Im really trying to stop her and telling her to leave it which is a command she understands but once she gets her teeth into it there's no stopping her. Any ideas and also is it particularly bad for her? Also, I live in the country so any and most walks we encounter have sheep poo!
Sam used to do this too , but deer poo ! He is very hooked on ball play , so I always made sure I had his ball and let him carry it , this seemed to distract and distraction is what its all about .It is a tough job , especially once they have gotten into the habit , but carrying something worked x
Good luck. Xena's not a hold-things-in-her-mouth er so all I do is walk over to her and haul her away by the harness. We're urban so only ever come across cat and human I'm sure if we came across horse or sheep or cow or fox she'd be in guns blazing. I'm hoping that she grows out of it because I'm overwhelmed at the prospect of training her out of it.
It is possible that she wild grow out of it but I certainly wouldn't hold my breath . It is training that will stop her picking up poo etc either with a 'leave it', 'drop it' or 'give' depending upon substance. It isn't a quick fix but most definitely better than hauling on a harness to remove her - that is not the purpose of a harness and from a training viewpoint it certainly is not recommended to haul dogs around.
She does not understand your 'leave it' cue (not command). If she did, she would leave sheep poo - but only before she has it in her mouth. Not after. There is a massive difference between 'leave it' before a dog has taken something into its mouth, and 'leave it' once a dog has taken something, particularly if it views that something as food, into its mouth. Leave it generally means (although of course it can mean whatever it is you have trained it to mean) 'do not pick that up'. It does not mean 'stop eating that food'. 'Stop eating that food' or 'give me the food you are eating' is massively more difficult to train than 'leave it'. It is the difference between 'do not pick up that sausage' and 'go and get that sausage, don't eat it, and give it to me'. The best way to train a dog to leave food that it is eating is with an interrupter cue. This is a cue that means 'quick! I am about to throw the most amazing food in the other direction' - or some such thing.
I use a "leave it" cue before Hattie attempts to pick up animal poo then she gets a great treat from me so it works for us. I watch her like a hawk as we walk through sheep fields etc. that way I can see from her body language if she is going to try to eat it, she can now walk through these fields without eating rabbit, sheep etc. poo as she is watching me for a better reward It does work but it takes time.
Tatze's delicacy was horse poo, which we come across every day. I taught 'leave it' if I spotted the poo before she did. I'm glad to say she grew out of it and walks right past now. Gypsy adored sheep poo and, if she got the chance, she would eat so much it made her gassy with horrible stinky farts!
I also find leave it only works before Lucky starts eating something. If he has it in his mouth already and I'm too late with my leave it, he swallows it and then comes to me. He doesn't understand that this wasn't what I wanted, and looks expectantly to see if he'll get a treat for doing what I asked. I don't think it's bad for her. Mine eats human poo if he finds it, and never seems to have any problems after. Other than being a bit confused that no one wants to go near him for the rest of the day.
We have sheep and goat poo everywhere. I pick my battles and don't really worry about it. They're wormed regularly. Shadow doesn't eat it at all, Willow used to be a monster for it, but has grown out of it for the most part. I did quite a bit of "leave it" with her, but, to be honest, I didn't want to spend my time nagging at her or being on high alert. Luna has a bit of a nibble, and when she's on lead, I work on her ignoring it so we can walk past without her pulling towards it.
Bailey used to eat rabbit poo and fox poo. Our vet wasn't worried about the rabbit poo (said it was considered as dangerous as salad!) but was more concerned about the fox poo. We trained leave it, and used to watch Bailey like a hawk. He then started to sniff and.....roll in the damn stuff!!! I must admit to being torn...did I prefer him to eat it and then spend the day avoiding being licked, or washing it out of his coat, heaving with streaming eyes....but he now hasn't rolled in fox poo for about two months . I'm hoping he's grown out of it now.
On our walks we generally encounter poo from sheep, cow, horse, rabbit, wild boar, fox and several species of deer. Holly sees most as edible, rollable or both. Four years of "NO", pulling her away and rewarding her when she leaves it have had .... well... some effect but she still finds it attractive. Once we've gone through the early evening gas attacks Holly's poo is normally solid and unaffected by these non-food additions to her diet.
