rock eating

Question
I have a 4 year old female golden retriever and is well fed but insists on eating rocks and mulch.  She hides pieces throughout the house.  She chews the rocks and mulch down before swallowing but is beginning to get herself sick. When seen doing this we take the rock/mulch away (with a fierce fight because she is very stubborn about having things removed from her mouth) but she manages to injest quite a lot.

Answer
That is a tough, dangerous problem.  How much time does she spend outside?  If only a little, you might fence off a small part of the yard and keep it free of rock and mulch.  If she is outside all day, she might be too busy playing to eat stuff at a doggy day care.  

If she won't let you remove things from her mouth, she needs a lesson on pack order.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

She could easily choke or have a digestive blockage from the wrong sized rock.  Do you have an emergency number for your vet?