Hi there I am looking for some advice on what to do with my 22 month old, poo eating labrador, Hamish. He developed this habit from a young age, despite me cleaning up immediately every time he went to the toilet. He would eat his own if he got the chance and when he's out for a walk, will eat any other poo he finds. As soon as he's off lead he's on a mission to find it. He will not eat just one or two, he will eat as many as he can find. I have tried distracting him with games and toys during our walk but he will chase the toy, then drop it if he sees a poo to eat. I've tried roast chicken and other tasty treats with "leave" command, but he'll leave poo, take the reward, then try and go back for poo! He is very good at "leave" command in house. I've tried several types of muzzle but he eats it through the muzzle and it ends up stuck all over muzzle. I've tried keeping him on the lead but he doesn't get the exercise he needs and I feel bad for him. Hamish came from working dogs and I'm wondering if he feels he is missing his purpose in life and is seeking poo to fulfil some need in himself. He is on John Burns sensitive kibble food. Please help! Any suggestions gratefully received.
No. It's definitely not this I would say, if it's that frantic, it could well be that something is missing from his diet. Have you tried any different foods? It could also be that it's been going on so long that it's formed a habit. We'd normally recommend training a strong "leave it "cue and work on leaving food that's on the floor, but I think you have a hard journey ahead of you since it's been going on so long, sorry
Hi @Fifi, just to say you are not alone, I have a similar problem with Cassie who is also coming up to 2. She has sometimes eaten her own poo but has got a lot better lately, since I started calling her to me as soon as soon as she has pooed and giving her a reward so I could clean it up before she does. Just lately she seems to have stopped this, but I still clean it up most of the time. She too will hunt out the poo from one particular dog, so annoying, I know. I do a lot of keeping her close games which does help to a degree, but of course she knows where it is and I don't. Is it possible for you to walk in areas that are less populated by dogs, I am lucky that I do have such access. Do you do any other training with him such as a class or gundog group? I only ask because I find that these things not only are fun to do together, good for the bond, but mean that poo eating isn't an option. Another thing that I find helps is walking with other dogs sometimes as this is so exciting for her that she's less interested snacking
I have the same problem with Jubilee., even with a good “leave it” she’ll get a quick bite or just go hunting for more. It’s frustrating spending off leash time saying “leave it” and watch her poo hunting instead of running around and playing. She rarely gets distracted by toys or games. She gets lots of training. It’s worse now that some of the snow is melted and has exposed lots of goodies. The deer are also concentrated in the newly opened fields. It was more fun walking her when I had to snowshoe and the poop was buried. I agree that walking with other dogs helps, but we don’t often get the opportunity to walk with other dogs. It also helps to find a poo free area. My sister also has a poo eating lab and she cleans up the dog park before she takes her dog in! I just wanted you to know that other people share your frustration.
Somebody else to commiserate with you. Xena's a cat poo eater (and human, when she can get it), so I actually consider myself lucky. And like @pup-pup she's not distracted by toys or games. She's mostly walked on lead and she still manages to snaffle some - 3 on this morning's walk alone! I'm vigilant too, but I don't want to be on high alert every time she goes for a sniff, so every sniff is like playing Russian roulette - will it be just a good smell, or will it be poo? NOBODY KNOWS. I didn't realise she had a cat poo problem until it became a problem, if you know what I mean. She's my first dog, so I didn't realise that I had to be on alert for anything other than dog poo. And then bam, your dog's developed a habit :/
I can really empathise with everyone on this thread, I've written many times on the forum about what an avid poo eater Ripple is. We also do the walks when it appears his sole purpose in life is to hunt out poo, yesterday he rang back across a field to eat some he had spotted at the entrance. We're also struggling at the moment with the poo exposed by the melting snow, not to mention the owners that let their dogs poo on the mounds of snow that have been piled on the pavements and then just leave it there . Yesterday afternoon there was a very rude sign stuck in some poo on somebody's doorstep and when I was reading it the guy from the house leapt out the front door and said 'I've got cctv you know'. And this morning at 7am whilst I was trying to get Ripple past all the poo and shouted for the tenth time 'for goodness sake leave it Ripple' somebody came out their gate and peered at me. Then someone else came out their house and started clearing the poo I'd been trying to get him to leave, all the while looking pointedly down the road at me. So now I'm feeling guilty for other people's dogs poo .
Don't you have nothing to feel guilty about. And as for CCTV if they've been filming you without having sign up stating CCTV is in operation it is s no no check with your local council. People have no right to harasse you
My girl was a poo eater - rabbit, horse, cow, duck luckily not her own or other dogs. I trained a magic word which worked from some weeks even though I did feel stupid calling 'Bingo' every few minutes. The magic word then stopped working not sure why but I think it was the added temptation of lots of duck poo around the lake. I then went back to 'leave' and used a 5m longline on all walks and vigilance. If she stopped for a sniff I was right there beside her to check. I used a different high value treat every day to reinforce my treat was better than poo. It wasn't a short fix, it took weeks and weeks but we got there. You just have to remain patient, be consistent and try and maintain a sense of humour but every day without a bit of poo is a success.
But of course if he'd really had cctv he'd have known it wasn't me. It just makes me so angry it's bad enough out in the fields and parks but so much on the pavement in our little village. But I'm still an outsider (only been here 17 years ) so it doesn't take much for everyone to start muttering about me (might be getting a bit paranoid ).
@Jojo83 we've done the magic word thing and found the same as you. I'm currently using a long line or sometimes a muzzle but I like to let Ripple run around and have a chase of his ball. Probably stupid as that's how we've ended up in the duck/seagull/anything else dead situation.
I really do sympathise @SteffiS. I wanted to see Jen running around having fun but decided that stopping the poo eating was a higher priority, so used the long line and allowed lots of sniffing and bombed along on our walks. Whenever Jen stopped to sniff I was beside her to check what was if interest. We got there and now I really can't remember the last time she snaffled anything, in fact a few months ago she went up to sniff a dead de-capitated pigeon that was lieing on the path - a very fresh kill by a local fox, she looked at me and then trotted back to me for a treat. I can't promise the same level of success to others, each time our dogs manage to gulp down some poo the behaviour is re-inforced but I do know that consistency will win the day - eventually.
I used a long line with Moo it took a long time. It was about 18 months before she was trustworthy. She was s bad girl.
I worked hard on a "leave it" cue with Hattie as we live in the countryside there is a lot of poo. Thankfully she's not interested in dog poo and my rescue dog Charlie isn't interested in any poo. Hattie will go up to a pile of horse poo, look at me and wait for a treat, sheep poo is a little more tempting but we can almost walk through a whole flock of sheep and leave the poo. I never pass a pile of poo without training, that's how sad my life is joking aside it's persistence and using every opportunity to train around poo and you will get there. Could you play a "find it" game with Hamish or throw treats in all different directions if you think he has spotted poo? x
That's something I would advise against. On one hand you are trying to stop your dog from picking up and eating something (poo) from the ground but at the same time encouraging him to eat treats from the ground. Unfortunately most dogs will struggle to see a difference in the context - nice stuff to eat on the ground . Once the poo eating us cracked it is possible to introduce a find it game.
She had other issues to it was the best way to just stop everything and start from the beginning. I needed to reduce both our stress levels and just have a nice time together, without her doing her stuff.
Yes, that's exactly what it comes down to Wonderful! But I agree there's nothing for it but to turn it into a training opportunity. Cass doesn't bother much with sheep or horse poo etc, and to be honest that doesn't bother me anyway but this other dog poo does. I think I will try the longline and high reward treats as @Jojo83 and combine with the "coming away from food" exercises in Total Recall. You know what bugs me most ? I know this dog is fed on cheap rubbish because the owners "don't believe in" pandering to the pet food market, despite the fact he has skin issues, he does the orange poo I've seen mentioned on the Forum. Also they never pick it up at all. So it's them I feel irritated with, not my darling Cassie, it's not her fault, no not ever, . She doesn't smell or fart hardly ever unless she's eaten that stuff, which makes it worse.
I think the stress caused by this issue a big problem. the more I reacted to her doing it the more she did it. In the end I decided that I didn't care if she ate poo which calmed me down and we just encourage her to walk away. She's not perfect but she 90% ok.
Totally agree. Also I can see my stress destroying my relationship with Ripple. He will also consume huge amounts of twigs and wood on our walks if allowed, so much so that sometimes he comes home and throws up enough kindling to start a fire . The wood bothers me as well as I worry it could damage his insides, but I don't know whether to be more relaxed about that or not. Every walk is like taking a metal detector out as his head constantly scans to and fro looking for anything he could possibly eat.
With Moo I just encouraged a different obsession. The only other thing she cares about is a ball. So we played ball
