dog likes to eat

Question
QUESTION: I was just reading the question from Gill and your response about his dog
eating   things on his walk. You mentioned playing tug-of-war with the dog
and other things to curb his scavenger like behavior...

My question is much the same.  We just adopted a 9 yr old Golden Ret and he
begs all day to go on a walk.  When we do go it's like he's on a hunt for
something and he eats anything he finds, ie; mice, garbage, poo, etc...
Sometimes he gets his nose on a smell that he about pulls my arm out of it's
socket trying to get to it.

Will your advice work for our dog too?  He is such a sweet dog and I've heard
that playing tug-of-war can make a dog aggressive.  We don't know what his
past was like.  I don't think he was ever abused.  He wasn't getting any
attention in his previous home.  He stayed in the garage all day, came in for
a couple of hours and then slept in the garage.  Now that he lives with us he
is inside getting a lot of attention!  (he still sleeps in the garage.  He seems to
prefer it. )

I would love your help with this.  I don't look forward to our walks anymore
because it grosses me out when he eats the stuff he does.

Thank you,
Deborah

ANSWER: Hi, Deborah,

Thanks for the question. I'm sorry you're having trouble with your dog.

Dogs are essentially hunters with nothing to hunt. They've got the drive and instincts, but no outlet except through play. Play is very important for a lot of reasons. A play-deprived dog is very unhappy indeed. So from my perspective both Gill's dog and your golden have their scavenging impulses set on high because they're not getting enough of an outlet for their prey drive. Here's why play is so important.

http://www.tiny.cc/playbenefits

It's nice that he gets comfort and attention from while he's inside the house. It beats being ignored, but you have to keep in mind one important fact:

DOGS NEED MORE PLAY TIME THAN CUDDLE TIME

Physical affection can often be an unhealthy substitute for play. So always play first, and I mean long and hard, and cuddle later.

If your dog won't play with you, or if he can't sustain a playful mood for very long, it may be because he was punished for playing when he was a puppy. (Most puppies think nipping is just a fun invitation to come play; most dog owners don't.) If that's the cause of his resistance to playing, you'll also have to do the pushing exercise I recommended to Gill. It's like an emotional colonic; it removes emotional blockages caused by previous mistreatment. Here are a couple of links explaining it:

http://tinyurl.com/3balu6 (pushing exercise, a la Neil Sattin)

http://www.tiny.cc/SwimUpstream

Now it's on to tug-of-war. And no, playing tug doesn't cause aggression, in fact it does just the opposite. Also, since your dog is a retriever, you should play fetch with him as much as possible too.

By the way, how much does he weigh? And how much do you weigh? And what do you use to walk him (type and length of leash, and collar or harness). Also, what do you feed him? If it contains beet pulp you might want to switch to a food that doesn't have that ingredient.

I look forward to hearing back from you,

LCK

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: WOW!  What a lot of great information.  Thanks!  

My dog weighs about 75 lbs and I am about 140.  He is very strong.  I walk
him with one of those leashes that retracts and has the lock button. It's pretty
long, maybe 9 foot or so?  (I'm not good at judging measurement) His collar
is a nylon sort with a buckle.  

As for fetch...  he doesn't play fetch.  He plays chase.  He came to us with a
toy and a ball that he loves but likes for you to throw it and then chase him.  
He's pretty sneaky with his moves when we get too close.  I have to say that
game gets old real fast.  Our house doesn't allow for much "chase" space
either.  We don't have a fenced in yard or a place town that is fenced in so I
haven't found a nice BIG outlet where we can play.  We live in Alaska and the
ground is still frozen so no fence yet.  

How do we "teach an old dog new tricks"?  I would LOVE for him to play fetch
and tug.  We've only had him for 6 weeks and are still getting to know him.  
This is also the first dog we have ever owned for any length of time.

Thanks again,
Deborah

Oh...we just switched his food to "Wellness" senior food.

Answer
Hi, again.

Thanks for the update.

You don't want to chase HIM, it's better if you can get him to chase you. When he brings you a toy, tease him with it. Wave it around, making it move like a wounded bird. Then see if you can get him to chase you. When you chase him he sees you as a predator. You want him to see you more as a prey animal.

Also, the Flexi-Lead seems like a nice way to give a dog more freedom, but it doesn't do anything to help your arm! Same with the nylon collar. If you can get a prong collar where you live, that would be the best. If not, you can order one online. Get the kind that has an alligator clip, if you can. It looks kind of nasty, but I've tested them on myself and they don't feel anywhere near as bad as they look. So I'd use a six foot nylon leash with a prong collar, do your best to keep the leash loose. The more tension he feels around his neck, the harder he'll pull. Those two things will be a temporary inhibition to his pulling until you can get him to play tug and fetch outdoors.

For the time being, I think you need to concentrate on feeding him all his meals (outdoors, if you can) using the pushing exercise I sent you. After you've built up his ability to push into, so that he's doing it as hard as he can (nearly knocking you over), you should see more relaxation in his overall demeanor.

You can also use diced cheese to do the "Trick-of-Treat," which also creates calm behavior. Here's the link: http://www.tiny.cc/TrickorTreat You'll only need to do it for a minute or so at a time, but it'll teach him impulse control.

Let me know how it goes,

LCK