I was wondering if anyone has any experience of training/retraining a dog with pica?

My brother has a chocolate lab, who must be coming up to a year now. So far he has had surgery for 3 foreign bodies, rat poison ingestion, and has passed at least 4 pairs of pants where it wasnt even known he had eaten them.

When they are not at home, he has his own dog proof room, with suitable toys and chews etc. Or he is caged if its for a short period of time.

However, when he is with them in a split second he can grab and swallow items. He seems to have a liking for underwear, but anything he can fit in his mouth is fair game. He will climb in the bath and eat the soap if he can. He eats soil outside, although that mainly centres around digging up the garden and wrecking the plants.

He doesnt guard the item, if you catch him with it and ask him to leave he will. He tends to do it in the second your attention isnt on him. For instance my brother bent over to pick something up, and he grabbed and swallowed some foam.

He has been delcared medically sound by the vet, and they were referred to a behaviourist who's only suggestion was to muzzle him at all times. They are currently muzzle training him, which isnt going well, but they dont want this to be a permanent solution as they dont feel its fair on him as it means that even in their company he isnt free to chew or play with his toys.

On the whole, hes pretty well trained. As far as i know he is fed breed specific Royal Canin. He gets plenty of exercise (maybe too much - but its all offlead) and is a good weight.

__________________

I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,
I will work to elevate you
just enough to bring you down

Is there something safe that they get make him carry around the house with him at all times? Sounds a bit daft, but they could choose a safe object (dumbell?) and train him to just hold and carry it around with him whenever he's around a potentially scoffable source!

It would obviously need to be a very good game for him, though. Lots of encouragement from the owners, some tug with it perhaps, and slowly increasing the time spent with it in his mouth, rewarding him for his best performances handsomely- food, lots of tug etc.

Another thing, which is self-evident and probably already being done, is to try and not leave anything around which he can eat. But from the sounds of things he will eat anything!

Oh yeah, i missed out a vital bit; he had major surgery on his jaw as a puppy (he was injured in the first few weeks of his life it is suspected) and as a result his jaw is crooked, and he has already had many adult teeth removed to allow him to close his mouth properly. He either doesnt like, or isnt allowed (i forget which) to play tugging games. I'd have to ask if he is allowed to hold things.
He cannot drink properly either, and has to dunk his face in the bowl to get water.

They are extremely careful about leaving things lying around, but it just takes a second with him.

Sadly he is really resisting the muzzle at the moment.

__________________

I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well.
I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,
I will work to elevate you
just enough to bring you down