Following on from a comment I posted on all things doggy on Liz's blog yesterday, I thought I would further enlighten the rest of the blogosphere. This is not for the faint hearted. You will be glad to hear therefore no photo.
Rescue Dog was a stray. Vet informed me that stray dogs have a habit of consuming dog poo because it still contains nutrients. Vet said to cure Rescue Dog's nasty habit liberally splash Tabasco Sauce over poo. So a controlled experiment began. Firstly, we do not keep Tabasco sauce in our store cupboard, I shopped around and found some Tabasco in a very pretty red and orange container with the words 'hot and fiery' - I thought just the job (for a job), sorry about the pun.
Rescue Dog duly obliged first thing in morning at end of garden with cows looking on (Rescue Dog gets embarrassed by this intrusion). Normally we keep the garden clean, but I creep outside and duly splash lots and lots of tabasco over the you know what. We keep an eye on Rescue Dog and discover that he absolutely loves Tabasco Sauce! Any suggestions?
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2 hours ago
11 comments:
He loves Tobasco sauce?! Oh dear.
Google says try adding pineapple juice, pumpkin or spinach to his food as apparently this makes poo unpalatable (as if it isn't already!)
I've also learnt the name for it - Coprophagia:-)
Have tried the pineapple cure with no success - will try spinach -cooked or raw? Will google.
Lindsay
I saw you on Lane's blog and came to say 'Hi'.
I was amazed when the first post I saw on your blog was about a Rescue Dog (we rescued one on Sunday)!
Before I saw Lane's comment I was going to suggest adding broccoli and cauliflower to Rescue Dog's food. We've always given our dogs veggies as part of their meal; we live in the land of poo, we're surrounded by sheep. On Sunday when we took Tessa, our rescue pup for her first walk, she tried to have a mammoth feast on sheep poo, the first 3 of her own same thing.
She's had 2 days of veggies with her food and today, all she did with hers and sheeps' poo was have a little sniff and then ignored it.
Has her new diet cured her of Coprophagia? (thanks, Lane).
Hmm, watch this space
P.S. She has had 2 meals with some fresh, cooked cod in as well, but I'd say if she is cured of the habit, it's the veggies, maybe the iron in broccoli?
Have heard that dogs will eat anything - good luck. Will wait to hear how you get on. A x
I'd love to know the answer - pineapple - no, broccoli - they love it. We're not quick enough with the water pistol either.
Best of luck.
How about something bland like semolina? Good luck!
Eeewww! Husband has just added loads of that to his dinner (Tabasco not dog poo you understand!) and I shall never look at that pretty bottle in the same way again!
Pat - Thanks for looking in - I shall be visiting you too! Have tried veg!
Suburbia - LOL
Mountainear and everyone else - thanks for comments - I shall have to go back to the most succesful method so far - carrying a little tin full of stones and rattling it like mad at the first sign of trouble. Rescue Dog is pretty clever and on walks he will lag behind to be able to feast. The tabasco experiment was in garden and we do not usually leave poos to hang around! The second strawberry crop is also being hoovered up by Rescue Dog if he thinks nobody is looking!
Lindsay - your comment about RD pinching the strawberries reminds me of a dog we had, many moons ago, who used to love picking blackberries. A x
Homeopathy can be very helpful for this condition, Lindsay, which is called pica. I'm a qualified homeopath but not a qualified vet so I'm not allowed, by law, to suggest remedies. But you might want to look into this option. Let me know if you want details of homeopathic vets etc.
That said, one of my labs has been a poo eater all her life - and any poo will do. And all my labs are berry pickers/eaters!
Coprophagia is a very difficult habit to break your dog of. You should first check with your vet to make sure it's not health related.
Most of the "treatments" for coprophagia are food additives that do nothing about the behavioral aspects. You should consult a trainer / dog behavior specialist to address the problem effectively.
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