Originally Posted By: MXpro982 I suppose I need to watch her whenever she goes out, so that I can stop her.

Exactly. And it is a great time to really teach and apply the "leave it" command.

Not an unusual occurrence. I have a similar issue with Lancer, but it is not his poop - it is big sis Kayla's

So I try to keep him away from her when she goes out. I use "leave it" with him and redirect him to something else (like kicking a soccer ball) while going to pick it up.

There are other things you could try along with the leave it command. It has been said that pineapple may help deter the attraction of the poop. There are also other items such as this: coprophagia-deterrent I tried both without success with Lancer but others have claimed they work.

Good Luck in breaking this habit.

 

I have good luck with Seapet. It is fish oil with other supplements. Another member, vectorsketcher, on the board tried it and had great success as well. Often it seems that it is a diet problem that is causing this. Get it a try!

 

It is perfectly natural. They learn this from their mother, she does this to keep the litter clean. Then too, it smells, is warm and probably has some nutrients unabsorbed in it. So they eat it.

Your job is to pick it up before they get the chance. It isn't all that hard unless you have four of them, especially when they try to take it direct from the extruder. My lot is starting to understand and follow the "Don't eat the Poopie!" command that comes frantically out of my mouth as I am scooping one pup's up while another starts to squat with the pirannah standing by.

 

haha ok.. I will keep my eye on her. My mom is the one who saw her do it. I have been watchin her and she hasn't tried it since (that I know of).

 

What are you feeding?

 

Just Pedigree for healthy joints. I have not seen her do it myself yet. Sounds like she has only done it once that my mom has seen. I watch her like a hawk (even when she doesn't think I am) and she hasn't done anything more than smell it.

 

There are two pieces to this.

Often younger dogs will eat poop, a learned behaivior that needs to be trained out of them. However, a number of times, there are digestive reasons for this too -- problems digesting their food and assimilating ingredients. With Pedigree, that could be a contributing factor.

ETA: very cute pic in your avatar!

 

Is Pedigree bad? She seems to have no problem going to the bathroom at all. She does a few times a day....

 

Pedigree doesn't have the best ingredients in it. There are foods out there that are a lot better, some won't even cost much more, and you'll be able to feed less.

 

OK here's what I have found - a little bit of real chicken cuts down on this. A bit of canned seems to exacerbate it. Low protien food tends to exacerbate it. The suggestion is that feeding too much = incomplete digestion = tasty BMs... So that's the hints I can offer...

 

Thats kind of another thing I find odd.. She isn't eating much really. Missy (foster mom I got her from) fed her 2 cups in the morning and 2 at night. I give her 2 in the morning and she eats about half of it and then eats the rest at night. So realistically it sounds like she is only eating half as much as she was. But she definitely IS hungry. I honestly just don't think she likes the Pedigree food. Missy was feeding her Solid Gold, but I have looked around town and no luck. I don't really know what to put her on. Missy was feeding her puppy food, but told me to switch to adult food because it is better for her joints from growing so fast.

 

I agree with the adult food. At training we would have all our clients switch to a food with no corn, no sorghum, and no by-products as a starting point. Since she's not really enjoying her food, I would look around and see what foods are available in your area. You might want to go look at some of the conversations over on the Diet and Nutrition board for some ideas.

 

Sometimes you have to special order food from a local grain store.If you can't find what you want ask someone at a store(agway, etc) and they can probably order it.There are too many brands to keep all on the shelves.I'm trying Fromm dog food right now.My little mutt likes to eat whoevers poop so I hope to find a food that will deter her from doing that too.

 

You can also get a pretty good food mail-order from Drs. Foster and Smith. Ironically, the grocery store Kroger down here has started carrying decent dog food! At least the one that I usually shop at does.