Apologies in advance for the topic and hello to all those who share the problem of a poo-eating puppy...Bean is nearly 6 months old and has suddenly developed a fascination with picking up and occasionally eating his poo. I have checked earlier posts which recommend the use of pineapple chunks in his dinner. My questions are:

--does it need to be tinned, or can the pineapple be fresh?
--how much is needed? He is c. 11kg, but this is a guess as the batteries in the scales have died :-)
--does it make sense to feed all three dogs with it?
--how long do you continue to 'dose' his dinner?

Many thanks in anticipation of your replies!

really best bet is to wait until he has pood then pick it up right away ...he will grow out of it.

I tried pineapple - my pup wouldn't eat his food with it in

As has already been mentioned it's far better to pick up immediately so that it doesn't become a habit.  After a few months my youngster grew out of eating his own although would still eat sheeps poo until we'd got a more reliable 'leave' and/or 'drop'.

Luckily in this weather picking up poo is a bit easier than normal!!  Good luck

Thanks both--outdoors it isn't a problem, it's indoors when he sneaks into another room for a poo (no asking to go out beforehand, and not infrequently after we have come in from a good long walk). I follow him to find out what he's doing and find him sat with the offending item in his mouth...yuk. I'll persevere and hope he grows out of it.

The habit is referred to as Coprophagia. You used to be able to get a product called Deter which was great, unfortunately it is not readily available any more, but at a recent show I did see one of the stall holders still had stock. It may be worth ringing around as you might find someone that has it in stock.

Until he is fully house-trained I would not be allowing him freedom of the house.  He should be in the same room as you or the kitchen (or whatever room with washable floor he spends his time in when your absent).

As far as he is concerned another room in the house is no different to going outside and it will hold back his house-training if he has too much freedom in other areas of the house.

Puppies I have kept have never pooed in the house after 6 weeks of age unless left for any length of time.

thanks Brainless, I must say I hadn't considered the issue of allowing him access to other rooms in the house and will try harder to restrict him. He normally is in the same room as I am, and when I am out he is crated and keeps it clean. The problem arises when I sit down to work in one room and he trots off towards the kitchen, which could be for a drink, or occasionally, a poo. He is usually pretty good now in that he can wait long enough for me to get dressed in the morning to go outside, but although he is happy to wee outside he can be quite resistant to the idea of having a poo there. It doesn't help that our back yard is tiny and not suitable for off-lead access, and my allotments are separated from the backyard by the width of an unadopted back lane. The allotments are mainly given over to my hens and bees, so he can't be allowed off lead there either and usually the hens make it far too exciting for . The net result is that we take several short trips out during the day to the park nearby and fields around us, but a walk along the cold dark back lane at night clearly isn't his ideal :-)

I remember when I first moved up to this part of the country to a house with a long drop loo and my own reluctance going out of a freezing cold or rainy night (of which we have more than our fair share), so secretly I have some sympathy for him.

If he's eating it, and doing it indoors, it may be that he is eating it because he has experienced that poo + owner's presence = displeasure from the owner, so in his own way he  may be trying to hide it. It's hard to tell over the net :) but this reaction is not at all uncommon.

He may also be so used to one type of flooring, that he finds it hard to go elsewhere. Also, his possible reluctance to go when outside (on lead?) may be linked to associating you with either being told off or else simply (if he is sensitive) knowing you are annoyed by having to clean up. Dogs are sensitive to things like intakes of breath, etc and even this can be enough to put a dog off and start up various assocations :)
It is hard for us as humans to not show any kind of exasperation or annoyance sometimes.

If it continues, it may be worth getting in a reputable behaviourist (try www.apbc.org.uk) as what you don't want is for this to continue for the rest of the dog's life, and the more it goeson, the harder it will be to alter the habit as it will become more ingrained.

You could try as has been suggested, restricting him (although he is likely to go as soon as he can get to be onhis own) and also using extra tasty food rewards for him when he does go outside so that he finds going outside very rewarding, enough to teach him this is both what you do want, and to give encouragement when he is out there - so that the cold weather or slightly uncomfortable conditions are being outweighed by a really good reward. Something to try, anyway :)

Lindsay
x

> It doesn't help that our back yard is tiny and not suitable for off-lead access

If the backyard is tiny surely you could dog proof it.  A roll of galvanised mesh and some battening to make panels 4 foot high would work and not be too intrusive.

This is what my next door neighbour did when he got two pups after his well behaved wouldn't go anywhere oldie died and the pups were wreaking havoc on h's garden and  getting out.

In fact it worked so well 11 years later they are still up and this way the dogs are kept on the patio when ti rains or they a re unsupervised.

It will make house-training very difficult if the pup cannot freely use the outdoors.

Hi Lindsay, I am always really careful not to give 'bad dog' messages for what after all is my fault for not being around to see that he needs to go out/be picked up after, and I do give loads of praise and treats for going outside. He's been fine today, had a great play in the snow with three others, was out and active long enough off lead to do his business, practise recall and hasn't had any accidents at all.

I think the poo play is in part to play to the reaction of the older dogs, who know better, and me, and a variation on the wall of death race he sometimes initiates with them. He doesn't make a habit of eating it as such, it seems to be more an occasional shock tactic :-o

Hi Brainless, this will sound like a molehill turned into a mountain, but the yard is several steps below the level of the back lane (a hazard if he falls off), is full of planters, shed, bikes, raised bed, and in general is more like an aisle. I used to let my oldest dog into the yard when he was small, only to find he was far more interested in climbing into and digging up the raised bed. I have got a new gate for the yard and once this is up at least he will have no access onto the lane. As of last week I am also considering a more drastic option of tearing down the kitchen extension to rebuild a more dog friendly version...my project for 2010! It's either that or sell up for a real garden.

It sounds like you are using walks for toileting so the garden is not being used as the place to go. Even if you lived in a flat or property without a garden you should train your dog to go in a place near the property, after all going on a walk when your dog needs to go won't always be an option, but popping outside isn't difficult. You need to set him up to succeed. You need to go back to the beginning and take him out after play and food for toileting and also at regular intervals and reward with whatever motivates your dog the most. The connection that going outside in the proper place gets a better reaction than doing it indoors will come.

Also as someone else has mentioned, you should restrict your dog's access to the rest of the house until he is housetrained. If you are working bring him with you, bring a drink and close the door. You will see if he needs to go out and can take him, where if he has free access he might need to go, go elsewhere and you will not know until it is too late. Alternatively if you feel the need to give access from the place you work to the kitchen, if he gets up to leave the room, follow him let him drink and then take him out. This will be much harder to get success with though than keeping him confined to the room you are in.

As for the eating poo, you might well find if you sort the house training this will follow. As someone else has mentions the eating could be a form of hiding what he has done. Another possibility is that it is another form of getting your attention. If he poos in the house, he gets your attention, if he eats it, he gets attention. You need to make it so that going in the right place gets him attention and something nice too.

hi J. Hardcastle, I am using the green in front of the house to take him for a wee, he very quickly settled to this--but he hasn't yet made the same connection for doing a poo. I try to time walks to fit his routine and I think we are getting there. I've keep him and the other two in the same room while I work today and it has been much easier. I will persevere with the close quarters routine and see how we get on. Thanks to all again for your time and advice!