If your dog is attracted to necklaces, bracelets, rings or other forms of jewelry, you are not alone.
Most pets like to play with anything dangly or sparkly, it is attractive for a reason.
What is rare is dogs chowing down on jewelry, but it happens.
Stopping this from happening you must know why it happens first.
Why Do Dogs Like Jewelry?
The simplest reason is that dogs are curious creatures, especially when they are young.
They see your jewelry dangling, tantalizingly, on your neck when you come close to pet them; and they think it is a toy.
They would reach for it, lick it, and if left alone with it, they could chew on it.
They can get carried away with the new textures, smells, or sound of it.
Your dangling bracelet or necklace is not hard to ignore.
especially for dogs who are long-sighted and depend on a motion to notice things changing in their immediate environment.
A dangling string will get their attention.
From catching their attention, the dog left to its own devices could eat the jewelry, sometimes intentionally.
And this will boil down to one of two things:
- Either your dog eats almost anything it comes across sand, tree branches, paper, or glass. This is a condition called Pica: the urge to eat things of no nutrient value. This will need a veterinarian’s intervention.
- The second would be a deficiency of Iron. If your pet keeps going for your metal jewelry specifically, they could smell the iron and need it. In this case, you would need to confirm with a veterinarian and boost their meals with iron nutrients.
The last possibility is your dog just has itchy gums and wants a hard object to scratch it.
This is a good case for chew toys. They should be around to eliminate this reason.
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What Happens If Jewelry is Ingested
1. If their curiosity goes too far, dogs could ingest the jewelry and that is where we may have a problem.
Most jewelry snaps and locks (if not the jewelry piece itself) have sharp and pointy ends that can be disruptive in the digestive tract causing obstruction or ruptures.
If this happens you should see a veterinarian (especially if it is a big piece of jewelry) to see if the ingested piece can be safely passed or surgical interventions are needed.
But before all this, it can be a choking hazard, so it is important to notice a change or recognize a choking incident when it happens.
2. Most metal jewelry is coated zinc. The slow digestion of the metal can lead to zinc slowly poisoning your pet.
If this happens, symptoms to look out for include lack of appetite, vomiting, and diarrhea.
If this is the case, once again a veterinarian is needed as soon as possible.
How To Stop Dogs Chewing Jewelry?
The best way to prevent all of this is to not encourage your dog to play with jewelry.
From research, it has been shown to work. Once they start trying to play with your jewelry you can offer them a chew toy and distract them, soon they would lose interest in your jewelry completely.
Not wearing jewelry would be an easy fix but changing our lifestyle or asking people not to wear jewelry around your dog would be a big compromise.
Not keeping jewelry in the open would be a better compromise.
Keeping them out of the open would keep your dog safe and your sentimental jewelry intact.
A form of conditioning can work by using dog repellent on or around where your jewelry is kept so they stay away or learn not to go near jewelry.
Final Thoughts
There is not much you can do to make jewelry less attractive to your pet.
but you can dissuade them by being vigilant of your possession while it is on you and where you leave it.
If the attraction to lick on your jewelry is persistent you can suspect something is wrong and seek advice from a veterinarian.
But most important of all keep your dog safe.
