 Barked: Wed Feb 3, '10 3:50pm PST |
 | |  | | There are certain methods you can use to stop dog coprophagia. Keep basics in mind such as getting your dogs wormed regularly, having their vaccinations up to date, and feeding them a well balanced- nutritious meal.
FEEDING TIME
*Use a pet product specially designed for this common problem.
*Add a little Pineapple, Pumpkin, or Spinach to your dogs meal. Apparently these things taste horrible in the poop. Alternatively, you can try putting a repellant substance like hot pepper or tabasco sauce directly onto the feces to make it unpleasant to eat.
CLEANLINESS
*Do your best to keep the dogs living area clean of poop.
TRAINING
*Teach your dog the "off" training command. This is a basic obedience command, which your dog should respect if you have established yourself as the alpha dog..
*Use the "negative association" training method though the use of a prong or choke collar. Any time your dog starts to eat feces say No! and immediately give the lead a sharp tug. This provides a correction to your dog, and will establish that trying to eat poop is not a pleasant experience! You have to be consistent using this method, it must be applied every time not just some of the time.
* Walk the dog on leash so that you are in a better position to tell the dog 'leave it' and to physically keep the dog from trying to sniff and eat stools. Always praise your dog for listening. You can also reinforce the verbal praise with tidbits carried in a pouch.
There are products that you can apply to the stools that will discourage your dog from consuming them. Some are available from pet supply stores and others from veterinarians. These include Forbid.
* Some alternatives to drugs that work for some:
Add two to four tablespoons of canned pumpkin to the food bowl each day. Pumpkin apparently tastes good in food, but repugnant when expelled in excrement.
Add a spoon (teaspoon or tablespoon depending on the dog's size) of canned pineapple, pineapple juice or spinach to the dog's food.
Add some meat tenderizer or MSG to the dog's food.
Coat stools, following elimination, with hot sauce or lemon juice. Or booby trap sample stools by penetrating some left in the yard with hot sauce. |  |  | |  |
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The Dog Show: Who's Your Mama?
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