Sat in tears....Ive failed.

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Biglets Mummy

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I've posted on here before about my rescue Golden Retriever who belonged to a friend of mine who passed away. After taking her on aged 8 months it became apparent that she had known not much else than a kennel and toilet training was a massive issue . Its better and she will ask to go out but she has crushing separation anxiety and if I don't crate her when I go out she soils everywhere like milky way. We have got her diet right now and her normal poos are solid and normal she just produces this stuff if she is left but is good as gold when in her crate.
I must add that I work from home and the longest she is ever left is an hour or so if I pop to the shops. She has been with me a year next week and she is the most beautiful happy grateful little member of my family and we all adore her except for the crap eating.She is disgusting.
I have never know a dog like it and I simply cannot take anymore.
I have tried everything, had her checked by the vets but she is just obsessed. I have a large garden which I keep spotless from poo but she always seems to find the one I missed. Pineapple works in her food to stop here eating hers but she will race me to my old boy aged 13 and actually pull it from his bum as he is doing it. Its just not fair on him.
So I have gone back to basics and she comes out for her toilet on a lead. She sees poo and gets a firm No and then a treat for leaving it. I have done this now for 6 months and the past week she has been off the lead and I have managed to get to the poo before she eats it but her love of it hasn't demised at all. In fact her hunger for it is worse...
And now in my lunch break my neighbors sister and kids have arrived and they have all just come to the fence to say hello. My dog has jumped up to lean on the fence and greet them and before I could get to her she has covered the kids in crap by licking them.I don't know where she has even got it from. It was all over them.Their mum has screamed at her and she has run into the house spreading crap all over the kitchen and into the carpets.
I have been *******ed by my neighbors sister and quiet rightly. The kids are crying and have crap all over their faces.
I have yelled at my dog like I have never yelled at any dog in 45 years of being a dog owner. My dog is frightened and upset as I am. I will go in to her in a min but I need to calm down.
Why isn't she learning? Vet did think she might have learning difficulties but she is bright as a button in other things but when it comes to crap she does doesn't get it.
I seriously have tried so many things and now sit here humiliated and angry that the poor kids have had their afternoon ruined and
upset at myself for yelling at her. But most of all I want to try and get some more advice into what I can do to help her. She loves kids but I cant have them around her if this continues to get worse. I worry for her health eating it all the time and I just feel like one big failure.
I will go try putting my old boy on a lead so I can get to his poo quickly but its not fair on him as he loves just pottering.
Sorry...got no one to talk to...just feeling helpless xxxx
 
I have no idea what you can do, I hope someone else does. I just wanted to say I really feel for you and your poor dog. I feel so sad for you, your desperation and kindness come through your post. You poor thing. :(
 
My grandmas dog.used to.do this, she was a rescue and we think a gypsy dog and wasn't fed so just ate what she could find.....poop was a part of that.

She never got it fully out of her, if stressed or worried she just went straight back to it.
 
I have a rescue lab too that does the same thing - it is a very well known lab trait! Some thing it is down to minerals, some nature but there does not seem to be a cure. However, what you can do is train not to jump up on people and/or lick them - that is what I have done as, like you, I have tried getting to the poos for she does and telling her to leave and then reward - not happening, it is too much of a draw for them. I have been successful though in training her not to jump up or give me (or anyone else) kisses!! Get your neighbour and kids involved in the training - not to jump and lick - and you may find that the yelling stops as they have a vested interest in her training. Labs are very nervous dogs so screaming and shouting won't help, especially as she is not stilling eating the poo so probably has no idea why she is being shouted at!
 
OK, well first of all, be kinder to yourself. If you were talking to another person, I bet you wouldn't be calling them a failure or being horrible to them - you'd be trying to comfort them instead. So do yourself the same favour. Yes, it's gross for the kids - but they'll live! They shouldn't be fussing strange dogs anyway over a fence - what if she wasn't friendly and had bitten them? Another dog might, next time. By giving them a poopy lesson, your girl might have saved them from a really nasty experience later on... And as for shouting at her, well, we've all done it. She'll be ok, and so will you.

It sounds to me like you need some outside help. You really need someone to come out and see you, and watch her doing this with you to help. You don't mention whether you have seen anyone other than your vet, but I'd recommend that you try and find someone - a lot of trainers will do home visits. You may need to be more specific about training her to leave it - if your timing is off you may be rewarding the wrong thing, and that's hard to tell without seeing you. You may also need to start your training with something other than the holy grail that is poo for her - start small, and work up.

Now, in the meantime you say pineapple stops her from eating her own - is there a reason you haven't started giving this to your old boy as well? If not, I'd suggest you try it. It won't do your dog any harm to eat poo - they have digestive systems of solid steel - so don't worry too much about that. And if she needs her crate when you go out - use it. It's not wrong, or bad, it's her safe place, so let her have that.

You'll be ok, and you're not a failure for needing help!
 
Poor you!. Our young lab used to eat his own but grew out of it. Its much more common than most people think. They don't do it to be naughty, they just do it sometimes.

Is there any reason why your old boy couldn't have pineapple in his feed too?, all of our labs love it if we have any leftover. What about a muzzle while she is loose in the garden?. Sometimes you just have to work with with these problems and eventually they go away of their own accord.

Go and give her a big cuddle and have a cuppa/glass of wine. Dogs never hold a grudge, she doesn't know what she has done wrong but will soon forget that you yelled at her. As for the neighbour, well its hardly as though you planned this too happen to the kids, they will recover.

Hope you feel a bit better now.
 
Unfortunately coprophagia is a self rewarding behaviour and very difficult to stop and retrievers are renowned for it.
Add pineapple to both dogs feed and take dogs out seperatly so you can clear up ASAP. A good torch is useful in the dark.
My FCR Lily only eats other dogs poo whilst on s walk so she carries a ball in her mouth.
I tried remote spray collars and ultra sonic collars as aversion training with no luck as poo is just too tasty.
Good luck and love your dog for who she is poo and all
 
FionaM12 said:
I have no idea what you can do, I hope someone else does. I just wanted to say I really feel for you and your poor dog. I feel so sad for you, your desperation and kindness come through your post. You poor thing. :(
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i echo this and am sending hugs, dogs live very much in the moment so don't worry that youv'e shouted at her, it's because they live in the moment that eating pooh is so hard to break , it's like a tasty scooby snack to them or prime fillet steak.
i have one that eats EVERYTHING, i have yet to find a food group that he won't eat, plants , fruit, flowers, cat and horse pooh, it all goes in and then he gets anal gland problems, i could happily throttle him but he is amazing otherwise so i live with it.
please don't beat yourself up, you are NOT a failure. xxxx
 
Don't be so hard on yourself, no real harm has been done. I have a standard poodle who eats the most revolting things, cat poo being a great favourite. In his case he has I think lasting gut damage from awful worm infestation as a pup which means that I am frequently woken at 3 a.m as he is desperate to go out. I am going to invest in a muzzle I think, bit reluctant as it will make him look aggressive when we are out but he's getting worse. Mine seems to go through phases of doing it.
 
Thank you all so very much for the advice and for all you lovely words ( which have helped no end...) I've given her a cuddle and she is fine. I think its right to say I need to love her poo and all as I don't think realistically this is going to be solved. She is just so focused on it.I cant tell you how much it helps to hear that I am not the only one in the world with this issue. I just get so upset when I see this stunning sweet little thing covered in you know what...Im going to see about getting some professional advice and I am also going to sweep the garden before she goes out off lead just to make sure that I haven't missed anything.
Thank you for all your help everyone. Sorry for being weepy. I lost my other girl a few months ago after 13 trouble free years with her so this little monster is a shock to the system. She is storing under my desk as I type with a clean mouth and face so I don't think she is too troubled by me screaming at her or the neighbour to be honest. I think I am ashamed at myself for losing it more than anything. Thank you all again and all my love to you all xxxxx
 
Like I said - we have ALL done it, all of us! Anyone who tries to tell you they have never been angry at something their dog has done is telling you a fib, IMO. We lives and learns.

You might never completely solve it, but you can manage it - a bit of outside help might allow you to find your own strategy to do that. I manage some of my own dog's naughty little foibles - some of them I've eradicated, but others are always going to be part of him, so I manage them. If I can do it, you definitely can as well :)
 
If the kids had put there heads over my fence a year ago when our nervous aggressive lurcher bitch was alove they wouldn't have a face left . Don't put your face near a dog that's not yours .... Lesson learnt !

It's a hard o e to break sorry :( but like you say learn to love her poo and all . The pineapple for your old boy should work or sprinkle some chilli or mustard on a poo in the garden let her go up and scoff it the smell of the chilli etc should put her off or if not the taste should help . Even if u have to keep doing it for a while and then to her up with a chilli lesson every now and again .

If it makes you feel better our springer has just jumped on my lap and given him self some oral simulation to put it politely .... Errrrrrgh gross . When he was a pup pup he'd sniff the lurchers poop and get a firm no and throw a toy for him to avoid it and distract him . Rather than a food reward
 
I have a black labx that would get out and wandered, would eat anything, once ate three pounds of unripe tomatoes, a left over takeaway complete with metal tray which of course was very sharpe when it came out the back end and made her bleed. Didn't have separation anxiety, no the other dog had that. My current dogs will eat cat poo given the chance and as we have five cats they have a lot of chances. Most really doggy people know dogs are degusting, always looking for a tasty rancid snack and that what you have to think as it as. I would just muzzle her out in the garden, I to shouted and smacked the labx but it only makes them more sneaky and they just can not help it. The only thing I would say, if its really upsetting you find her another home. I kept my lab, loved her to bits but she caused so many arguments as she would do a sneaky bunk and then refuse to come back. I have staked her out at two in the morning whilst breast feeding, feeling like the local weirdo and the joy at being shouted at by some know it all, 'why do let your dog roam!!', well actually I wouldn't be looking for it if I intentionally allowed it to roam( the children usually forgot to shut the gate properly), that I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I had rehomed her.
Give your self a break, you are doing a good job.
 
Sorry you are so upset by this.
Some dogs just do this I'm afraid, it's quite common in labs and retrievers.
Some never stop it completely, it seems almost natural behaviour for some dogs.
You have tried a lot of things by the sound of it.
Garlic tablets, corgette, pine apple and stool repel tablets all may help.
Muzzle training so you can safely let her off lead may be a good idea.
If you can find a good behaviourist maybe recommended by your vet they may try a spray collar but you need to be careful with this.
In some ways you may have to learn to live with it.
I have heard of setting a trap with a Tabasco sauce laced poo, but not sure I agree with that!
Good luck with her and remember as disgusting as it is to us, lots of dogs do it. She's not the only one.
 
Some really sensible posts and good advice given. My JRT is a serial poo eater. He is 18 months old now and still does it. He used to eat any poo that he found, he has narrowed it down a bit now, he only likes poo left my my ESS girly and only freshly deposited (to the extent he will catch it as it falls). Totally disgusting if you ask me but he seems to love it! We dont bother shouting at him any more, it was giving Clo a complex, she thought we were yelling at her. We keep the garden as clean as we can as quickly as we can and mostly they only "go" on their walks so we pick up as quickly as possible. We do warn people about his bad habits as he is very cute and random bods will stop to fuss him and let him lick them. I completely agree with the poster who said that getting covered in poo may be a lesson well learned, leaning over to a dog that isnt your own is not a good move by anyones standards, even a good natured dog will have an off day, better a face full of poo than a face full of stitches!! However horrid we find their compulsion to eat poo, it is a natural behaviour so can be very difficult to stop. Like you in over 35 years of dog ownership I have never had to deal with this before and I have just decided to ignore it as much as possible having ruled out any particular reason for it. Try not to let it ruin your joy at owning her and hopefully she will be one of the ones who do grow out of it. Hugs x
 
It sounds as if you are pretty desperate. There is only one man I would consult over this….

Dr Roger Mugford at The Company of Animals. Following random suggestions thrown up on forum that have worked for someone else will have you running around in circles.
 
webble said:
Can you muzzle her when in the garden or out on the lead. I don't think your neighbour had a right to have a go at you or the dog
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I think this could be a really good idea? Stick a muzzle on before letting her out then your old dog can have all the time he wants and she physically cant eat poo?
Hugs, Its so awful when your dog does something nasty and someone has a go at you. My old lab knocked a child down and humped her madly once. The mother rightly went wild and I was mortified. He was a beautiful kind dog and loved children but on this occasion it went a bit wrong!
 
Nothing helpful to add other than I feel for you and you're not alone - our GSD's speciality was eating poo that had already been bagged - when it passed I then had the added grossness of having to pull the bag out of his bum, it was just horrible.
 
maybe the kids should not have been within licking distance?

if you are shouting and raising your dogs stress levels when there is poo about maybe she is now eating it to try and get rid of it?

stop stressing about it, lots and lots of dogs do it (one of mine included), can you fence off part of your garden so she can be separated from your older dog?

It really is not worth worrying about and is not your fault that the kids were close enough that your dog could lick their faces when your dog was confined to your garden.
 
really sorry to read this, poor you. I have a poo eater who is now 7 and unfortunately deaf - Ive never got her out of the behaviour. Like you, i keep the garden as clear as possible and much as it grosses me out I try to forget about it and love her for what she is. Could you stick a line of netting a foot out from your fence with the neighbours to stop her jumping up on it?
 
I found s muzzle didn't work gor Lily as she found if you rammed your nose into sift poo she would suck it up through the muzzle. Therefore not only a dog with a stinky mouth but a muzzle to clean too
 
satinbaze said:
I found s muzzle didn't work gor Lily as she found if you rammed your nose into sift poo she would suck it up through the muzzle. Therefore not only a dog with a stinky mouth but a muzzle to clean too
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Thanks again everyone and I all your kind words have really helped. I've had a good calm down over night and have decided to do what I can to keep the garden clear,keep the pineapple in her food as that does work and stand with my old boy till he does his and then clear up instantly.Like Satinblaze the muzzle was just a disaster and ended up just everywhere. She is always on a lead on walks so I can monitor that and to be honest ( as gross as it is) I can almost accept the fox,sheep horse poo munching..Its the poo all around the face. I think I got upset that the kids were upset as well....I do love her. She is a dear little thing who has not had the best of starts so I am going to pull myself up by the boot straps and kick on. Thanks again for all the advice and for listening xxx
 
Biglets Mummy said:
Thanks again everyone and I all your kind words have really helped. I've had a good calm down over night and have decided to do what I can to keep the garden clear,keep the pineapple in her food as that does work and stand with my old boy till he does his and then clear up instantly.Like Satinblaze the muzzle was just a disaster and ended up just everywhere. She is always on a lead on walks so I can monitor that and to be honest ( as gross as it is) I can almost accept the fox,sheep horse poo munching..Its the poo all around the face. I think I got upset that the kids were upset as well....I do love her. She is a dear little thing who has not had the best of starts so I am going to pull myself up by the boot straps and kick on. Thanks again for all the advice and for listening xxx
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Do you take the dogs for walks? You say they do their business in the garden which suggests they are not walked out anywhere to do it? Apologies if that is wrong. Maybe some more exercise and distractions though to get her mind off this habit would help. Does she like tennis balls or other toys for example? Can you get her to focus on this instead of poo? Maybe food - hide food in places in the garden so she has to use her skills to hunt that out instead.
Mental stimulation will tire her out and may help her relax more when you go out and leave her as she'll actually be tired?
Just some thoughts really. She needs some more things to focus on it would seem
 
ladyt25 said:
] Maybe food - hide food in places in the garden so she has to use her skills to hunt that out instead.
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That's what I was going to suggest. Chop some cooked sausage up and scatter it around the garden every time she goes out. She might then think there are other things better than poo!

Also, could you fence the garden off so they have a smaller area to do their business in? That way you are less likely to miss any.

Our lab was a poo eater but thankfully grew out of it....although is still partial to the cats business!!
 
I am so sorry that you are so upset. Your dog sounds lovely. We have had 4 GSDs and a rescue, and one of the GSDs did it regularly. It was disgusting, especially when he helped himself to hot dinners out of the other dog!

The vet just shrugged his shoulders, but we were advised by a dog behaviourist to change his food to a higher quality feed. We found that if he hat Eukanuba, you feed less and what comes out is well digested and is genuinely waste matter. With cheaper dog foods you feed more and the "waste matter" actually has some goodness still there.

We put both dogs on that feed, it is a lot more expensive, but you do feed less, and he was not so bad, in fact Odin went onto eating horse poo instead... which I don'y find objectionable at all.

I have since been told that there is something the vet can give to stop the behaviour, but my vet did not tell me about it, and I have not heard about Pineapple. Having said that if Pineapple works, and is not harmful, then I would go with that.

Do you know how pineapple works? Only if it does not taste nice I am surprised it works in the first place.
 
3Beasties said:
……..

Our lab was a poo eater but thankfully grew out of it....although is still partial to the cats business!!
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I have a Cocker bitch, and in the mornings when they're all let out together, it's a race to see who can get to the other dog's turds first, me to clear them up, or her to consume them. She's a filthy bitch! I'll admit, and accept it as a failing, but I find it difficult to like such animals. I mean, cat ****, FFS! Is such a dog going to lick my hand? Is it ****!

Alec.
 
Our lab x bitch started "muck munching" when the vet insisted she needed to go on a diet. She was hungry, as soon as normal rations resumed she stopped doing it. She wasn't fat btw, just a couple of kgs over - she's a big dog so we have tried to keep her trim though more exercise.
 
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