I know I've seen multiple threads that mention that sticks shouldn't be eaten by dogs/pups. But I'm hoping someone can be clear about why...because:

My 15 weeker, Carbon, eats wood. Wood chips, wood shavings, bark, sticks, logs, trunks, trees, forests... The problem is that we have 2 wood stoves in our house, so there is wood stacked everywhere, in and out of the house. There are fragments that fall off when we haul wood and when we split it.

So, unless I'm suddenly visited with magical powers, I cannot keep this crunchamuncha away for all wood, although I do what I can, some slip through the cracks.

Just in case, what sort of potential badness can come of this? Obviously cuts in his gums. I check those regularly. But what about other stuff...what should I be looking for? It seems to be a particular favorite of his and he's constantly looking for pieces we've missed.

And we do have a lot of cedar wood. I've heard that the oils can be bad for resperatory issues, but what about ingestion?

Amber, this is just too weird. Maya is doing the same thing except with her, it's pine so I can hardly wait for some of the other member's responses.

Judy


http://www.flickr.com/photos/29814880@N00/

I've never had this particular problem but I wonder if putting creosote (used to keep horses from eating wood corral fences)on wood structures such as fences would help eliminate at least that part of the problem. I think the main problem with chewing/eating wood would be splinters causing internal damage.

Now, if you throw a stick for your dog, that game I know is hazzardous. My sister's Blue Heeler/Border Collie had a stick he was playing with flip up and pierce his neck. Luckily it missed vital blood vessels, but he no longer is allowed to play with sticks.

My puppy likes wood and wood is all over my yard, too.

Having "outside only" safe chew toys scattered around has helped somewhat but hasn't completely stopped the eating of the yard. Nothing will stop it 100% but it is better than it was.

I'll be interested in what others suggest.

I'm not sure about the creosote, because we're burning the wood inside in our wood stoves and I thought that created a fire hazard as it build up in the chimney.

I guess I'm not really asking for suggestions on keeping him away from it (we've come up with some wacky techniques, actually) but I'm more wondering what I should be looking for in terms of IF it the wood has caused any damage, what kind would it be and how would it show symptoms in my dog.

For example, if he gets splinters that cause rips or whatever in his intenstines, should I be looking for vomiting? Bloody stool?

And, has wood been known to cause blockage? Do they pass wood easily?

I can't believe I'm asking these questions. We should have named him "Chipper."

This is truly wierd.....my anorexic rescue GSD also has a thing for sticks......beaver-like he is......I wish I could get him to show the same enthusiasm for actual food! If I feed him out on the deck he immediately takes his chicken parts to the side yard, drops them in the leaves and debris, then eats them with a look of bliss on his face. I know it can't be good for him......so mostly he eats in the kitchen. My last male GSD loved sticks, branches and tree limbs also (the bigger the better!) and the only thing he liked better was leg-of-cow....those at least lasted a good long time....'sigh' I hope someone can shed some light on this too!

My puppy (5 months old) also loves sticks and especially small pine cones! Since we have 4 big pine trees outside our patio door surrounded by cinder rock landscaping, he is always getting something in his mouth that he's not supposed to! He isn't quite as bad about chewing on the cinder rocks as he was at first so maybe he will outgrow the taste for wood. He also loves to pull at the bottom 20 inches or so of our palm trees, kind of a tug game with him. (We are planning on removing those trees this year). I don't believe he actually swallows any of this stuff - I definitely try to discourage him from chewing on things like that but he usually gets it in his mouth before I can stop him. He also wants to go after cigarette butts on the sidewalk when we are walking (Yuck!!). Guess he's just being a puppy. . .

Well the responses are encouraging so far...I mean if so many people have this issue, and nobody has yet said their dog got really sick or died from ingestion of wood fiber, then I'm going to relax a little.

I'll keep an eye on him for sure but won't fret so much about him eating the unseen wood chip here or there. It's amazing how he finds them and he's usually eaten them by the time I get to him.

Amber I feel for you, what a nut pup you have on your hands!

My pup has been stick-obsessive since he got out of the womb, but luckily he doesn't go as far as eating it.

He picks up anything made of wood, and sticks are his favourite training reward (he'd rather hang onto some muddy old stick off the ground than trade it in for a piece of freshly cooked steak!!).

After reading about all the horrible stuff that people warned me on the board about sticks (stabbing, poking an eye out, punctures etc.) I decided to discourage the stick habit.

I just say NO when I see him about to pick up a stick and so far it's working.

Now that I refuse to play with sticks with him (I used to throw them for him) and make him drop all the ones he picks up, he got the point. He mostly ignores sticks on our walks now, what a relief!

Maybe you can combine discouraging the wood habit with redirecting to a similarly shaped but more appropriate toy?

Angelique suggested pieces of cut up water hose to me and I think it's brilliant! My pup's just as crazy for those; I don't let him chew on them, but I use them as training rewards. He just likes to carry them around anyway... maybe it wouldn't work for Carbon since he seems so interested in consuming the wood, but heck, the more stuff you try out, the more likely you are to find a technique that works right?

Hehe, good luck Amber... it'll be a miracle of your efforts and skills if that pup of yours grows up in one piece

As for the "potential badness" that can result, a search on the topic will reveal what some people have gone through with their dogs. Pretty gory stuff.

My only experience with my pup was a nasty cut in his mouth from picking up a splintering stick. It only happened once, and he didn't seem too concerned about it, but I have to say that standing at the park with kleenex after kleenex soaked in his blood from trying to stop the bleeding in his mouth was enough evidence for me...

Now if he so much as LOOKS at a stick, he gets a loud and sharp NO!

If the splinters could do that much damage to his mouth, I shudder to think what could've happened to his digestive tract had he swallowed any of it