull rocks (and other stuff) out of his mouth. I can't even let him loose in our fenced yard because he'll eat rocks before I can get to him. Is this weird? Has anyone had this experience? What should I do?

[Rua]

Yep. I have. My 12 week old loves rocks. She carries them around in her mouth and brings them in the house. I usually intercept and take them away when I see her.

I used to have a Doberman over 10 years ago that did the same thing when she was a puppy.

[paulag1955]

Shasta did the same thing when she was a baby. If it's any comfort to you, she never actually swallowed a rock, just picked them up and carried then in her mouth. She did swallow a hemlock cone once, though. We didn't even know it until it came out the other end. Thankfullly, they are tiny and close up when they get wet.

[andreaB]

i have 12 weeks old puppy. he is doing same think, love to eats rock. we are hoping he will outgrow it, and for now just keep really close eyes on him and fish stones out of his mouth. i'm really worry about him too, he did eat some of the rock, but looks like they all pass through. he did not eat much for two days, but he is better now. hope they are gone now.i still didn't find any way to fix this. he will drop it when i tell him to but he is realy sneeky.(sorry about my not perfect english)

[Angelina03]

Ok. Thanks for the responses. I guess it's a puppy thing?? I do hope it stops because Rocco does eat them. He chews them up and ends up swallowing them. Sometimes I can't get them out until he's already chewed them up to crumbs. We've found them in his stool. He also likes to eat all kinds of other stuff, like snails, and licks the concrete porch and sidewalk. What's up with that?

[RICO]

Seems like lots or large breed dogs do this. Rico did it when he was younger too, on occasion I still have to pull things out of his mouth; he is now 6mo old. Just keep correcting him, the best thing I have found is when he goes to pick it up, tell him no or leave it, if he actually does pick it up, remove whatever it is from his mouth. Rico learned pretty quickly with doing this because he really didn't enjoy me shoving my fingers down his throat, sounds a little mean, but it can be effective depending on your dog. My parents has GSD's when I was a child, they both ate rocks as well, lol.

[Angelina03]

Originally Posted by RICO

the best thing I have found is when he goes to pick it up, tell him no or leave it, if he actually does pick it up, remove whatever it is from his mouth.

This is what I do; but he's just learning the leave it command and doesn't usually obey it when he's chewing rocks. Instead he tries to get away from me so I won't get it. I guess I'll just have to be patient for a while. I hope it's not too long...

I was beginning to think that I named him by some chance of fate (Rocco). LOL.

[RICO]

Just keep at it, and be paitent - I know it's really frustrating, but soon enough he'll get sick of you shoving your fingers in his mouth, lol. But Rico does the same thing still, if he has something in his mouth that he knows he's not supposed to, mostly things he finds in the house, if we tell him "Rico, what do you have, bring it here?" he bolts. Lol.

[TheActuary]

My pup loves to pick up rocks too. She never actually eats them, though.

[skischool]

My 4 1/2 month old GSD pup Uli brings in rocks from our back yard through the doggie door...
They are getting bigger in size each one..
He is up to a baseball size now..
I just tell him no and take them away, I hope he doesn't go for the real big ones...