Oh icky! Icky!

[StillandSilent]

I caught Argon poop eating yesterday. In the year I have had him, he has never once shown even the slightest interest in doing this. He was at daycare, and I caught him looking way too interested in a poop pile. I gave him the "leave it" command, and he did, but before I could get the poop bagged up, he darted forward and ate a large portion. Today, a coworker caught him doing the same thing.
He is eating the same amount of food and is in great body condition. He is raw fed. I don't think it's a hunger issues.
The last big change in his life was when Neon came, but that was 10 weeks ago. If he has been upset by that, don't you think he would show signs before now. Neon does not poop eat, so it is not a behavior learned from him.
Any thoughts? I keep the yard at daycare as clean as possible, but he's very fast.

[lizzybeth727]

I think that foods high in corn and other non-digestibles make poop taste "good" to dogs. So if the dog that pooped has a diet high in corn, it might attract Argon. Then once he discovered it it's gonna be hard to keep him away from it.

Only thing you can do is clean it up really fast.

[Tazwell]

You can try the pineapple trick, I had it work with one of my dogs. Just feed him a few bits of pineapple every day for a week or so, and it makes the poo taste bad when it comes out... He'll get used to the feeling of "Yuck, poo tastes bad..." and hopefully stop for good.

[lizzybeth727]

Originally Posted by Tazwell

You can try the pineapple trick, I had it work with one of my dogs. Just feed him a few bits of pineapple every day for a week or so, and it makes the poo taste bad when it comes out... He'll get used to the feeling of "Yuck, poo tastes bad..." and hopefully stop for good.

Yeah, but that only works if it's HIS poop that he's eating. I guess you could start giving pineapple "treats" in daycare!

[Tazwell]

Ooh, I didn't know it wasn't his :P

I guess pineapple treats could work!

[Baxter'smybaby]

Wilson used to try and eat Traveler's poop--never went to eat Baxter's. I fed Trav a different food--due to some digestive issues. So it is very likely he may find the other dogs leavings 'tasty" as lizzybeth indicated. It is a disgusting habit--and tough to catch them!

[StillandSilent]

It isn't his own he is eating, unfortunatly. What really bothers me about this (other than the extreme grossness of course), is that he is on a very strict grainfree diet because of his seizures, and I'm sure he's picking the Beneful/Ol' Roy poops to eat.
I'm keeping him home from daycare for a few days, to try and not let this habit become too entrenched, then he's going to have to be under Mommy's eagle eye when he goes back. Which will make him sad, because Mommy's coworkers are pushovers and soooo much nicer than mean old Mommy, but he'll just have to deal with it.
Mommy's coworkers share grainfree treats and snacks. Mommy tells Argon to stop begging and go play. Poor, poor abused Argon.