CockersOnline Forum

Cocker Specific Discussion => Behaviour & Training => Topic started by: chien on August 02, 2016, 11:34:55 AM

Title: Digging and cat poop
Post by: chien on August 02, 2016, 11:34:55 AM
Hello

My pup is now just over 6months and it has suddenly started the dreaded digging. It's quite smart about it and will do it somewhere I can't see or is VERY quick about it. She had dug 6 inches deep in the space of 2 seconds... I think She knows that she shouldn't be doing this and will watch where I am before beginning or she will turn her back to me so I can't see the digging as easy.

Luckily it has only happened in a couple of spots which I filled in last night. This is the annoying bit, the three holes are spread around the garden and she ran around as soon as i let her out and she ran to each hole she'd previously dug and removed all the soil I'd replaced...

Anyway she eventually found the area where the neighbours cats poop  >:(. She dug to retrieve and eat it. She had poop all over her paws. GROSS! Nothing I could do could recall her she was hell bent on digging this up. Usually when a recall fails i shake her treats container she has never once failed to come to me when i've done this except for last night while she ate this cat poop.

Any suggestions on dealing with this? Especially the cat poop bit as the consequences are so gross....with poop all over her paws etc. She doesn't even eat her own poop! :huh:
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: Markr64 on August 02, 2016, 12:31:24 PM
Sorry to say but dogs look at cat poop as something very special, it is like caviar to them and it is hard to stop. As for the digging, it may be a stage as our boy went through a stage of digging and other sorts of gardening but now has calmed down and has stopped all of it.
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: chien on August 02, 2016, 12:58:14 PM
Sorry to say but dogs look at cat poop as something very special, it is like caviar to them and it is hard to stop. As for the digging, it may be a stage as our boy went through a stage of digging and other sorts of gardening but now has calmed down and has stopped all of it.

Oh dear not what i wanted to hear. So I guess I must tackle this by reducing the visits from the neighbouring cats. What deterrents work for you guys? Bottles filled with water?
I have 2-3 cats that come to my garden every evening.  >:D
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: AlanT on August 02, 2016, 01:13:52 PM
Most walks we have a bit of a hole digging session. Muddy river banks are good for this.
Afterwards we swim and wash of the mud.

But we don't dig at home. This is probably because when we go in the garden we are training at:
scent tracking, hoop jumping, agility, staying still, playing Rugby.

Left alone I expect we would get up to mischief. Fence jumping is a good game.
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: bizzylizzy on August 02, 2016, 03:37:45 PM
We also have a problem with neigbours' cats - the worst is the the three legged tom cat that lives opposite who, due to his handicap, isn't very effecient at burying pooh,  >:( - it gets left on my flower bed in the front garden and Humphrey makes a bee line for it as soon as I open the front door.!!! I have to admit that it is something that really does annoy me, particularly when I find it in the veggie plot,  :020: !! OH bought a super blaster water pistol but firing at a three legged cat with a WMD wouldn't be exactly fair! (Would  it?  ;) so still looking for a more humane alternative!!!!
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: Markr64 on August 02, 2016, 03:38:50 PM
Sorry to say but dogs look at cat poop as something very special, it is like caviar to them and it is hard to stop. As for the digging, it may be a stage as our boy went through a stage of digging and other sorts of gardening but now has calmed down and has stopped all of it.

Oh dear not what i wanted to hear. So I guess I must tackle this by reducing the visits from the neighbouring cats. What deterrents work for you guys? Bottles filled with water?
I have 2-3 cats that come to my garden every evening.  >:D

As well as a cocker spaniel I have two Bengal cats so we never get visited by other cats. I am sure others will have other methods of cat scaring!
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: chien on August 02, 2016, 03:56:15 PM
We also have a problem with neigbours' cats - the worst is the the three legged tom cat that lives opposite who, due to his handicap, isn't very effecient at burying pooh,  >:( - it gets left on my flower bed in the front garden and Humphrey makes a bee line for it as soon as I open the front door.!!! I have to admit that it is something that really does annoy me, particularly when I find it in the veggie plot,  :020: !! OH bought a super blaster water pistol but firing at a three legged cat with a WMD wouldn't be exactly fair! (Would  it?  ;) so still looking for a more humane alternative!!!!

Ahh! One of the cats that visit my garden is 3 legged also. Missing a rear leg! This explains why I see some unburied poops!!  >:D
I will try and secure the garden a bit more with chicken wire at the weekend as there is a gap in the hedge big enough for a cat ...maybe it'll work
Title: Re: Digging and cat poop
Post by: Mudmagnets on August 02, 2016, 06:17:20 PM
Yep I have poo gobblers, so I put 4ft green plastic coated fencing all the way round the garden between the flower beds and the grass (it is not fit to be called a lawn  :005:) and that stops it, I thought!! however the other day I saw Toby put his head through the squares of the fencing and nearly get a slug  :020: so now the fence is fortified with some wire mesh at the bottom, hopefully his head will get too big to go through the holes very soon......had to do the same with small planters as he kept nicking and eating the flowers   :doh: