Please help me i'm so embarrassed

[supergirl]

arden grange is given to my (jack russell) as she has gluten allergys . ollie has formula k as he's over weight just wants to eat all the time he even steals my grans meals off her plate ! it's working so i don't want to change it he was 21 kgs three weeks ago and now he's 18.25 kgs i'm so pleased and he's taken to the vets every thursday to talk about whats going on and weigh him the vet is very pleased to

Maybe he hasnt always done it and its to do with his new food and diet

Some dogs see food as a resource - I always remember the breeder telling me that when Misha was a pup, she had to remove the boys from the litter as the girls were missing out on the food, so weren't putting on weight as they should.  In a way this backed up some things that I'd read where dogs would eat their own poo if they were hungry.  It may well be because Ollie is on a diet (which doesn't help you much).  Possibly a different diet food might help.

[Crazy Cocker Gang]

As karen said he could be doing it because he hungry 
It does sound like hes on quite a strict diet and its not filling him up.
Maybe it would be a good idea to look at putting him onto a normal food and increasing his excersise or feeding several small meals a dayso he feels full for longer 

[Helen]

As karen said he could be doing it because he hungry 
It does sound like hes on quite a strict diet and its not filling him up.
Maybe it would be a good idea to look at putting him onto a normal food and increasing his excersise or feeding several small meals a dayso he feels full for longer 

that's what I thought when I read this too 

I would seriously be doing some recall work with him - I hadn't realised he has no free running, no wonder he's had issues with his weight 

[minimoo]

As karen said he could be doing it because he hungry 
It does sound like hes on quite a strict diet and its not filling him up.
Maybe it would be a good idea to look at putting him onto a normal food and increasing his excersise or feeding several small meals a dayso he feels full for longer 

that's what I thought when I read this too 

I would seriously be doing some recall work with him - I hadn't realised he has no free running, no wonder he's had issues with his weight 

Yep i agree, Ella was 23kg when i got her a year ago and was on a strict diet, i posted many a poop eating post on here  she would eat anything, human , cat etc  , i have managed to stop her with a sharp "no" and then a couple of bits of her kibble, is there anywhere you can take him to let him run off leash, do you know anyone with a dog with good recall who you can walk with, Ella was basically taught better recall by using Bruno my other dog to teach her and kibble of course, as shes so greedy, i know your disgusted by this behaviour but its quite natural to them, ,but they can pick up worms , so i wouldnt let them like your face anyway, a carrot or bit of cucumber is a nice treat occasionally if he is hungry, but not too often

[supergirl]

Just thought if exercising him is a problem you could try making a couple of home-made agility jumps (start off very low, even on the ground so that he just has to step over them).  10mins morning & evening of running around in the garden going over a few little jumps would help a little towards his weightloss.  If he is very food motivated it shouldn't take too long to teach him.  After a while start to replace the food reward with throwing a toy. My two look forward to me throwing the tennis ball as much as they do to getting a piece of chicken.

Usually I can predict when either of my two are going to do a poo (very sad I know).  Both of mine on average do 3 poos a day - usually 1st thing in the morning/or after breakfast, on our lunchtime walk, and then again usually at teatime/before bedtime.  If the poo eating bothers you so much, then perhaps let him into the garden on a long-line to do his toileting, that way you can distract him from going to eat his poo, get him coming back to you, reward with a treat and lots of praise (really make a big deal about it), so that he gets into the habit of coming straight back to you after he has had a poo. (for a long line I find a horse lunge line works best, look up on E-bay, they're about £5)

[Karma]

It does sound like the new food might be causing this...     I know you don't want to change his food, and I can understand why as it does seem to be having a great impact on his weight, but I guess this at least explains to you why you haven't noticed before...    I'm afraid I don't know how much pineapple would be given (don't think it needs to be much, though)....

I do, however, agree with the others that you need to do some serious recall work with an aim to getting him off lead in the future... try a long line so he can run "free" but you can still get him back to prevent dangerous situations... a dog burns so much more energy pottering/running about on a walk than they ever could on an on-lead walk, and part of the fun of having a dog is seeing him enjoying himself out and about... I'm not suggesting you go out tomorrow and let him off lead, but do some controlled recall work in more distracting situations and build up to the point where he can have an off-lead romp in safe locations... 

[ollie1]

only one big problem we live in a area where the only grass is used by loads of dogs not only that it's an island in between four main roads and a school so very dangerous and i wouldn't be able to get his consentration to start with . I don't know anyone with a dog the does really good recall outside so can't use that option (can i also add Ollie is brill at recall and normally very well behaved as he's been going doggie classes since he was 14 weeks old ) but as soon as he's out on a walk and See's another dog . off he goes into play mode ! he forgets everything he knows and just wants to have a good time .... He also seems to get attacked by other dogs all the time they are friendly at first but after they smell each other the other dog always goes for Ollie (I don't understand why) Ollie is so friendly and just wants to play he never jumps in the dogs faces or anything he just stands by them wagging his tail dogs have pinned him to the floor and put holes into his chest before now and why i just don't know i don't want Ollie to be scared by other dogs or hurt so i now keep him well away

[hedgehog]

Ozzy was p poop eater, specialising in cats dodo the only thing that worked was leaving a lump of cat poop for him to find but giving it a liberal sprinkle of tabasco sauce, after a couple of tabasco tu**s he never touched poop again.

[Cob-Web]

only one big problem we live in a area where the only grass is used by loads of dogs not only that it's an island in between four main roads and a school so very dangerous and i wouldn't be able to get his consentration to start with .

I agree that it doesn't sound like an ideal place to let him off at first - can you rent a secure paddock, sand school at a stables or even a tennis court for an hour once or twice a week to give him space to run without having to worry about him getting distracted or hurt 

Combine this with use of a long line as a training aid (if you search there are lots of previous posts about how to do this) and eventually, you will have a recall you can rely on - but it won't just happen overnight and it isn't fair to keep him on a lead forever 

As for his poo eating - it is perfectly normal behaviour for a dog, and it seems a shame that you are so embarrassed by him    It might be possible to stop him doing it by spiking his food, but better to prevent him doing it by ensuring that he is supervised in the garden; perhaps you can employ a dog walker to take him out rather than rely on your grandmothers carers to let him out?

[Ben's mum]

Ben has eaten poo all his life and he is 6 now    We had tried pineapple etc and every other remedy and really struggled to stop him, he thought each walk was a picnic with his nose down hunting for things to eat. 

I have to say though since our visit to Topbarks last Friday we have had a completely poo free week - the first since Ben was a tiny pup   
We have learnt about keeping his attention, building up a recall and stoping unwanted behaviour/rewarding what we wanted.  Ben has been on the long line this week so I could grab him and remove him from any poo eating, but I have not had to do that, he knows we carry good treats now, and as soon as he stops to sniff at something horrible I say no and he comes straight to me for a treat.......and its only been a week!

Get some advice - its worth it, we wish we had done it ages ago.  I had resorted to carrying a car full of antiseptic wipes to wipe round his mouth after each walk it had got that bad.  This week walking has been a pleasure, no rolling, no eating stuff and he is coming back every time on the long line
Good luck

[ollie1]

Can i just say it's pointless renting a stable or piece of ground he will do recall when on his own! he will even do it at dog training classes with 40 other dogs in a barn with him .  but not when we are out for a walk i just don't understand why ! i have tried long line work as thats what Ollie's trainer said to do but it doesn't work not for Ollie we have tried rewards and even though Ollie likes his food he just ignores it when out ... my trainer said to use tripe they love it he will come back to you ! no he didn't ..... My old dog Cara a German Shepard was run over buy a car because my friend took her out without my say so i was devastated you never want to be phoned and told your dog is on the floor dieing and you get there as soon as you can just in time to see your dog pass away ! I don't give Ollie a chance for this to happen i wont let it happen again ..... Ollie is spoilt we have another dog so he runs around the house and garden all the time we have a huge garden with two koi carp ponds 24 foot wide 25 foot long and 6 foot deep an orchard a rose garden a Japanese garden three patio's and much more he does not just sit around all day ... I don't trust anyone and i wont let anyone take him for a walk because of what happened to Cara my GERMAN SHEPARD  . I just don't know what to do someone told me Ollie is a gun dog they can be trained with training collars ! I don't know much about this but i presume its a shock collar ( I would never use this on any of my dogs) The person who was telling me said he trained working cocker's with this method and you only have to use it a few times ! I cringed thinking how much pain the poor dogs must of been in

[waggytails]

My old girl Millie is 14 and a poo eater, she is very crafty,she will look at it and sniff and look at you as though its ok i don't want it, then when you turn round to get the poo bags there she is enjoying it. YUK.  Also Hattie my little one drinks her own wee so i suppose i have a full set.

[Karma]

I agree that you don't want to be using training collars... 

And just wanted to add that I was sorry to read about your German Shepherd, and can understand why this will make you more reluctant to take any risks with Ollie's recall... and can fully understand why you don't want anyone else to walk him... 

It's really annoying when they do everything right in a training situation, but it just doesn't transfer to real life, isn't it!  How did long line training not work??  I know Honey is clever enough to know when she is on a long line and acted very differently... I read of someone here who had to gradually cut off a foot of long line every week or so so their dog didn't realise the long line wasn't there anymore....   

No-one here is suggesting Ollie isn't well cared for in any way... but I'm sure you'd get more enjoyment out of him if you could walk him off-lead (safely!)... you really need to find something that is more interesting to him than playing with other dogs... does he like a ball, frisbee etc?? 

[Mrs K]

I just wanted to say that I lost my dog last year in an accident and I so know where you are coming from. I am still on edge with Molly a lot of the time when we are out our walks and I will never relax after losing Breagha. I can't offer advice just wanted to say I know how you feel 

[CraftySam]

This poo eating problem drives me nuts!! 

Both my boys do it.  Morgan has always done it and Max started to do it when I had to stop feeding BARF and switched to kibble.

I have tried pineapple, courgette, tablets from the vets, adding chilli powder to it as a booby trap, then a locum vet suggested Cayenne pepper is more effective so tried that too and NONE of them have worked. 

As I'm not very mobile I can't get to the poo in time which is my main problem. If I see them about to tuck in I shout "leave" and they do but the problem is when my backs turned.  Out on a walk they're not interested in dog poo, just every other sort. Again if I see them they will leave when told. No matter how much I do this they've never completely gone off the idea.

I have a big supply of the tablets from the vets that I've given up on. If anyone wants to give them a go them PM me.

And finally if you think you're embarrassed by this disgusting habit then just read this............................................

For some reason Sapphi's poo is incredibly attractive.  Morgan has been known to try and catch it as she is poo'ing.    (I can't believe I have just admitted to that!  )