Dog Eating Stuff off the Ground

[vandynole]

My dog, who is about 16 months old, has started eating stuff off the ground during our walks much more than normal. He's a hound mix, so he's always got his nose to the ground and occasionally picks up something gross. But lately, he's become much less selective and is trying to eat pretty much anything he can find (before it was just discarded food; now it's stuff like plastic bottle caps). He spits out the non-edible stuff, but I wonder why he's become such a vacuum.

Any ideas? He's been eating plenty, so I doubt he's hungry. (And even if he were hungry, he never felt the need to pick up so much trash before.)

 

[Louise_H]

I have the exact same problem with my 4 month old jack russell, Holly. The only thing that I find helps is to get her to carry a toy around in her mouth or a stick, but sometimes she just drops it and picks up like 15 objects in a few seconds! I also try walking fast so she doesn't have much time. You're lucky he spits out the non-edible stuff, Holly just tries to swallow everything. Do you take toys out and play with him? It may be a bordom thing? He may see it as a game?