New Nasty Habit

[miss smiles]

Hello,

I have two female Papillons one Lillee is two and a half and the pup Sissy is 8 months old... we just got her three months ago (at 5 months old) and found we were lied to
on her progress and socialability... well, we seemed to be conquering most
of her lil issues and still working on them... but one...

she hmmm how should I say this... she eats poo... I talked to the Vet..
the answer there was keep yard clean... and I do... for the sake of others
that do use the yard.. I even found a hint online and have added a sprinkle
of tenderizer to their food... this helps some... but not completely..

Please help me with this if you can... she is a dear girl otherwise..

thank you

miss smiles

[Todd]

Hi there and thank you for your question.

This problem is called coprophagia. What are your dogs fed? The reason she is doing this may be related to a nutritional deficiency in her diet so she may need to be changed onto a complete balanced diet like Hills Science Diet.

Now if this is not the problem there are a few things we can try. When you catch her eating faeces you must reprimand her immediately. GIve her a very loud GRRRR or AHHHHHH and tell her to drop it.
Once she has dropped it give her a sit command if she sits praise her with attention and petting.

This mixed method of reprimanding and praise will hopefully make her realise what is right and wrong.

Other things you can try is leaving the faeces out and putting something that tastes bad on them. eg paprika, sour apple or tabasco. This will make it taste even worse and hopefully stop her.

Please let me know how things go and if this has helped.

Kind regards

Todd Field

[Donna]

Originally Posted by Todd

Hi there and thank you for your question.

This problem is called coprophagia. What are your dogs fed? The reason she is doing this may be related to a nutritional deficiency in her diet so she may need to be changed onto a complete balanced diet like Hills Science Diet.

Now if this is not the problem there are a few things we can try. When you catch her eating faeces you must reprimand her immediately. GIve her a very loud GRRRR or AHHHHHH and tell her to drop it.
Once she has dropped it give her a sit command if she sits praise her with attention and petting.

This mixed method of reprimanding and praise will hopefully make her realise what is right and wrong.

Other things you can try is leaving the faeces out and putting something that tastes bad on them. eg paprika, sour apple or tabasco. This will make it taste even worse and hopefully stop her.

Please let me know how things go and if this has helped.

Kind regards

Todd Field

What do you do if you can't get outside to put nasty tasting stuff on it? I have about 3 feet of snow in back yard.

[Blue]

I would go out with her when she is allowed out and follow the reprimand/reward technique.
You can even try leashing her while taking her out, that way you are in complete control of what she eats (and doesn't eat) and you can bring her attention back to you.
Remember the technique Todd suggested - reprimand, sit, reward for sitting.
I have 3 feet of snow in my backyard too! ugh!! LOL
B.