Behaviour
Bones under benches, napkins, socks, stones. Scavenging comes naturally to a dog and it is dangerous for him; the habit changes with patience and good treats.
Worth knowing. A dog who eats stones, soil, plaster or plastic, or whose habit has started suddenly alongside a big appetite, weight loss or diarrhoea, needs to see your own vet first: it may be pica, with a medical cause.
By the time you reach the corner of the block, your dog has swallowed a crust of bread, a chicken bone from under a bench and a napkin with ketchup on it. You walk with your eyes on the pavement, ready to pounce, and he has learnt to be quicker than you. At home socks keep vanishing, and once you found a pebble in his sick. Eating things off the ground is about as normal as dog behaviour gets. It is also one of the most dangerous habits a dog can have: cooked bones, stones, socks and poisoned baits regularly end up on the operating table. Below is why your dog does it and what you can change from tomorrow, so that a walk stops feeling like a hunt.
Dogs spent thousands of years living alongside people, on whatever people left behind. That nose finds a slice of pizza under the snow and a banana skin under the leaves. To a dog the street is a laid table, and every find makes him search harder. On top of the instinct, your own dog and his history count for a lot.
Puppies and young dogs explore the world with their mouths, the way toddlers do with their hands. In puppies almost anything goes in, and it usually eases off after the first year, unless it has turned into a game along the way.
Chase me. He picks something up, you jump, shout and run after him. From where he is standing, he has just found the best game in the house. Next time he takes a sock exactly when you are on the phone.
Swallowing on the run. If things have often been prised out of his mouth by force, he learns to swallow before your hand gets there. That is how some dogs end up swallowing stones and whole socks without chewing them at all.
Hunger. A dog on a diet, one who is not getting enough, or one from a breed famous for its appetite (Labradors, Beagles) hunts more persistently. Look at how you hand out his daily ration too: from toys, on a snuffle mat, split into several small meals.
Boredom. If his nose and brain have too little to do during the day, he finds his own job on the walk. Sniffing and eating are the easiest one going.
Stress. In some dogs chewing and swallowing objects goes up when they are unsettled: left alone, moved to a new home, something changed around them.
A medical cause. Sometimes a dog eats things that are not food (stones, soil, plastic, plaster) because something is wrong inside. Vets call it pica. There is more on it in the medical section below.
Grabbing things out of his mouth. It seems logical, and sometimes you have to. Make it the rule, though, and you teach him to swallow fast. Plenty of dogs who swallow whole socks learnt it from people chasing them.
Shouting and telling off. It stops the moment and leaves the habit intact. He learns to pick things up when you are not looking, or to run off with them.
Shock collars, sprays, lead jerks. They spoil the walk, frighten him and can damage his trust in you without teaching him what to do instead. A dog who is scared of his lead can start reacting badly to people or dogs. We do not recommend them.
Chilli or "surprises" left out in the street to teach him a lesson. He does not connect the taste with the lesson you had in mind. He just gets warier, which means quicker.
Waiting for him to grow out of it. Sometimes puppies do. An adult who has been hoovering up the pavement for years, and found something good every time, will not give it up on his own, because each find spurs him on to look for the next.
A short lead and pulling. You stop him, but you give him nothing to do, and a walk that is all lead tension is frustrating for both of you.
This step keeps him alive while you work on the rest.
He learns that if he gives up what is in his mouth, something better turns up, and sometimes he even gets the thing back. Start at home with a toy. While he is holding it, put a really good treat right under his nose and say "give". The moment he lets go, he gets the treat and a big, happy fuss, then you hand the toy back. Ten times a day, with more and more interesting objects. After two or three weeks "give" works in the street too, and he stops running off with what he finds.
This teaches him to leave something alone and look at you instead.
The good treat always comes from your hand and never from the ground. That is how he learns where the good things are.
On every walk, whenever he looks at you without being asked, say "good" and give him a treat. A dog who checks where you are a lot is a dog you can call away before he reaches the bone.
He is not going to stop searching. All you can do is give him places where searching is allowed. Feed his meals at home from toys, on snuffle mats, scattered in the grass or hidden round the house. On the walk, on a clean patch, say "find it" and toss a few treats into the grass. Searching becomes something you do together, on your cue.
| Day | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tidy the house: lidded bin, socks put away. Pick cleaner routes. |
| 2 | Start getting him used to the muzzle, if he swallows dangerous things. |
| 2–7 | The swap game, ten times a day, at home. |
| 3–7 | "Leave it" with the fist and the palm, twice a day, five minutes each time. |
| 4–7 | Meals from toys and snuffle mats. Praise every glance he gives you on walks. |
| 7 | Take stock: how many things he has still picked up, how easily he gives up what is in his mouth. |
Take him to your vet before you start on any training plan if any of the following applies:
Your vet can look for intestinal worms, stomach and gut conditions that stop food being absorbed properly, anaemia, diabetes, hormonal problems, or the side effects of treatments that increase appetite. If he has already swallowed something dangerous, do not wait: read our page on what to do when a dog has swallowed something.
A dog who scavenges everything usually has a very good, very busy nose. Search games at home and scent sports such as mantrailing give that nose a clear job, done together with you. In training we see dogs who would otherwise pick up every crust on the pavement work with their heads up on the scent of the person they are looking for, walking straight past leftovers without a glance. It does not fix the problem by itself: back on the street after training, the habit is still there. A dog who is mentally tired, though, scavenges less and listens more readily to "leave it".
A reward-based trainer can help you find the right pace and spot what you are missing. If he growls when you take things from him, start with our page on resource guarding.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer.
By instinct dogs look for food everywhere, and the street is full of leftovers; every find makes them search harder. Add in age (puppies explore with their mouths), boredom, hunger, stress or a game of chase with you. Sometimes there is a medical cause, especially when he eats things that are not food.
For now: cleaner routes, a lead and, if he swallows dangerous things, a basket muzzle you have taught him to like with good treats. In the long run, practise "leave it" and the swap game at home every day, with the good treat always coming from your hand, then gradually take them out onto the street. Praise every glance he gives you on walks.
In puppies it can be exploring and play, and in some dogs it is a learnt habit. But stones, soil and other non-food items can point to a medical problem (pica), such as gut disease, anaemia or worms. Stones break teeth and can block the intestine, so take him to your vet first.
Socks smell strongly of you, they are soft, and more often than not they start a chase round the house. Young dogs grab them for attention, and dogs who have been chased learn to swallow them fast. Pick them up, teach the swap game and do not chase him. A swallowed sock can block the intestine: ring your vet.
For dogs who swallow bones, stones or rubbish, a basket muzzle is the safest protection while he learns. He must be able to pant, drink and take treats through it, and he should accept it happily after a few days of getting used to it with rewards. You still have the training to do; the muzzle keeps him safe until then.
A behaviour that appears suddenly or changes for no apparent reason can have a medical cause. For full details, consult your dog's own veterinarian.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
Half a bar of dark chocolate missing, the grape stalk bare, the sock gone. Gather the wrapper, work out how much he ate and call. Do not make him sick yourself.
His own poo, other dogs' in the park, or the cat's litter tray. It embarrasses you, it is normal to him, and it is fixed more by organisation than by training.
He freezes over the bowl, eats faster as you approach, growls over his bone. Resource guarding is natural behaviour that has become a problem, and you fix it by trading.
If he backed away and scraped the muzzle along the carpet the first time, nobody has shown him yet that it can bring good things. Two or three weeks is usually enough.
An assessment session tells you where you stand and which plan makes sense for your dog. The behaviour programme then works step by step, reward-based only.