# My dog vomits after eating snow. How do I prevent this?



## TheOneAndOnly (Dec 12, 2010)

I had a family member go to my dog's doctor this morning and the doctor said that as long as your dog is eating and drinking fine, then there's nothing really to worry about. I know some dogs don't eat snow while others love it.

When I take her outside to relieve herself, before she relieves, she wants to eat snow. She eats quite a bit of snow for a couple minutes then she relieves herself. The doctor said the snow could be filled with dirt and that could be why she vomits liquid an hour or two later. She doesn't vomit her food, its all liquid.

A couple things that I've done was trying to train her the "Leave It" technique. I hold a treat to her nose, I say to her, "Pumpkin, Leave it." I drop the treat, she looks at for five seconds, I click the clicker, then I give her the treat. I keep doing that for about five minutes.

I've also tried to create a path for her so she can relieve herself and for the most part, she does follow the path.

I haven't leashed her when outside because before the snow, I didn't think it was necessary since we have a fenced in front yard.

Any help is greatly appreciated.


----------



## ACampbell (Oct 7, 2007)

Don't let her eat snow? 

I know, that's not helpful. If she's eating tons of snow and then puking it up in the house, I'd leash her to go out and not allow her to eat it, if she doesn't go to the bathroom quickly enough to suit you, bring her back in, crate her for 15-20 minutes, and try again. Teach her that eating snow is not part of going out to use the bathroom, who knows what's under the snow, but I doubt it's just the snow that causes her to wretch.


----------



## TheOneAndOnly (Dec 12, 2010)

The thing is, we don't crate her. We tried crating her a while back and she didn't like it so we gave up on that. 

I hadn't thought of this, but I could use a clicker which creates positive enforcement. If she starts to eat snow then I use the clicker, she looks me and I give her a treat. Anybody ever tried that? 

If you want to know, we feed her Nature's Logic Chicken Dinner meal. She's liked it before but then once it started to snow, she eats some snow then vomits an hour or two later. It's odd because I know snow is harmless to them, but my dog must have a sensitive stomach. The vomit has a white color to it. I know it has to do with the snow. She eats fine, she drinks water just fine, she's active during certain parts of the day.


----------

