Hi everyone. My sister has two 1yr old Border Terriers who are brothers. The problem is one of them eats poo when he has a chance. He has done them in the house when he has just been in the garden and done one. She only realised this when she had to come back downstairs after she had gone to bed and he was just finishing one. She has tried a few things but to no avail, he still does it. The other problem is the other one. He is very dog aggressive. He barks and tries to bite other dogs when they are out for their walk. She carries toys, treats etc. He still barks when he has a ball in his mouth. Given the chance he would attack another dog and so they have been put on flexi leads. He barks hysterically if there is a dog walking on the other side of the road. The other day he was barking at it when it was in view between parked cars but stopped when it went out of view and barked again when in view. She and her OH are not finding walk times enjoyable or relaxing. She has tried walking him in the other direction when he starts but that doesnt stop him. She distracts him with his ball or squeaky toy and when he stops she treats him, still no good. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I can't help with the behaviour problems, but I have read somewhere on here that putting pineapple in their food stops them eating poo - apparently it makes it taste bitter (not sure how they know)

How does the dog behave with other dogs if he's taken out without his brother?

Oh dear, Re: the first dog eating his poo.

There are many reasons for this, the first is perhaps he was scolded for pooing in the house as a youngster and so learnt to dispose of the evidence.

The second is he is missing something in his diet, it has well been documented that pups and dogs will eat their own toilet if they have deficiencies in their diet, it is a natural instinct.

If this is the reason as already stated add pineapple to his food, this will give his faeces a none-palatable taste and will stop him from eating it.
Or feed him on a good dry food, not only will this fullfil his deficiencies it will also not be as appetizing as a solid mound.

The third reason is it may be a learnt behaviour if he were left alone for long periods as a pup and began eating this out of boredom, and thus it has become a habit.

The second brother I agree with JG begin to walk him sepertely for a while, when approaching a dog make him sit and bend down to his level, stroke him saying good boy if he is quiet and give him a treat, if he begins to snarl and bark say no and turn his back, it will take weeks of this for him to learn to be none-aggressive towards dogs and you will have to be very patient but in most cases especially with him only being 1 it should be trainable. But, if after trying this for a while and he still continues to be dog aggressive he must be kept on lead and perhaps even muzzled, he will need a proffessional behaviourist to help you to sort this out. Ask your vet for a referel if you can.

Hi again. Thanks for your replies. She is going to try walking them seperate and see how he is. I walked with her the other day with my IW and he went beserk. But by the end of the walk he wasnt too bad they were walking side by side but he didnt like it and every now and then looked as if he wanted to have a go at my dog. If my dog made a sudden move her dog then barked and tried to jump at him with a view I would say of going for him. Her and her husband work but they are not alone for more than 3 hours per day. she comes in at dinner to let them out and stays for an hour. Then her hubby is home for the day a couple of hours later. She went to buy one pup but there was the two left so she took them both for company for each other. The other one that eats poo has epilepsy and is on medication for it, he had quite a few fits when he was younger. He was walking behind my dog on the walk sniffing my dog and was fine but the other one got barking at mine and that made him bark behind my dog and he lunged a bit at my dog. I dont think this would have happened if his brother hadn't barked. Did you get all that! Its a shame as she would just like a leisurely walk with both of them together without the bedlam. Thank you again.

>The other one that eats poo has epilepsy and is on medication for it,

These are 2 symptoms which can be related to too much grain amongst other innapropriate ingredients in the diet.Most grains are very hard for dogs to digest resulting in them coming out the other end pretty much intact.You will find loads of information regarding epilepsy on the link below and the correct diet which will also flow on to the poo eating issue.What food is your sister feeding?

Get her to take a look at this site,it is heavy reading but well worth it. http://www.dogtorj.net

I can only comment on the poo eating. Some dogs just do. Both my bichon boys do. Having spoken to a lot of bichon breeders, my boys breeders and many many people at breed club shows etc we've all come to the conclusion they are all poo eaters. All my bichons since 1988 have all done it, my boys parents - both sides all do it, grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins are all known to 'indulge'. To summarise my dogs come from a very long line of poo eaters. Gross but true, its always a race between me and the dogs to get to it first (I must add I just wanna pick it up - not what they have in mind :D )

They are all fed on a very good diet too :D

My sister had hers on Pedigree Chum complete. She thought it might be that so she changed the to Wainwrights but he is still the same. Yes she knows the feeling! As soon as they poo she runs out to pick it up. :rolleyes:

Never heard of Wainwrights aned I wouldn't recommend Pedigree CHum I bet they had bad wind with that as when I've groomed dogs in the past I always knew the PC fed dog, the smell was terrible from them.

mine are on wainwrights, its a quality food (obviously ;) ) much better than PC

I have one dog who used to eat poo. Put him on Pedigree Complete and he stopped. Changed the food to James Wellbeloved and he started again. So back onto Ped Complete and the poo eating stepped again. He's staying on it now! :)

My little menace George eats other dogs poo that stupid owners don't pick up in the park, so I'm completely stuck unless I just keep him on a short lead forever, and I like him to have a proper run. :rolleyes:

My GSD Jack, eats his own poo but never his first of the day I have tried the usually pineapple chunks and juice(not at the seem time) herbal things and so called miracle cures but none of them have stopped him so come rain or shine when Jack goes out so do i:rolleyes: I was told by a vet that some dogs just do and that really there is nothing that you can do other than get there first!