Do any of your dogs intentionally seek out low shrubs, flower beds, small plants, just to poop on? Crios was the first I had that did this. We were in an apt at the time, so I was able to correct him and at the very least, pull him off whatever bush or flowerbed he was trying to poop on. He was never broken of it though. And now Seiran and Floki are following in his poop steps. It makes cleaning their poop up almost impossible without ripping half the plant out of the ground. Aside from leashing them all and taking them out on at a time, is there anyway to get them to poop in an appropriate place? Seiran and Floki both used to use to have a place I took them to and they used that place up until the last week or two when they started bush pooping.
Why is that gross? It's part of their being. Poop is a potent way to leave messages. . I have had two strong personality male dogs over the years and they did it. I tried to clean it up as best as I could. Just leash him in the HOA-neighborhoods. By the way, the coyotes on our property leave their poop in the middle of the intersections of the small trails on which Deja leaves her pee-mail. We are the ones calling ourselves 'civilized'; they don't wear masks....
I use poop bags. Shadow likes long grass and hidden places, she's shy. Lol. Never had an issue cleaning up, but her poops are always solid and well formed. Rakes and shovels just create more work, spread it around and make it stink.
I can’t bend over. So the rake is the only useable tool for me right now. I suppose I can have the girls do the bush cleanup for some spending money. They are young, $5 easily makes them feel rich! Lol
I've never heard of something like that.as far as bushes go....most but not all develop a habit/routine of where they go in the yard (makes it easier for me to know where to check when doing poop cleanup)....this is a human spin i know but..I would think a dog wouldn't be fond of a bush because of the "sticky" branches on some ....a PITA literally....we have some pretty low growers outside our fence that have tiny thorns....ouch....I can picture clean up wouldn't be fun with out damaging what ever the plant/ bush may be.... maybe the reason we've never seen it with any of the dogs we've had is..... we don't have bushes/ flowers etc. inside the fence.....
My male, as many of his relatives, will seek cover to poop. Tall grasses, in bushes, etc. I think it's a combination of genetics and imprinting as puppies with how the breeder raised them.
If I don't want them to go somewhere then I take them to where I do want them to and give them only the length of leash. I refuse to follow my dogs around while they find "the spot".
Can you get some of the little decorative fences or something along those lines and 'fence off' the bushes? If they can't get to them they can't poop on them.
If they know the go potty command you could also fence off the poop area and have them out there individually until they poop if you know their pooping schedule. They can learn pretty quick no fun play until I go to the bathroom.
My personal opinion is they poop on elevated things as a dominance statement/marking behavior “my poop is higher than yours” type thing. Coyotes,foxes, and wolves in the wild do it all the time, primarily on rocks, downed trees, that kind of thing. Sometimes it looks like the animal had to perform some pretty difficult balancing moves to get it there so it must be a “good” readon they do it ?
Id imagine you could retrain them to poop in a particular area, wait til then need to go, put on leash then reward when they go in said area. After awhile they will figure it out and do it on their own
My male likes to poop on the sides of trees- it is kind of strange but we see coyote and fox poop on the same trail high and proud on a rock or log, so it's canine nature. They leave messages for each other, probably "Hey!", "Hey!" like in that Gary Larson cartoon, but with poop they add "I am an intact male- don't mess with my harem".
You can train the dogs to poop on command or in a certain section, too, as mentioned.
My girls don't "message poop", they go off trail and are very discrete.
Both the dogs mostly (75% of the time) poop behind the garage in the dirt/shrubs so I am used to having to clean poop out of the plants. I prefer it on the dirt because it dries out nicely but the dogs like to aim for the plants as well... i
Are we really so shy to talk about poop that our dogs "go to the bathroom"? They poop, defecate actually. Never seen a dog go to a bathroom. Oh wait, Deja goes to the bathroom...to drink out of the toilet
@Kazel, Crios easily jumps a 4ft fence from a sitting position, so nothing short of a 6ft fence would prevent him from gaining access. We are thinking of taking out a lot of the borders and laying sod to make it easier, and to have less dirt areas they can access before they jump in and out of the pool and run through the house as muddy messes. That would leave just large trees, which are poop proof.
The first type of fence I talked about would be something you put right around the bushes etc. so he'd have to jump directly into the bush which most dogs don't want to do. You don't give them enough space to jump into an area but just depends on how things are set up for you if that's something you can do. In my yard we only have a few so if the dogs were doing it, it'd be easy to separate them off.
In making a poop area it might not help with him but could help with the others not learning to. Also makes it so less walking around to pick up poo! But if you're just wanting to take out the plants that's an easier solution and no mud so win-win for you!
Thank you for writing thread titles that always make me laugh. Mine love to poop under things - bushes, in my raised bed vegetable planter that I can’t/won’t use anymore, on a brick divider, with a face in a prickly plant. When they have to go they go.
Moo has pooped on fallen leafy branches at the park a time or two! I just picked up the branch and shook it out, cleaned up what I could! We only have one rose bush and a tree in our back yard, when he still hiked his leg I know he would pee on the rose bush and low hanging branches of the tree! Never saw evidence of poop on the rose bush though!
I act delighted and praise like crazy when Rumo poops on mulch or pine needles, so he tends to seek out those surfaces and use them!
I have had terrifying moments when he squatted in the middle of a flowerbed or right in front of somebody's mailbox...in those moments, I am able to say "eh eh eh" and pull him away, and he somehow sucks his poop back in. I'm sure it's very uncomfortable and feels bad, and I have sympathy! It's only happened a few times, since we try to avoid the really manicured immaculate neighborhoods when we walk.
Max always does as a pup I would say he would go into the bramble bushes- my little garden. Quite comical. He seems to like privacy as a pup and likes to poop on bushes. I had no issues cleaning up. When we go to the beach I have to watch he likes to poop on the well landscaped bushes - he did that once I’m just careful in that area not wanting to clean up poop as hoards of people walk but and the hard working beach landscapers stare in disapproval lol!
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