Further to my post to ask about the number of feeds given to your @ 4 month old pups earlier. Can any lab owners provide advice on how they cured/improved their poo eating labs? I’ve read the Labrador site notes on poo eating this evening that has suggested that females are worse (tick) and that it maybe worth switching to a higher protein kibble (gradually of course) or perhaps a raw diet change. Just wondering what experience others have or if their pup grew out of it?
Sorry to tell you my boy is still an avid poo eater at two and a half. He doesn't eat his own poo but just about every other poo he can find - other dogs, deer, fox, cat, sheep, the list is endless. He is fed a mix of high quality kibble (Millie's Wolfheart) and raw, the change of food made no difference. We have an ongoing 'leave it' training program, fine when he's on lead but off lead I have very little control. Probably not what you wanted to hear .
To be honest any experience is interesting because you’ve been there, done it, tried it etc. I will try the diet advice and give it a go. I will also give the ‘magic word’ a go, anything’s worth a try! We practice ‘leave’ training all the time when out but she has selective hearing when it comes to poo! Although she’s not interested in dog poo which is something
My girl, now 15 months, ate her own poo for a fair few months. I became expert at pouncing on the poo in the split second that she moved away from it and I would scoop it up. I can't remember when she stopped, but I didn't try anything particular to stop her, she just grew out of it. She will still eat rabbit poo, sheep, cow and horse poo too but much, much less often than she once did and is much more responsive, generally, to "leave it!" But she's constantly on the sniff for human food left discarded and it's harder to distract her from this.
I could never quite manage to stop our last Lab having a nibble at rabbit poo but he did stop eating cow, horse etc, partly because of the volume at which I would shout "AAHH" at him whenever he opened his mouth near it. "Leave it" never seemed to work in this circumstance. It did give him the runs, too, though nothing else seemed to. Sometimes their ears are rendered inactive by the smells which tempt them! My new pup has not yet encountered any, so I will have to wait and see. I will be mortified if he is a dog poo eater, though. One of our doggie friends is seemingly incurable and is hardly ever off leash as a result.
Holly is still a poo eater. We stopped her eating her own poo by following her into the garden and clearing it immediately. It broke the habit. It got us until the habit of clearing every poo straight away, something we still do. Now all we have to do is stop her eating every other animal's poo.
I've luckily not had to deal with a dog who ate dog or cat poo. My girls definitely like to chow down on a bit of sheep, horse, cow or - so I've recently found - wild boar! That's so good, it's even worth crunching up when it's frozen! Hehe. It doesn't bother me, to be honest, so I'm very relaxed about the training I do. My dogs are all wormed and they don't have enough to be worried about medications etc that might be in the poo. If they're eating it near me, I'll distract with a game, these days usually something like "scatter". They love the scatter game (literally, scattering a handful of kibble on the floor and shouting "SCATTER!"), so they'll give it up for that. Willow very rarely eats it anymore, and Luna is getting better. I put this down to not making it into a huge deal, but the consequence of poo being on the floor is there's a game of scatter next to Mum. So, over time, as they find poo, they may have a little nibble, but then it's straight to me for a game. I am less calm about human poo. Hiking in the mountains, you come across this more often than you'd imagine and the girls have noses to find it from a huge distance away. Of course, the people have generally gone into the woods, and sometimes made some effort to cover it, but it's not enough! In general, our mountains are pretty rocky, so there's no digging holes to bury it; generally people just pile a few rocks over it. Definitely not enough to keep a determined Labrador away. By the time I know they've done it, it's normally too late. How do I know? Oh, you know. You know.
it's difficult !! Cass has been an own poo eater, but I am doing as others have and pick up scrupulously. At least with their own you know where it is . She will mostly walk past other dog poo with a disgusted look on her face, but not always, and I have recently hit a problem with a new dog being exercised in the same woods-- she can sniff his out yards away and will ignore recall . I have had some success with using ''magic hands'' in the area most likely to be a problem, to keep her with me, but it's not fool proof as I don't know where the poo is! I'm not bothered about sheep, horse, cow etc, and she doesn't bother with it -- duck, goose and otter she likes but I don't mind about those.
Thanks everyone. I did speak to the vet today about it when she was being wormed!! She wasn’t at all concerned and just reassured me that it was perfectly natural especially for a puppy! As I said she’s up to date with her worming tablets which is the main thing! She just sees rabbit and cat poo as a delicacy obviously I did try using the ‘magic word’ today during our walk as advised on the Labrador Site which had a good effect. I can happily say that no cat poo passed her lips but I think she did sneak in a few bunny poos. So I will keep practicing it and will see how it goes.
I swear, I've seen so many of these exact forums! I'm glad I'm not alone in having a poo eater! Thankfully - I guess? - Teller confines his dog poo eating to our yard, only has a taste for his and his Shih Tzu sister's droppings. Geese, rabbit, and deer poo are the only type he will eat when 'enjoying' nature lol. He used to eat cat poo when he first came to me but has since discontinued. Although, if a cat drops an errant poo on the floor outside the litter box he sees it as fair game. He is also fed a high-quality, high-protein kibble (EVO) and his diet is supplemented with raw (meaty bones, organs, meat) a few times a week. He gets nutrient rich veggies, fruits, and raw eggs as well. Sometimes he still eats poo. Best solution in the yard is to just pick it up and practice your 'leave it' a lot, lot, lot.
