# 14 week old puppy tearing up grass



## Fozzybear

We have had the same problem with two of our Goldens. Jake who is 5-1/2 used to do it and we couldn't get him to stop. Then I remembered something my father did when I was about 6 when our family dog would go into the garden and eat peppers off the plant. He used the last pepper on the plant and cut a hole in it and put a small amount of Tabasco sauce in the pepper. Sloopy never ate another pepper again. Also worked with grass on Jake. I put a couple small drops on a tuft of grass he had just pulled out of the ground when he was distracted and when he came back to get it he got the juice. Took a couple times but worked. Also tried bitter apple but that didn't work. May be thought, by some (my wife and daughter among them), as not very humane and I may get chastised for it, but it does work.


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## Cathy's Gunner

Thanks. I'm hoping once we get some snow that it will stop at least till the grass shows again. The biggest problem is he grabs a mouth full and runs away from me. I don't chase him but I try to catch him. He will keep running back to a couple of different spots and grab more grass to eat till I can grab him and take him into the house. I tell him he is a bad boy but I know he doesn't get it, yet.


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## marieb

I don't have any suggestions unfortunately, Maddie's been doing this since she was a puppy (she's almost 10 months now). Here's a funny picture of Maddie chewing on some grass back in July.


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## Jo Ellen

I think the trick is to stop it before it happens until they outgrow it 

It is great fun though, make sure you're able to give your puppy other things to do that are equally as stimulating. A puppy's gotta play!!


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## shortcake23

cathyjobray said:


> Thanks. I'm hoping once we get some snow that it will stop at least till the grass shows again. The biggest problem is he grabs a mouth full and runs away from me. I don't chase him but I try to catch him. He will keep running back to a couple of different spots and grab more grass to eat till I can grab him and take him into the house. I tell him he is a bad boy but I know he doesn't get it, yet.


Sounds just like Mia! I was glad when it started snowing a couple of weeks ago. Now she can't really do that! 

She eats snow now though...


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## mohanclan

Cisco does the same thing. He grabs a mouthful really fast and then runs away. He won't listen to "leave-it" when I see him going for it, and he won't "give" once he has it in his mouth. He is 8 months old now and I don't know if I am ever going to be able to get him to stop. I really can't sprinkle Tabasco all over my yard. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any advice on this also!


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## Elisabeth Kazup

I used to say the Penny was going to de-thatch the lawn one puppy mouthful at a time.

I took a different spin on it and made it into a game. When she was pulling out some grass, I'd pretend to chase her. She'd get so involved in the 'catch me if you can' game that she'd forget she was trying to pull out grass.

She outgrew it over her first winter. When the grass came back, she wasn't interested in it. Our first sad little passing of puppyhood.


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## GRZ

Ziggy started pulling up grass the day I brought him home. I use an empty soda can with some pebbles in it. When he starts pulling up the grass I give the can a shake and it distracts him out of it. You can also toss the can in the general direction of the behavior (*NOT* hitting the dog with it!). I try to make sure he doesn't know that I am controlling the can but that isn't always possible. I act very aloof about it. It really works. I just hope that one day I'm not going to need him to be okay with the sound that a can with pebbles in it makes! At any rate, the soda can thing can distract from many unwanted behaviors. I use it only for really "bad" behaviors when I can't distract him any other way.


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## LucyD

All Lucy does when we go outside to play is eat grass! I throw something and she looks at it and gets back to eating grass. If I get lucky she might chase it and maybe bring it to me.


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## saab95conv

well I am speechless about this grass pulling. I never had a dog do this. Monaco is now 8 months and is tearing up my grass here in Denver. She has a ball with it. I am a gardner, its fort knox to protect my veggies and flowers, but did not expect the grass. Yikes. any other ideas other than hot sauce and rocks and cans lol. Monaco girl's mom.


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## Well Balanced Pet

Harley and Katrina used to dig when we had a smaller yard. When we moved to a larger house they had a dog run they would dig in, but never dug in the larger back yard. Maybe differentiating a digging area from non-digging will work for you?


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