Obsession with sticks?

[kjgmh]

In the last 2 weeks my 10 month old Yellow Lab has becomed obsessed with sticks. Anytime we are outside he has to have a stick in his mouth, and not just a little foot long stick, he goes after 6-8' sticks that are as big as round as my wrist. He will parade around the yard with them and then he will try to break them into smaller pieces. I have never played fetched with sticks or acknowledged him when he does this hoping it would stop, but it has not. Is this something to worry about? How would I go about correcting this? I usually will play fetch with him evrynight, but only use a tennis ball or a bumper.

[Neighbor_guy]

if you can break yours of sticks mabe you can try to break mine of the acorn grazing. Its like she is a deer.

[Jimmy from Cottage Grove]

I recently have recieved a case of the same problem with my ten month old springer. She brings them in the house, and shreads them up all over the floor. I can't take it anymore.

[fishnhooks]

My lab once had this "favorite" stick. One time he figured out how to get this 5-6 foot stick through his dog door and into the house. After that it all of a sudden disappeared

"hooks"

[Roofer]

I'm no dog expert, but I think it's a retrieving thing.

I have a Female black lab, and she chews up sticks quite often. We have a wagon that we gather wood and sticks from around the yard and have small fires. She will come in and steal our sticks!!! and then chew them up making a mess on the cement.

If only I could get her to get the sticks in the yard and bring them to the fire pit.

[tealitup]

I bought a three foot bone from Fleet Farm because my dog was obsessed with sticks. I keep this bone outside in the yard - she rather chew on her bone then the sticks (unless I am picking them up.)

[SpringerGuy]

One of my springers was obsessed with sticks one summer. It passed. Must have been a phase.

[Johnny_Namakan]

My lab is the same way. She's 70 lbs and built like a brick.....you know what. She has drug out of the woods logs and stumps that she had to drag out backwards because there wa sno way she could pick them up. It's like the bigger they are the more impressed they hope we are with them. My brother has a cabin up on Crane lake which is federal lease land. He's not allowed to cut any trees or trim any branches without tons of red tape. i told him to take my dog for a weekend, she'd chew half his woods down. I think she's part beaver, because she goes after the live trees just as much as the deadfall.

I tried the bone thing too, but that was a mistake. She ended up busting off her two lower K-9's. Apparently she wanted to chew it up into little pieces like a stick, but the bone was stronger than her teeth. So watch out for that!

[LundExplorer]

my yellow lab is the same way. He also steals lumber from the garage. If only he could chew them up over the mulch beds.

My in-laws lab used to sneak over to the neighbors and steal 8' studs off the pile when they were building their house. It all worked out well for her until she was spotted trying to get one between two trees less than 8' apart.

[kjgmh]

Well it sounds like I am not alone...

[Esoxmn]

Last year my lab cost me $1000 to have surgery on his stomach, scar tissue was built up and nothing could pass trogh his stomach. The vet said it was caused from eating hard things such as sticks,which he liked to do. I would try to brek you dogs of this, but it is just my luck. It would probablly never happen to anyone else.

[Wanderer]

Well it sounds like I am not alone...

Not if you have a lab!

I don't know what it is either and have thought about posting the same question. I'm just hoping I don't have the same problem as esoxmn.

My lab grazes acorns too, along with Neighbor-guys, and got the half breed doing it too. I actually tried a few myself to see what the draw was. Well, they're pretty much just a filbert!

For some reason the labs love the sticks n things and don't want to give em up.

[AngelicFatum]

Mine likes to chew up sticks a lot! Then I wake up in the middle of the night to her hacking up the little chunks of wood all over my floor

[LABS4ME]

Nip stick chewing in the bud! There is absolutley nothing good that can come of it. Medical risks from splinters is real though...

If they need to chew, try a Kong toy or a nylabone...

Good Luck!

Ken

[Wanderer]

I've tried toys and raw hide. She just buries it when she's done with it.

We've been working with her but she is obsessed. We'll just have to get way more agressive in training her.