[nagdu] Picking up things from the ground

[Nicole Torcolini]

I know that I am rather late to this thread, but I still want to through in
my two cents. How often are you walking him on a long leash, and what are
you doing? I almost never walked Lexia on a long leash for an extended
period of time. Upon coming home from training, I transitioned her to
relieving on a short leash. Most of the time, when she was relieving, I
would have my hand on her, especially if it was an area where there was a
lot to smell. If she did not start thinking about doing her business in
about two minutes and was just running her nose, then we moved on. Also, I
did not relieve and play in the same area. If you can play in one area and
relieve in another, this may help as he may learn that excessive sniffing is
not allowed in a particular area. Yes, dogs need to sniff some to do their
business, but they don't need to do what I call the "Hoover sniff".
As others have mentioned, you may want to try a head collar. Also, the
you-were-not-good-fun-is-over technique seemed to work for me.
Using a muzzle is not a bad idea. You probably would not want it while he
was working because of what people would think, but, when alone, it would
help. There are several different types, and they are not as bad as people
make them out to be. One of my sighted friends had to put a muzzle on her
pet dog when she took him out for walks because he would eat plants. One
day, he ate a plant that had fertilizer on it...

Nicole

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisa via nagdu
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 3:19 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Picking up things from the ground

Hello everyone!

Taylor does great guidework and we enjoy every day we spend with this
playful and energetic dog. But there's a big problem that bothers me.
Taylor picks up things from the ground, mostly during our walks but
sometimes also in harness, when it is something very "delicious". Of course
I try to be very quick, correct him and/or take it out of his mouth but
especially during walks, when he is on the long leash, that's not possible. 
So he gets the chance to swallow things like leftovers from a sandwich
including its packaging, napkins or any other stuff that's attractive to
him.
The consequence of this behaviour is that he throws up aproximately once a
week. Then, together with his food and water, a piece of plastic or paper or
any other not-digestable thing comes out again. Well, I'm glad that it does
come out. But it's stressful anyway. For him, too, of course, no one likes
being sick.
We saw the vet, so I am sure Taylor has no serious problems in his stomach. 
The only reason for throwing up seem to be the things that he picks up. I
really do my best to monitor him but when he's sniffing around on a meadow
and suddenly grabs and swallows something, what can I do?

I would be really interested in how you manage this problem--labradors are
greedy creatures, so probably I'm not the only one who deals with it.

What kind of training could I do to avoid this?
Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

thanks and greetings from Germany
Lisa 


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