scatty_mare
Well-Known Member
My mum's dog is obsessed with pebbles - any ideas to stop this behaviour or ever heard of it before??!
She is a 4 year old malinois and mum rescued her in France about 18 months ago.
The story goes that she was bought by a couple who kept her in a run in their garden until she was 18 months old, and didn't socialise her/ walk her/ etc, and all she had to play with was pebbles. So she has developed a love of small stones (especially white ones).
The couple then moved, and when they had gone the estate agent came back to the empty house to find they'd abandoned poor Maddy - just left her behind! So she took her in. Problem was she was a complete dog novice, kept her in a flat, let her sleep on her bed and fed her on chocolate. (don't, it's too awful to contemplate).
Mum was a friend of the estate agent and tried everything to get her to treat her like a dog and give her a healthy and normal life, nothing worked, but in the end estate agent conceded that she couldn't cope with a big unruly undisciplined dog so mum ended up with her!
She's fab, absolutely sweet temperament, totally lovely with people and other dogs, and very quick to learn basic obedience and accept the new rules.
The only thing that's still weird about her is that she is still completely obsessed with pebbles - she wants you to throw them for her, will then retrieve them. If you don't throw them for her she amuses herself by chomping on them and then swallows them. Obviously, this is very worrying. It makes me think of that dog in Scotland running around with 34 golf balls in its stomach! I hate to think how many stones she has in her gut.
She is interested in other toys - balls and things - for a while, but only in the absence of pebbles. Sadly they have a gravelly garden.
Other than moving house or re-landscaping the garden we've run out of ideas so any ideas or suggestions would be very helpful!
She is a 4 year old malinois and mum rescued her in France about 18 months ago.
The story goes that she was bought by a couple who kept her in a run in their garden until she was 18 months old, and didn't socialise her/ walk her/ etc, and all she had to play with was pebbles. So she has developed a love of small stones (especially white ones).
The couple then moved, and when they had gone the estate agent came back to the empty house to find they'd abandoned poor Maddy - just left her behind! So she took her in. Problem was she was a complete dog novice, kept her in a flat, let her sleep on her bed and fed her on chocolate. (don't, it's too awful to contemplate).
Mum was a friend of the estate agent and tried everything to get her to treat her like a dog and give her a healthy and normal life, nothing worked, but in the end estate agent conceded that she couldn't cope with a big unruly undisciplined dog so mum ended up with her!
She's fab, absolutely sweet temperament, totally lovely with people and other dogs, and very quick to learn basic obedience and accept the new rules.
The only thing that's still weird about her is that she is still completely obsessed with pebbles - she wants you to throw them for her, will then retrieve them. If you don't throw them for her she amuses herself by chomping on them and then swallows them. Obviously, this is very worrying. It makes me think of that dog in Scotland running around with 34 golf balls in its stomach! I hate to think how many stones she has in her gut.
She is interested in other toys - balls and things - for a while, but only in the absence of pebbles. Sadly they have a gravelly garden.
Other than moving house or re-landscaping the garden we've run out of ideas so any ideas or suggestions would be very helpful!
) no PM yet, but whenever you're ready, you probably have a life 