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11 week old Shih tzu eating it's own poo


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Old 11-02-2012, 12:40
aaron01
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Any ideas how to stop my 11 week old Shih tzu eating his own poo. I have tried tugging the lead after and clearing the poo before he can eat it. Also, given him a treat straight after and praising him, then picking up the poo before he sees it. But then he will lick the place where he has done it even though I tug at the lead and move him away from the spot. He also seems to enjoy licking up his wee. Please help!!!!!
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Old 11-02-2012, 16:25
frisky python
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This is normal puppy behaviour. Our dog still does this at 17mths and chatting with other dog owners some can still do it when a lot older!
We try and combat it by distraction - using a toy like a ball to entertain pup whilst collecting poop. If you take your pup to training classes you will learn the leave command, and that will be useful in the future.
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Old 13-02-2012, 14:46
bazaar1
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its not normal puppy behaviour - its a habit that they form. Its normally due to nutrition imbalances in the diet - its less serious in puppys but really shouldn't show up in adult dogs. check what you are feeding the pup and try to see if you might need to provide a different food source.
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Old 13-02-2012, 16:04
big_hard_lad
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its not normal puppy behaviour - its a habit that they form. Its normally due to nutrition imbalances in the diet - its less serious in puppys but really shouldn't show up in adult dogs. check what you are feeding the pup and try to see if you might need to provide a different food source.
IT IS normal puppy behaviour. It's a common myth that it's down to poor nutrition.

My Shih Tzu puppy has eaten his own poo since day one. He is now 10 months old and he knows he's not allowed....but he still tries. We give him treats straight away, praise him when he doesn't eat it and lift the poo straight away so that he can't get near it. But if he gets the chance, and you're not watching, he'll be eating it. Funny enough...if it's been sitting for a bit he won't eat it, he only likes it fresh from the oven
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Old 13-02-2012, 16:20
TWS
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its not normal puppy behaviour - its a habit that they form. Its normally due to nutrition imbalances in the diet - its less serious in puppys but really shouldn't show up in adult dogs. check what you are feeding the pup and try to see if you might need to provide a different food source.
it is normal puppy behaviour if not rectified like most behaviours it does become habits as dogs age, it stems from not wanting to be found by predators and clearing up after yourself in the main thats why a lot of dogs will not stop and poo outside their own territory until they are confident as they are vulnerable whilst in the act so to speak.

manage the situation pick up straight away, ignore the behaviour in the dog dont draw attention to it or you will make it worse as it is done from insecurities once the pup is secure and you keep the environment clean most of them will grow out of it and forget about it
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Old 13-02-2012, 16:26
ejm
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I didn't think there was anyone definitive reason for it Anyway, very common in puppies and not that uncommon in adult dogs either. I wouldn't worry too much at the moment, but distraction techniques often work best, and if you have a particularly 'foody' puppy then pineapple in their diet is said to prevent it, although I don't know many puppies that would eat pineapple

Some info here:

Coprophagia
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Old 14-02-2012, 04:42
The Vixen
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The only other thing that I can think of is to teach the "leave" command or whatever word works for you. I like to give my puppy and cat treats together, puppy licks the face off the cat and the cat oddly enough lets the puppy do it. I digress. I've taught the puppy to leave meaty treats that are intended for the cat and only to take the treat for her on the command "go" when the cat has eaten their treat. It would work with poo too. The "leave" command has saved my dinner a few times now.

Rewards have already been covered.
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Old 14-02-2012, 12:03
big_hard_lad
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The only other thing that I can think of is to teach the "leave" command or whatever word works for you. I like to give my puppy and cat treats together, puppy licks the face off the cat and the cat oddly enough lets the puppy do it. I digress. I've taught the puppy to leave meaty treats that are intended for the cat and only to take the treat for her on the command "go" when the cat has eaten their treat. It would work with poo too. The "leave" command has saved my dinner a few times now.

Rewards have already been covered.
This is now the approach that I'm taking with my shih tzu. At the start, I just used to make sure that I lifted it as soon as he did it. But then it turned into a game for him, he'd do a poo, turn round, then grab what he could of the poo and run off somewhere with it to eat it. This led to a couple of rather disgusting incidents of me removing poo from his mouth!

I'm also going to try pineapple.
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Old 14-02-2012, 12:46
Angelsherlock
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My dog has only done this once when we changed his food - I can only suggest that you change your dogs diet as reading up on the internet I believe this can be a common problem
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Old 14-02-2012, 12:59
joules22
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IT IS normal puppy behaviour. It's a common myth that it's down to poor nutrition.
Agree with this^^^

Our dog used to do it, but we've just about stopped her now. Distraction, leave command, and being very vigilant all helped.
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Old 14-02-2012, 20:01
The Vixen
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This is now the approach that I'm taking with my shih tzu. At the start, I just used to make sure that I lifted it as soon as he did it. But then it turned into a game for him, he'd do a poo, turn round, then grab what he could of the poo and run off somewhere with it to eat it. This led to a couple of rather disgusting incidents of me removing poo from his mouth!

I'm also going to try pineapple.
Oh Jeezzzzzzzz, chucks.

My puppy thinks getting a poo out of the cat's litter tray is fine dining. I had to build an obstacle course to get to it that only the cats could manage.

Disgusting creatures lol
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Old 15-02-2012, 12:06
dorydaryl
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Appropriate doggie-breed name for this thread, methinks!

My springer leaves his own alone but he has eaten cat and other dogs' poo. His favourite 'dirty' past-time is to roll in fox poo, though.

He's still not connected the activity to the inevitable encounter with the hosepipe. He loves water but he doesn't like the hosepipe one bit!
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Old 15-02-2012, 12:41
Osusana
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Also be alert on walks when he is older, as over the years mine have been strangely drawn to cow pats and sheep poo!
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Old 15-02-2012, 17:33
Doll Feet
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One of my dogs was doing this because she was suffering from EPI - a pancreatic condition that leaves the dog unable to digest food http://www.globalspan.net/epi.htm
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Old 16-02-2012, 13:09
curlywurly
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my 4 yr old cocker spaniel, will eat our cats poo.
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Old 16-02-2012, 15:18
JoLuc
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DottyTheDog loves cow and sheep poo. Eating it, rolling in it. And she's an intelligent dog too.
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