# Eating tan bark, tam bark, wood chips, whatever...



## Buffy & Abby's Mom

Both of mine love to chew on wood. Be thankful she's just chewing on bark outside. When Buffy was little, she chewed on furniture. She finally outgrew that and is not as obsessed with wood. Now Abby, who will be 2 in Feb., still loves to chew wood. Not furniture, thank God. But her favorite pasttime in the yard is to chew on sticks and even logs from our outdoor firepit. It's a dog thing!

I guess the thing I would wonder with the chips is if it is treated with anything that could potentially harm her. I don't think the wood per say would hurt her, or at least it never has my two little beavers.


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## LaurJen

Once we got our Invisible Fence installed, Augie discovered his new love--the wood chips in the flower beds. I'm talking about a dog _obsessed _with eating these things.... what a little pain in the patootie. We'd actually have to spend our whole playtime out there with him "guarding" the wood chips. Then I got the idea of sticking one of his Invisible Fence training flags in each of the flower beds, and now he just avoids them--problem solved. I realize that doesn't help you any , just wanted to let you know the Cara isn't alone in her wood chip eating. Augie also likes to eat rocks, but that's another story!


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## RickGibbs

Samson has always loved bark chips...and yeah, we've dug our share of them out of his mouth. But I'd much rather he chew them than the rocks.


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## Baileysmom

Bailey used to pick up mulch on the way out of the house to the yard and on the way back in. I was constantly digging in his mouth to take pieces of mulch out. One week we worked on "leave it" at obedience class. Now, remarkably, I say leave it and he does. I just realized that!


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## RickGibbs

Baileysmom said:


> Bailey used to pick up mulch on the way out of the house to the yard and on the way back in. I was constantly digging in his mouth to take pieces of mulch out. One week we worked on "leave it" at obedience class. Now, remarkably, I say leave it and he does. I just realized that!


Samson did learn that he can't have rocks. There's been times when I thought he had a rock, and it was just bark, and he acts like I'm crazy for taking it.....like, "What? It's not a rock...."


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## njb

Julie has drug whole logs in the house--through the pet door...I was more amazed than mad.


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## Maggies mom

Mine are forever finding bark,wood chips, rocks sticks, pine cones.... and always eating them.....


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## pb1221

I would watch carefully as we had a bad experience with bark. Murphy actually pulled pieces of bark off of our tree and got very sick. She was throwing up and became dehydrated quickly. X-rays were taken but inconclusive so we watched her for days and she was on a variety of meds. Everything was finally ok with no blockage but there could have been one.

I am very anal (no pun intended) about bark, sticks etc. as both of my goldens not only chew it but swallow it as well.

Good luck!


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## Carsonsdaddy

Carson does the same thing with wood chips. We try to discourage it because our last dog did the same thing(must be a dog thing), but kept bringing them in the house and making a mess of the carpet. It is annoying and i've tried to get all the chips out of the yard, but he keeps finding them somewhere...maybe he has a stash.


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## Rocky

I was just reading through this thread because Rocky loves eating wood. He brings me all kinds of branches and bark from outside. He does not chew on any furniture, but does like to eat on my kids wooden puzzles and my sons wooden train set. Lots of ruined pieces. 
Is there some sort of dog chew toy that tastes like wood? If not, we should invent one.....looks like it would be a big seller!
Has anyone tried that biter apple spray or anything like that that has helped? To help save the rest of our train set and puzzles-lol


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## Molly's Mom

Molly also loves the garden mulch. She can't get to it now because it's covered with snow, but back when she was a wee pup she kept picking it up. My outdoor invisible fence is going in tomorrow and they are fencing off the garden beds. Hopefully that will take care of the problem. So far, she hasn't become sick from chewing on any of the chips.


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## LaurJen

Rocky said:


> Has anyone tried that biter apple spray or anything like that that has helped? To help save the rest of our train set and puzzles-lol



Augie loves the taste of Bitter Apple, but some dogs hate it. The only problem with spraying it on your kids' toys is that it would work the same way with them if they put the toys in their mouths. Although... I guess that could be a good thing


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## greg bell

I have read that you need to watch out for cocoa mulch.. that it is toxic to dogs.. it is sold in a variety of places.. 
could be an urban legend, but I have read it numerous places..


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## Rocky

LaurJen said:


> Augie loves the taste of Bitter Apple, but some dogs hate it. The only problem with spraying it on your kids' toys is that it would work the same way with them if they put the toys in their mouths. Although... I guess that could be a good thing


So, I went out yesterday and got that Bitter Apple and fortunately, Rocky does not like it. I sprayed my daughters one wooden puzzle and he tried to go for it and after trying to bite it he immediately dropped it and started shaking his head and licking his mouth. It was actually pretty comical.
And LJ, you are right, it might help my daughter keep it out of her mouth, too!

On another note.....When I took Rocky to the pet store with me to get the Bitter Apple, he did pretty good with socializing. He was still afraid of most dogs, but he was starting to let some other people pet him. I noticed he is not afraid of kids at all (probably because I have three of my own). And I noticed that the men he is more afraid of. The cashiers just loved him and had him do some tricks and gave him some treats. I was very pleased by the time I left on how well he did


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## DaisyMay's mom

*my Daisy does this too!*

Daisy, my 10 week old does the same thing, except she has tried to eat rocks from our backyard in addition to bark, twigs and sticks. No good way to stop her other than yanking her leash back and telling her no and fishing out the stick from her mouth. I assume they eventually outgrow this??


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo

Gregg, it's true! Sorry, saw your post after replying.

I'm sure someone has mentioned this, but do not let them eat coco mulch. We were able to purchase mulch last year which contains none of the recycled pressure treated woods. I believe it is Scott's and $1.00 USD more a bag, but well worth it.


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## Goldndust

I'm not really sure what that tam bark is, but it isn't good they chew on any of it especially when there eating it also. You have too be concerned with slivers. As for out growing it, it may happen but I would be out there with her each time to redirect because I think it will get more reinforced otherwise.


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