u/GreenAndSparkly

We got this cutie a year ago as a puppy. Her mum was a beautiful brown Olde English Bulldog (last couple of photos), we were told the dad was an English Bullog - by now we know that is not true. She's about 55-57 cm (shoulder height) and 30 kg - bigger than her mum. Her chest and head are quite wide and she's very muscular. She had smooth coat when she was little, looks more wired now, and she has a bit of a brownish "beard". Definitely looked more bulldog-like as a puppy, with a shorter snout and wide chest. She's high energy and driven by her nose - either on the ground or in the air, all of the time, and with her tail high up. She tries to chase (birds, deer) and can tell straight away if we had visitors in our garden at night (we live at the edge of a forest). She tries to eat anything and everything (plants, sticks, stones, slugs...) When she's standing, she dips her head a lot of her time (second pic). She's very friendly and playful and focused on her people, not aggressive at all, but cautious of strangers and very scared of unfamiliar noises. She loves fetching and chasing games. Any idea what she might be?

EDIT: Mom is definitely an OEB, not a pittie, not a mix. The pics are not very good though. Her bad skin/coat was due to a bad reaction to a food brand and was getting tratment for it. It was a one-off litter, not a breeder, we are guessing an accident. All but 2 puppies (including our girl) were black with tan, so not unusual colours for bulldogs, and they all looked very similar: big heads, short snouts, wide chests, so no reason for us not to believe what we were told about the dad originally.

American breeds are not likely as we live in Germany. Staffy/Pittie mix also unlikely (that is on the list for next time!) as there are restrictions for breeds deemed "dangerous" (yes, I know, don't get me started!) in most areas in Germany.

So far we have been asked if she is a labrador, schnauzer or german wirehaired pointer mix (vet, dog trainer, pet shop). Did not have poodle (mix) on my bingo card though, interesting!

Almost a year ago we bought a bulldog* puppy. We already have a 12-year-old dog, and have had dogs most of our lives. We've done dog schools, regular training, min. 2 walks a day, garden playtime (we have a huge garden), got all sorts of indoor and outdoor dog toys, and the dogs are almost never alone (max 2 hours). So not our first rodeo 😉

*She is not a bulldog. She actually looks like a slightly smaller but more muscular labrador?-type with slightly longer/wired coat and a bit of a beard. Mom is definitely a beautiful brown Olde English Bulldog (we saw her with the pups several times), dad was ***supposedly*** a British Bulldog. We now know this was obviously not true - she definitely has some sort of high energy highly intelligent scent or hunting dog in her! So we have had to adjust somewhat... Other than the intelligence and energy, she is a very sweet friendly dog, very attached to all of us (especially our teenagers), not aggressive or posessive at all, very cautious of strangers, a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to strange noises (she panics and tries to run), quite obsessive when it comes to playing catch or retrieving a ball, and she is clearly lead by her nose - always either on the ground or in the air whenever we're outside (we live at the edge of the woods so wild animal scents are no strangers in our garden).

The problem is she tries to eat anything and everything. I mean EVERYTHING. On walks and in the garden she will pick up everything that is on the ground: poop, trash, sticks, stones (!!!)... She has a cloth muzzle for walks, but tries to "slurp" or grab stuff through it, and managed to slide it off a few times. We live at the edge of a forest there are always branches or sticks on the ground, so any piece of wood, stick or twig she finds in the garden (even still attached to the tree) she grabs and chews on it and ingests it. She eas plants (not just grass). She picks up rocks - so far I have managed to get to her before she swallowed them (or broke her teeth). She eats slugs (actually chews on them and then can't get rid of the sticky slime - so I have had to clean the inside of her mouth many times). In order to redirect her need for chewing/chomping we have tried many things, but all the chew toys we got her so far get destroyed within a short time: cuddly dog toys (which our other dog had for years) - chewed on until completely destroyed within hours and eaten in pieces (obviously taken away as soon as we noticed!); rope toys - untied, untangled, shredded and eaten (again, we take them away as soon as we see); pieces of coffe/olive/root wood (non splintering) - shredded and eaten; deer antlers - scraped out and turned to sharp shards/splinters within the hour; bones - destroyed in a very short time; any dog treats like dried rabbit/pig/cow ears, rumen, hide, etc ect) - all gone in no time. It's getting expensive... She does not chew on furniture, shoes etc, we taught her that quite early on, but her need to chew/chomp is enormous. It's definitely not due to hunger or boredom - she also does it after eating, walks, playtime, and we keep her busy with "intelligence toys" between walks and playtimes. We have tried training her to drop/leave things, but she's become very good at playing us: when she's on her long leash she behaves perfectly, as soon as it's off she feels "free" to go explore and chomp on something. Ýes, she's very clever, unfortunately. Also, even though she is extremely food motivated, it doesn't work when she's found something interesting.

Obviously our main concern is that she will eventually eat something dangerous and we want to avoid it at all cost. She loves being outside, but I cannot leave her in the garden unattended, which is a huge shame.

So dear community, any tips or tricks please???

Got this cutie as a puppy, was supposed to be a bulldog...

Our dog tries to eat everything, we've run out of training ideas. Help?