What can be reasons for it?

There can be many different reasons a dog shows Pica related behaviours.

These can include reasons related to:

• Pain including hip dysplasia
• Health challenge such as a GI problem
• Boredom
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Diet
• Attention-seeking behaviour
• Exploring
• Being separated from their mother too early
• Compulsive reasons

Pain

In terms of pain looking out for any signs of lameness, changes in gait or difficulty jumping can be helpful. However, signs can wax and wane so even if the body changes look less severe, it doesn’t mean they have been eradicated. Dogs mask pain very well so taking videos to look at their gait then slowing it down with an app to look for any abnormalities is key. Freework can also be great for this to see if there are any areas a dog avoids under foot. 

Making changes to the home can also be a great first aid tool (so any undiagnosed pain is not exacerbated while working with a vet). 

This is a great paper on pain and problem behaviour.

Gastrointestinal issues can cause pain and pica can be an attempt to relieve these issues.

Boredom

Dogs need a job otherwise they can become self employed! There are lots of ways you can incorporate mental stimulation into your dogs life. It will be dependent on them as an individual but here are some ideas ( as always they would need to be supervised)

·      If your dog picks up stones don’t have chews that break up into tiny pieces.

·      Scentwork activities where they find food around the garden can be fun.

·      For some dogs ostrich bones work well – as they do not spliter.

·      XXL kongs that are frozen with your dogs food can be long lasting.

·      Feeding your dog wet food on a licky mat and their dry out of a hard puzzle feeder can help bust boredom too.

Anxiety and stress and phycological deficiencies 

Quite often stress can be linked with this behaviour. Writing your dogs triggers and working on them individually can sometimes have a knock on effect. Triggers can include noises, separation related problems, other dogs. Pain can make dogs more grumpy and less tolerant and can therefore add to stress and overall anxiety.

Nutritional deficiencies

Sometimes dogs engage in this behaviour due to an imbalance. Your vet will be able to advise, sometimes a blood test or stool sample can diagnose this. Sometimes dogs engage in coprophagia (poo eating!), and again this can be due to a nutritional deficiency. 

Nutritional information about food

A good quality diet will be dependent on many factors and can really vary with different diets of the same food being of different quality in the same way you may compare eating Doritos to Kettle chips.

The motivational value of the food may differ depending on the type of food.

Food amounts

I would follow the manufacturers guidelines on the amount of food provided. I would also use weighing scales to determine how much dried food is provided a day to ensure the same amounts are provided each time so there is consistency and behaviour isn’t related to feeling hungry.

Good quality food ingredients

A high meat content and vegetable content.

Things to look out for that indicate poorer food quality

Animal by products – this could be anything from beaks and feathers.

Animal derivatives these could be "All the fleshy parts of slaughtered warm-blooded land animals, fresh or preserved by appropriate treatment, and all products and derivatives of the processing of the carcass or parts of the carcass of warm-blooded land animals". 

Artificial colourings – just like children they can cause hyperactivity  and reduced attention span in dogs. 

Pancreatic enzyme deficiency

Symptoms of this can include soft or bulky faeces, excessive appetities, weight loss and vomiting. Hair on the coat around the tail may appear greasy. It can be diagnosed by a blood and stool sample.

Attention-seeking behaviour 

Some dogs do it and look at you as they have been positively reinforced – spoken to, touched, given a treat. However some dogs may look at you because they are anticipating to be told off (they may still have an internal reason to do it to do with the other differentials involved), but are anticipating a response from you that’s not attention seeking but potentially worried.

Exploratory behaviour observed to increase with age

A dog can learn to do this behaviour after repeating it many times. It can become habitual. Some dogs if they don’t have appropriate things to chew on (dogs need to chew, lick and shred), will find their own things to chew,

Premature maternal separation

If a dog is separated too early from their mother, and or the mother experiences stress when pregnant this could potentially pre dispose a dog to a more anxious temperament.

Compulsive disorders

Sometimes a dog can experience other challenges such as licking objects, pacing , circling, fly snapping or shadow chasing or barking too.

Training and management

Providing training such as, muzzle training where necessary and not leaving key items around so a dog is not rehearsing a behaviour can help while other reasons are investigated.

If you need help please reach out.

References

Karen Overall, 1997. Clinical behavioural medicine for small animals. 

Landsberg et al, 2003. Handbook of behaviour problem.

BSAVA Canine and Feline Behavioural Problems and the Blackwell 5-Minute Behavioural Consult.

Mills (2020), Pain and Problem Behaviour in Cats and Dogs. Available at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/2/318