Mastiff wont stop eating sticks

[Lilly Monster]

I have an eight month old English Mastiff that eats sticks every chance she gets. I feed her a high quality food (taste of the wild) two times a day and give her plenty of toys. However, she prefer sticks. I wouldn't be worried but they seem to give her stomach trouble from time to time ie, she throws up and there are pieces of sticks in it. She still has a healthy appetite and appears healthy an active otherwise. Any advise?

 

[Bentley]

Having seen the damage my sister's Boxer mix took to his throat from a splinter from a stick that got lodged in his throat, and the expense of the removal, I would strongly reccomend that you don't let her chew sticks if at all possible.

 

[dsaw247]

My 7 month old english mastiff had this problem when we brought him home. Every time he would pick up a stick we would remove the stick, lay it on the ground and say "leave it". We're still working on it with him, but we're to the point of him picking them up and just holding them, rarely does he eat them anymore. We just found that being consistent with teaching him "leave it" helped, especially since we use the command for other items as well.

 

[Lilly Monster]

Thanks for the replies. I try to be very diligent with her but sometimes she sneaks away to enjoy a forbidden stick. I just pray it's a phase she grows out of.

 

[STEVSH]

Mine is obsessed too. But she chews on firewood and just likes the shredding idea of it I think. I have yet to see her swallow anything. We have bark all over our yard from the logs. I've never given it much thought becasue all my dogs I've ever had have always chewed on sticks/wood. Such is a dog's life...