Help~puppy eating everything!

[sunnee]

I think this is normal, but my american eskimo is 8 mos. old and SHE eats anything and anything she can. We have plenty of dog food mixed with puppy food avail. and water. But she still prefers to down a bird, thankfully she brought it back up. She used to get into the cat box, but we hide it from her now. Sophie tramples our strawberries looking for more to eat, thankfully they're outta season now. But, she continues to find areas outside where our cats have went potty. Besides this, she finds other things to get into that are too gross to mention. We've been chaining her up outside a little just to keep her in sight. UGH! Does anyone know if she will grow out of this? Or am I doing something wrong?

She had a checkup and shots and seems healthy, but her behavior is beyond control.

Thank you!

[Karen]

She may outgrow it, or she may just be one of those dogs who were born without an "off" switch for their tummy! I knew one of those very well, and he'd eat paper towel if it had touched food, even though he was well fed!

Getting her lots of exercise may help keep her from wandering enough to find disgusting things to eat - a tired pup being a good pup - but keeping her on a chain when she is outdoors is a good idea regardless, so she isn't loose to get hit by a car or anything.

Have you done obedience training with her? Does she know the command "leave it?"

[sunnee]

Karen-
I need to know this, I actually was feeling a lil' guilty chaining her up, but try to keep her on a chain for a bare minimum of time. The backyard is fenced, but when we go in and out in the front with her in the house, she does tend to slip thru and get loose. It is so trying just to catch her. So, we use the chain, sure comes in handy.

I hope she does grow outta this gross behavior. Walks are a great idea, besides she still needs to get use to the leash. Fortunately we have a 6 yr. old male american eskimo named iyo and hoping his good behavior wears off on to sophie.

Thanks again!

[bckrazy]

What are you feeding your little girl? It isn't uncommon for dogs to just *know* when their diet is lacking something, and go searching for nutrients elsewhere.

Besides that, supervise, supervise, supervise! Get litterboxes out of her reach, clean up the yard daily, and crate her when you can't watch her.