Rescue dog - eats EVERYTHING

[jenarm]

Hello, All -

First-time beagle owner here. We adopted a beagle ( 2 years old) about a month ago, and it has been quite an adventure. We have many issues, but the biggest one is that she eats EVERYTHING, and I mean everything.

I have 3 kids, so despite my best efforts, little junk gets left on the floor. She LOVES eating legos. She will also eat bits of paper, strings, rocks out of the gas fireplace, etc. The other day she ate the end off of my plastic eyeglasses (not thrilled with that one), and today she ate half of a $5 bill that had fallen out of my pocket (not thrilled with that one either). I even pulled a THUMBTACK out of her mouth the other day. She rarely pulls things off tables or whatnot... just things that hit the floor.

She has plenty of good strong toys to play with. We do the redirecting thing when I can, but often I don't catch her until it's too late, and often my kids will chase her around when she snatches something, which I'm sure is just making it more fun for her.

So what now? I cannot totally make sure there is nothing on my floor. Is this something I can train out of her with a "leave it" command, or is this part of the breed. The fact that she only eats things that hit the floor, and seems to really relish anything that she "hunts down" under a piece of furniture makes me think that this is just her beagle nature. But, I don't want her to get hurt, and I don't want to have to constantly buy new glasses. Lol. HELP!

[Mollys Mom]

Beagles can be known to be stealers or hoarders, taking things that belong to their owner either to get attention or to gather things you touched. Is she getting a lot of walks and other activities? Beagles can get bored easily if they don't get outdoor activities. You can play indoor treat games too to redirect her. They makes treat balls that you can give, like a puzzle to get the treats out. We also play "the cup game" - we gate the girls in one room, and then take small Dixie cups and hide them around the house with kibble under them. They LOVE to search them out.

[Felice29]

My two little ones like to steal my kids socks out of their sneakers. When ever I see something they shouldn't have I say "leave it" in a stern voice. Diesel drops it on command. Princess will run in her crate, or lay on her back in a submissive position and slightly release the object. Either way they release on command in their own way of course. It took time to get them to follow those commands. They are 10 months old. Don't take the object directly, use a command like out, leave it, or release. What ever works for you. Put your hand in front of her or grab the object as it is still in her month and say the command until she releases. Use a stern voice all the time. Eventually she will drop on command. Good luck.


Diesel and Princess


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