We've been getting ready for a drought and have composted our garden with cow manure and tree mulch. We can't stop our labrador from eating this - we sent him to the kennels for 4 days when we couldn't be home with him. But he still ate enough yesterday that he's upset his tummy. We don't know what to do to stop this behaviour.
Hi and welcome to the forum Are you able to keep your dog inside the house and just take him outside on lead until the manure breaks down a bit and is less attractive? Over time it should lose its appeal. After having had a similar experience to you with chicken poo based pelleted fertiliser (an irresistible delicacy to a Labrador!) I no longer use manure based mulches unless they are fenced off (which for me is on my fenced in veggie gardens). Anywhere my dog can go I use mulches that he won't eat, like sugar cane, pea straw, lucerne hay (alfalfa), leaf litter, straw... Anything plant based but not animal based. I'm sure you've already come to the same conclusion though!
Hi Rachel Thanks for your advice. We tried keeping Merlin inside and taking him out on a lead but we had to go out on Saturday for a couple of hours. There was no way we could leave him inside ... he was not a happy camper that night. On Sunday I resorted to booking him into the kennels for the week. We both work so couldn't be home with him during the day. Come the weekend we will dog/puppy proof a fenced off area of the garden that is sheltered and has his dog house. We'll just have to do the best we can until the manure has broken down - there's too much to remove it. Then I will be doing as you suggested and only using plant based mulches and trying to find a non dog tempting fertiliser....
You may well find he eats that too. We fenced off the vegetable garden. I know some people have very large gardens and that's hard to do. Now if only we could keep the crows and squirrels from throwing stuff out of the compost pile.
My Merlin eats everything he can find in the garden; we really can't have him out there unsupervised as he loves to chew up sticks and is forever bringing lumps of moss or earth into the house to eat in peace... I can't even imagine what it would be like if we used manure... In answer to your question, for now I think you will just have to have a safe, fenced-off area he can be in, where he can't access the delicious cow and chicken manure.
