I need a little help or maybe a lot of it.

[mbfrench]

It is one of the hardest times in raising a pup,trying to keep them out of trouble by putting things in thier mouths. I know for us here since we have had Trapp,it has proven to be an exhausting venture at times. Since our yard is so large,there are many things that we are constantly watching him to keep away from.

He had an immediate fasination with a tree stump in the middle of the yard,and would chew on the stump,so I covered it with the wheel barrel..now he runs around the wheel barrel barking!!

But I know what ya'll are saying,it can be exhausting,and we can't possibly watch them 24/7

 

[Caro]

Since you mentioned Victoria Stillwell I'll mention her again. I love her show! There was an episode on less than a week ago that showed where a woman was having a problem with her pugs. She told the woman that getting a dog to not eat something was one of the hardest behaviors to break. The pugs were eating poop, but she used red flags to train them to stay away from it.

So how do the red flags work? We haven't got her US series here (and the DVD of series 1 will only be for region 1 - I wanted it for xmas).

 

[corbinam]

From what I remember about the red flag episode, you train it like you do the leave it command. As soon as the dog would look away from the flag, you would treat/reward. After a while, the dog starts to realize that they should "leave" the flags. They started to avoid them by the end of the show.

 

[BarbV]

What? Am I supposed to go out to the backyard and stake out each poop spot with a red flag! Heck! I might as well just pick it up!

I guess I'm missing something.

Seriously, I think it's just knowing your dog and eyeballing the house for his favourite things to chew. But if your dog is still in teething phase or really a nasty chewer, then you really do need to keep your eye on him or crate when you can't watch him.

 

[pogopup]

I saw that episode too! I didn't really get the whole red flag thing either, unless it was to flag it while they are doing their business and then go back and pick it up-but watching it made more sense. They had 5 poo-eating pugs.

But Barb, I can tell you that the consistency of the poo didn't really lend itself to be "picked up"

 

[labgirl]

You could try changing his food. Sometimes a deficiency in the food will cause a dog to seek out other food sources. This can happen even on complete diets. A friend's dog recently had an upset stomach and was starved then put on chicken and rice for a few days. For the first time in this life (he is 3) he began eating dog poo. However as soon as he went back on his normal food and was getting normal-sized meals it simply stopped.

Before changing to the BARF diet Cadbury was prone to eating horse poo on the beach. That has now ceased and he will walk straight by it, but he can't resist cat poo if he finds it in the garden.

He also has a plastic fetish and will consume any toy made of soft plastic and then sick it up again at 5am. Ah lovely.

I would try changing diet, a different food may be all he needs. Add a little hot water to dry food to increase the smell and make it more palpable. I would not let him off lead where he will have opportunities to scavenge because it has probably become a habit for him. Teaching a leave command could help, you could also try walking him passed rubbish on a lead and praising him and rewarding him for not touching it.

But at the end of the day, unfortunately dogs are scavengers and while we can curb their desires it might not be possible to completely stop it. I say that as the owner of a chocolate lab that WILL eat ANYTHING!!!

 

[Smudge]

What? Am I supposed to go out to the backyard and stake out each poop spot with a red flag! Heck! I might as well just pick it up!

I guess I'm missing something.

The red flags were only used because there were so many dogs. The main point was the leave it command.

I've read lots of different reasons why dogs eat their own stuff. I've heard that it could be because they're not getting the right nutrition, they have worms, or they are doing it because they've seen you pick the poop up to dispose of it. I don't know how true any of that is though.

I am glad this is the one thing Smudge will not eat!

 

[Caro]

Victoria also gives dogs that eat their own poo fresh pineapple as it makes it taste really yucky.

Mine both eat poo - Deska mainly roo and Tully has moved from roo to rabbit. My feeling is they are eating the poo of the animal they like to chase most. Tully now prefers to chase rabbits over roos, Deska only chases kangaroos and doesnt care about rabbits. I guess it fulfills some primal urge. Haven't met a dog yet in my area that doesnt chow on wildlife droppings. Mine two are actually more selective than most dogs about what poo they eat. They used to eat horse poo as well as horse food. I give them oats now on a regular basis and that, combined with the horse poo making them sick, seems to have cured them of the horse stuff.

 

[Calliesmom]

Victoria also gives dogs that eat their own poo fresh pineapple as it makes it taste really yucky.

Mine both eat poo - Deska mainly roo and Tully has moved from roo to rabbit. My feeling is they are eating the poo of the animal they like to chase most. Tully now prefers to chase rabbits over roos, Deska only chases kangaroos and doesnt care about rabbits. I guess it fulfills some primal urge. Haven't met a dog yet in my area that doesnt chow on wildlife droppings. Mine two are actually more selective than most dogs about what poo they eat. They used to eat horse poo as well as horse food. I give them oats now on a regular basis and that, combined with the horse poo making them sick, seems to have cured them of the horse stuff.

we tried the pineapple- not sure how much they were supposed to get but Callie was still eating poo. they did love the pineapple though. talked to the vet about it and he said the main ingredient in the stop-poo stuff that he has is MSG- said I could buy it in the grocery store for much cheaper than the vet stuff. 1/2-1 tsp on the food for 20-40 lb range. We have only just started with it so we'll keep you posted.