As anyone who’s ever cared for a puppy will know, they put so many things in their mouth. Dogs use their mouths to help them explore and make sense of the world around them, and puppies even more so.
After all, the world can be a confusing place when you’re a puppy, and picking things up with their mouth – often called mouthing – helps them understand. But, as humans, we often don’t know whether we should stop our puppies or simply let them be, particularly if it’s something potentially dangerous like a rock. Life would certainly be a lot easier if our pups would only go for the best long lasting dog chews instead!
That’s why certified dog trainer Melissa Goodman of Mission Pawsitive has offered some advice in a recent Instagram post. Let’s take a look at what she recommends.
“Should you be concerned if your dog picks up a rock?” Goodman asks. “In most cases, no. Dogs explore using their mouth and most dogs will not try to ingest a rock unless it has been taken from them enough times where the value increased, and one way to keep something from being taken is to eat it.”
She’s working with a dog, Freddie, who soon realizes that the rock is just a rock and loses interest in it. Goodman rewards him for losing interest – and a tasty treat is going to be more valuable than a rock.
“Most of the time, when a puppy picks up a rock, they will chew on it for a few seconds and then spit it out,” she adds in the caption. “You can reward that when they do it on their own.”
Goodman explains that she lowered the value of the rock by giving it to Freddie multiple times after he lost interest.
“If you don’t care, your dog won’t care,” she says, before adding a disclaimer that this doesn’t always apply to dogs who are already anxious about things potentially being taken from them and display resource guarding.
Essentially, however, it’s usually fine to give your dog the chance to explore before you lower the value of the item in question. If your dog’s safety is at risk, that’s a different matter, and it’s better to be cautious and remove the item.
If your dog is prone to resource guarding and gets anxious about things being taken, you might find this article useful: I tried alternative ways of giving my dog treats to stop resource guarding – here’s what worked. For puppies more generally, this might be helpful: My puppy eats everything outside – how do I stop them?
