Dog eating cat poop.
 

Good day,

I don't know if this question has been raised in this room or any other of the forum, so I appologize if it has been the case.

I finally got my BMD (four months old now) and the breeder warned me that he could eat my cats' poop. What he has tried, but I had raised the cats boxes beyond his reach. But he "has been successful" in doing so on the street during his walks.

Does anyone has any advice on how to make him stop doing so? His walks are becoming somehow complicated, because he's stopping quite often (many cats on the street in the neighborhood) and he's starting to dislike the leash.

Thanks in advance for your time.

You may have to clean the litter box out more often or buy littler box that has a cover on it so the puppy can't get to the poop as easy . Dogs love all kind of poops, my dog like rabbit poop and my last like horse poop ! :yuck: :yuck:

I would love to see a picture of your puppy but not while eating cat poop. :)

Thanks, but my problem is outside, while walking him.

I tried to upload a picture from my pen drive, but it seems I can only link to the web.

I don't know how to do to embed the picture in a post.

Hello venport:

Here's an article/video I found several years ago that might help to shed some light on your problem. There are several issues that could be causing the problem and if possible they should be addressed as soon as possible to circumvent any health problems.

I do hope this helps. Keep us posted.



[url]http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/12/06/coprophagia-repulsive-pet-habits.aspx[/url]

This is somewhat of a training issue. Are you going to be taking any training classes.

My opinion is dont give him the opportunity to get to the poop. You will have to be in control of the dog. You may have to be more vigilient even after puppy stages as some dogs like to eat things off the ground.

Take some treats on your walk. See if you see any signs of the behavior as you walk. If you see something about to happen then I would take out a treat and distract them from the bad behavior by getting their attention. If they respond praise and treat (reward) It will not take your puppy long to figure out they will be rewarded and hopefully this discourages the behavior.

I am sure there are lots of ways to approach this but start with that.

I used to use the folding tables and put the cat litter and food up on the table.

Oh and my boy ate the litter box twice on me.....my trainer said I shouldnt have left them alone long enough to get into trouble.

Best of luck and let us know how you make out
Cindy

I doubt he is finding cat poop on the street on his walks. Cats bury their poop, he'd have to be digging it up. Or, wait, maybe cats are pooping in the leaves and not burying it very well? It could be rabbit or dog poop, dogs will eat all sorts.

It's a very hard thing to cure and he's pretty young. He's actually so young this might be just as much a phase as eating sticks and stones, puppies will try anything at that age. I wouldn't wait for him to grow out of it but I'm afraid other than teaching him LEAVE IT and watching like a hawk so he doesn't find it in the first place I can't think of anything else to do.

Thanks, Reg.

I'll look into it.

Is the poop small and round like peas? That would be rabbit poop , what does the poop look like ? You need to train your to "Leave it" b/c dogs will try to eat all kind of stuff on the ground and it could be harmful to your dog.

Hi Winston,

I' m always in the look out.

He has even developed the technique of faking getting ready to poop when he's really sniffing hard and getting to the poop (I have scooped it out of his mouth three times already; now I walk with latex gloves and napkins).

I carry treats for doing his business training and behavior training, but never thought of using the behavior ones to eradicate the need to look for poop. I'll start tonight.

My two kitten boxes are out of his reach. I cough him once on time and since then everything is OK inside the house. Even the kitten food is out of his reach (he really puts his mouth to everything he can; they really are, as someone told me once "four legged trash cans").

In my neighborhood some people are really dirty (careless). I have also scooped, six times already!, chicken bones out of his mouth.

As I just said, I'll start tonight with the treats.

Longblades, it is cat poop (Barkingdog, is not rabbit drops, but I can say I already saw a skunk). It looks exactly the same as my kitten (same size). I have not seen any small dog around.

I have seen cats taking off when they become aware of us, and he goes right "for the treat". He doesn't dig at all. He's not a digger.

Cats are doing their business on my own yard.

And I have also seen dog poo. As I said, people are really careless.

Thanks for the video, Reg.

I was actually considering taking stools for analysis. I will do it for sure, now.

He doesn't eat his own. I'm still in the training process and he has done on the pads I set on the designated "business" area (away from his eating area, by the way) and does not touch them at all. When he drops outside, is the same. He couldn't care less. I'm just on top of him to prevent him from stepping on it.

He's very intelligent; very smart. I know I can eradicate the behavior, I just wish it happens quick enough.

By the way, I'm gonna ask instead of looking around the forum: how can I post images on treads and replies? I don't know if attaching files will do the trick.

Never mind! I found it!

And here some examples of what I mentioned about my neighborhood

You could try a soft plastic basket muzzle? I was unsuccessful at training my Weimaraner to stop eating sticks when he was off leash so I used the basket muzzle and it worked great. No more sticks being thrown up in my bedroom in the night :D

Thank you Lynne.

I tried the treat training last night and this morning, and it got better. As I said, he's really, really smart. He catches up fast.

And, this is not pleasant to show, but it is what I've been putting up with. I saw it first, so I stopped him on the tracks, but he was going for it like a kid going after candy.

[QUOTE=venport;1075464]Thank you Lynne.

I tried the treat training last night and this morning, and it got better. As I said, he's really, really smart. He catches up fast.

And, this is not pleasant to show, but it is what I've been putting up with. I saw it first, so I stopped him on the tracks, but he was going for it like a kid going after candy.[/QUOTE]

That is not cat poop that it scat from a coyote or fox , a coyote will leave it scat on the ground to mark it territory . I was find 'poop' all over my condo driveway and thought some jerk was not picking up after their dog. I looked closer at the 'poop' and realize that had berries and a lot fur in it and it was scat from a coyote . It was tell my male dog that this is it hunting ground , we have a lot of wild rabbits and chipmunks in our yard . We have coyotes and foxes in our yard and with winter coming they're looking for food to put some weight on for warmth .

Then I don't know from where comes the coyote or fox, because this is close to a 10+ft tall wall separating highway 20 from the neighborhood and to the south is just the river.

I'll be on the look out to not run into troubles.

Thanks for the info.

I had a dog who ate her own leavings for a while, but when they eat others' it can be really hard, the stuff is everywhere. I never fully appreciated how bad it could be till a man walking behind us in inappropriate footwear for the deep snow (he was on a tramped down path though) suddenly yelled, "Arrggghhhh, NO, NO" and leaped off the path into the deep snow to gather up a fresh poop that my dog had just left. His dog was a poop eater. My dog rarely poops on the trail. He doesn't like to walk in or near poop any more than we do so he goes sometimes 10 or 20 feet off the trails, deep snow or not and it's out in the bush so I leave it. Poor man was halfway up to his knees in snow and I bet his feet got wet when the snow started melting. He got it though, the poop, and I never saw him at that place again.

this is a video of a coyote climbing a 6 ft. wall! You'll be surprise at what an wild animal will do when it's hungry . I have to be careful taking my dog out now that winter is almost here the fox and coyote come around looking for rabbits and my dog is only 16 or 17 lbs. I am sure a coyote could climb a
10 ft. wall if it thought there was meal on the other side of it. It's sad that the wildlife is being force into people backyard to find food. :( Yes you shouldn't let your pets out alone . You keep an eye on dog to made sure it didn't pick up any parasites from eating the scat, my vet told me to keep my dog away the scat so my dog wouldn't pick up anything from it .



[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCcuWQ3COjk[/url]

[QUOTE=venport;1075466]Then I don't know from where comes the coyote or fox, because this is close to a 10+ft tall wall separating highway 20 from the neighborhood and to the south is just the river.

I'll be on the look out to not run into troubles.

Thanks for the info.[/QUOTE]

Montreal definitely has foxes and coyotes roaming around. Could it not also be skunk or raccoon?

It's a good point.

I previously mentioned I already saw a skunk on one of the streets. haven't seen any raccoon so far, but I'm always looking out.

And I'm glad to inform he is improving; it's getting better. Still have the problem of him not wanting to walk, using the excuse he wants to do his business, but there is also improvements in that department.

[url]http://www.wildlife-removal.com/skunkpoop.html[/url]

This what skunk scat looks like and if was a skunk the OP would be smelling the skunk too.






[url]http://www.247wildlife.com/raccoonfeces.html[/url] Raccoon scat , this link show all kind of animals scat . I was health aide and I had to report to my clients nurses what their poops looked like so I don't get gross out looking at animals scat , I if step into it! Yucky!

I'm not sure the identity of the maker of the scat is as important as just avoidance of scat ingestion at this point. :o

Poop-eating can be a tough thing to break a dog of. Mostly it seems you can minimize it, but with ours, we'll probably never eliminate it. They were too old when we got them and had been into the habit for too long. The younger you start, I suspect the better your chances of controlling it.

Have you taught your pup any kind of "leave it alone" command? It's something you can start training for under controlled circumstances in your yard or even inside the house, and it can be an invaluable tool for redirecting your dog away from the tasty poop and back to you.

We have a number of poop-eaters here (sigh :rolleyes:) and, with practice, we've gotten to about a 90% success rate of calling them off a tasty treasure even if they're off-leash in the woods. :thumbs up All of our poop-eaters were rescue dogs and didn't get any training at all until they were at least 18 months old (their gotcha age)--I suspect that if we'd had them from pups we would have an even better success rate.

My dog is a rescue dog too and he is a big fan of rabbit poop! There is a fresh supply all the time .:yuck: I have to watch where I step b/c there is so much rabbit poop! :frustrated:

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;1075476]I'm not sure the identity of the maker of the scat is as important as just avoidance of scat ingestion at this point. :o

Poop-eating can be a tough thing to break a dog of. Mostly it seems you can minimize it, but with ours, we'll probably never eliminate it. They were too old when we got them and had been into the habit for too long. The younger you start, I suspect the better your chances of controlling it.

Have you taught your pup any kind of "leave it alone" command? It's something you can start training for under controlled circumstances in your yard or even inside the house, and it can be an invaluable tool for redirecting your dog away from the tasty poop and back to you.

We have a number of poop-eaters here (sigh :rolleyes:) and, with practice, we've gotten to about a 90% success rate of calling them off a tasty treasure even if they're off-leash in the woods. :thumbs up All of our poop-eaters were rescue dogs and didn't get any training at all until they were at least 18 months old (their gotcha age)--I suspect that if we'd had them from pups we would have an even better success rate.[/QUOTE]

I pull on the leash and tell him NO, and with the treats is working; that's the improvement I was talking about. I pull gentler on the leash now and he lets go right the way.

I want to profit and ask if it would be wise to give him back rib bones.

[QUOTE=venport;1075479]I pull on the leash and tell him NO, and with the treats is working; that's the improvement I was talking about. I pull gentler on the leash now and he lets go right the way.[/QUOTE]

That's a good start, but it might be beneficial to work him on a 'leave it' command while at home, as well. Make sure you have him leashed (or later, when he's progressed enough to work him off-leash, you're close enough to reinforce the command if he ignores it), then tell him to 'leave it' when he approaches an object you've left in his path. Reinforce with the leash (or a touch to bring his attention back to you), then treat when you're both safely past the object. He'll likely catch on pretty quickly inside the house, and with patience and persistence, it'll 'stick' better when he's outside subjected to distractions.

I don't know about the ribs--although I've always been interested in raw diets, I've never had enough freezer space to try it. About all I can say is that if the ribs are cooked, I wouldn't feed them to your pup--cooked bones can be quite brittle and sharp, and aren't generally recommended for feeding to dogs. Raw, they might be fine, but as I said, I really don't have any experience with them... :o

This seems to be working out for you...

just wanted to mention another technique I have heard of - booby-trapping poops with tabasco (or something safer if tabasco is not safe) or other flavours that dogs don't like. I think there is something called bitter apple that works well. The premise is that you booby trap a few of them on purpose and if dooger will eat it....dooger learns fast that it is to be avoided.

hope that may help

Thank you Winston and Hazelrunpack for your input.

I'm happy to report he's under control now.
Tried the combination pooling/leave it!/giving a treat and it has worked like a charm (I insist, he really is a smart pooch!). I don't even have to use the treats anymore.

Awesome news...:thumbs up
How about more pics :D

Hooray! And yes, more pics, pls! :D