my poop eating dog ... help! (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

okay, so here's the scoop.

for some reason, my puppy (a 5-month old shih-tzu) has started eating her poop. it's like, if we don't catch her, she could potentially eat all of it.

i've already talked to my vet and he gave me this stuff called "forbid" - it's a powder i put on the dog food. it has no flavor during ingestion, but it's supposed to make her poop taste bitter. i thought it was sorta working, but i still catch hana (that's the dog's name) eating the poop.

i've read that it can be psychologically related to the way we punish her ... but i don't think that's the case in our situation. we tell her no when we catch her in the act, but that's about it. wifey and i realize that punishing a dog after the fact doesn't really work since they have no clue what they're being punished for. even when we catch her, we aren't too harsh. we don't want the puppy growing up with psychological probs ... last thing we need.

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so, that being said, anyone else have this issue? if so, what have you done to address or (hopefully) resolve the problem?

 

[Julian Reville]

Yes, "Forbid" is supposed to make shit taste bad.

(I sold 1 packet about 15 years ago, and the dog got so sick she almost died. After she got better, she ate poop again.)

Some dogs like the taste of poop. Some outgrow it. Some don't. There it is.

 

[RickER]

I just thought about the dog i had. I would be eating my cereal in the morning looking outside, at the beautiful morning. My dog (out in the back yard) would take my breakfast time to crap, roll in it, and then eat it (all in my view). I would give that little pooch a dog bone before she gave an sugars!

THAT was damn funny by the way!
Cute puppy, cant let my girlfriend see this thread or she would want your little hana.

 

[Philip_G]

it's just a little recycling

 

[Chu Gai]

Otherwise, it tastes pleasant? What about a remote controlled 'electro collar'?

 

[Philip Hamm]

Curb the dog.

 

[Ted Lee]

dunno about the electric collar chu ... that would mean i'd have to watch her *all* the time ... already difficult enough as is. what does that mean?

 

[GordonL]

Shih Tzu's aren't exactly the most intelligent dogs. At least they aren't the dumbest. Close but not quite.

Dog Intelligence Ratings

 

[Kevin M]

Here's A Site that offers a few tips & reasons why dogs do this.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Trade it in for a cat- they don't do that

 

[Colton]

Here I am thinking it's cute when puppies lick me on the face. This is not good news.

- Colton

 

[Malcolm R]

As Colton says, this thread should come to mind anytime a dog puts its tongue on your body.

 

[Jonathan Loy]

Hey Ted, Can I buy your dog? I have a Sh*thuaha and all he does is sh*t everywhere even after I take him outside. At least if I had your dog I would'nt have to clean up all the time.

 

[Ryan Tsang]

"When dogs consume feces from other animals, they may be seeking minerals lacking in their regular dog food."

I picked this up from the site posted by Kevin M and I thought:
I don't even know what minerals I'm lacking and even if I did, I wouldn't know where to get it. How the heck will a dog know to pick up magnesium from a neighbour's yard?

I watched my girlfriend's Beagle eat a healthy portion of rabbit turd. And not the dried pellet type either. I called him "Poo-Eater" ever since.

 

[Philip_G]

I got a guy here that comes and picks it up for $12 a week.

 

[BrettB]

Undercut the competition, have your dog do it for $10. Extra DVD money.

 

[Ron-P]

Put Tabasco sauce on the poop. I've done this when my Dalmatian chews on something I didn't want her chewing on. It works great and is harmless.

 

[Ted Lee]

thx for that link kevin .. some good info in there. afaik, my dog isn't a victim of neglect (she's with me all day since i work from home), bad diet, or anything else ... at least my vet gave her a clean bill of health.

ron - i tried the tabasco sauce trick on some furniture she's tearing up ... but i haven't tried it on the poop yet. only because i hate the idea of any poop laying around for any period of time ... plus her funk is getting funkier ... if ya know what i mean. but i may try it ... nothing like booby-trapped poop i suppose. does he come in your house too?

 

[Jassen M. West]

So, you have a Shit-zu. oops.

 

[Ted Lee]

yes jassen ... my dog is very aptly named. but i think shit-zu-eater would have been better!