HI - I have two, male, black virtually perfect (I am biased!) 2 year old labs. They have great recall, retrieving, are well behaved around other dogs and people...all great except - they eat each other's poop! I am going out of my head over this. We have a large garden, but I cannot leave them alone to run around together without watching them like a hawk as you can guarantee that, no matter how many times they have already 'been' that day, they will definitely go again, leaving me to go running out of the house to get to the poop before they do! It is really driving me crazy. I have tried food supplements and extensive training. They will 'leave it' if we catch them in time and tell them firmly. When we are out on a walk (we have woods next to our house that only we use and they can run around with the deer, rabbits etc) they will also leave the poo alone, but today, one of them ran off to do his circuit of running with the ball to bring it back to me, but stopped half way to snaffle up the poop he found in the bushes that the other one had done 20 minutes earlier! We clean up in the garden immediately they have done something and obviously on the rare occasions we walk down the public lane, but it is exhausting not being able to let them out in the garden to run around or just get some fresh air without standing in the cold watching them, ready to pounce. Even last thing at night we are out in all weathers (snow and minus 10 a week or so ago) with a torch to check where they have done it and to pick it up. I know this can be a common problem but would love to hear from someone who has managed to stop it. They are not interested in other dog's poo either, just each other's or their own. The younger of the two has always done it, but the older one (only by 2 months) only started when he was about a year old. On Saturday, I had taken my eye off them for a minute and the older one actually brought me the poop into the house and dropped it at my feet as a present! HELP!!!
I read on here a reply to someone in a similar situation that some food makes their poo smell to the dogs nose the same as their food. It is not broken down so well I guess. Have you tried a different food or even raw ?
They’ve been on different varieties of food - the same as each other, different etc. It hasn’t made any difference! Haven’t tried raw - not confident doing it myself and readymade stuff is far too expensive for two big dogs!
Having been through it for 12 years with my previous lab I sympathise. I never did find a solution but it was other dogs not his own so the garden was not a problem. Toby does it occasionally and it tends to be on one particular walk and probably the same selfish owner not picking up. I would have another look at raw. The poo produced is very small and crumbly compared with kibble fed. We live quite close to the Nutriment distributer and if you buy in bulk(80kg) you get a 30% discount. Obviously need a big freezer for that.Maybe see if you have a local supplier that will give you discount for bulk buying and buy a cheap second hand freezer for the garage. It’s certainly worth a try and if it works great. Also try to stay relaxed around the dogs. My other lab used to find assorts of ways of getting there first and I think it became a bit of a game for him. Toby will even wee next to the selected item and run back to it when he thinks I’m not looking! Very devious!
