Poo Hunt By Grandaughter

i dont know if i have posted this in the correct section so i appologise if it is wrong.
i have a two year old grandaughter with a unique hobby! let me explain. Poppy is a very inquisative little girl and is totally in love with our 3 year old border terrier alfie, she has been brought up to respect alfie and not to invade his space, (i have to add they have never been together with out a door gate between them. our choice.) anyway she stays at ours 2 nights and days a week as soon as she gets to ours she runs down the garden path and starts her sweep across the first lawn, she then gives out a very loud "NANNY" POOOEEE" yes, she is on poo alert. she stands just like alfie when he has spotted something interesting, completely still, stairing, and she dosent break her gase until i arrive with a bag to clear it up. now a lot of people may think thats not to bad but, it has got to the stage where i have to take loads of bags out with me when we go on our walks as she is completely intent on finding dog poo and if i dont clear it up she gets very upset and keeps saying "yukky nanny, bad man, poor children, not touch clean up nanny" this is because we explained to her that she must never touch the stuff because it can make children very very ill. the bad man came about because it was a man she saw who was walking his dog and didnt clean its mess up, i did shout a few comments to no avail to which poppy then looked at me and said BAD MAN and when we arrived at the said mess poppy insisted i cleaned it up because it would make the children poorly. is there anyone out there who can help me to break poppy of this hobby we make sure the garden is poo free (she still dose a poo sweep of the garden) i try to divert her gase when out walking ( she always seem to find the stuff i dont see) and she has progressed to duck, goose and swan now!!!!!
HELP PLEASE

Lol. Sorry. On dogs I can (sometimes) advise, on children - never.

Oh poo (sorry for the pun) well thanks for your honest reply anyway you never know someone out there may have the same problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and can advise accordingly

Not had the same problem but I think I'd deal with it in two ways...firstly by playing down the danger (without making poo seem safe)...e.g. it won't harm children if they stand in it with shoes on (but that's still not very nice) and that its just if they start picking it up and playing with it that it can be dangerous.

If she was still insistant on wanting me to pick up every other dog's poo, I'd probably lie and tell her that I can't because the owners have gone home to get a bag and they will be wondering around for ages and ages looking for it if I pick it up.

And as for the duck/geese etc, I'd explain that is a different kind of poo which needs to be left where it is so that it can go back to nature, feed the grass etc.

will put into action explaining why i am not picking up other dogs poo on our walk tomorrow. thanks for that.

we have explained bird poo is not same as dog but she still insists on close inspection and has even shouted at one of the geese for having a poo

I think Hali's advice is very sensible ~ a little "child psychology" can do no harm here!

In one of my local parks there's a house that's used by a kindergarten in the mornings. Recently the children were obviously given the task of designing notices to put up round the park asking people to clean up after their dogs ~ hence the dozens of notices in lurid colours with "matchstick" dogs on them.

It does sound like your grandaughter is becoming a bit phobic about dog poo. Perhaps you just need to help her get it in perspective ~ whilst dog poo isn't very nice, it doesn't actually hurt anyone if they don't touch it. Yes responsible dog owners should clean up after their dogs but you & your grandaughter can't be a 2-man poo-patrol every time you go out.

I hope you can sort this out but I suspect that there will be far more interesting things for your grandaughter to notice as she gets older!

thanks for that am sure your right, i have decided to put in place a fun walk tomorrow collecting objects of nature leaves, furcones etc (not poo) and agree we cant be a two man poo-patrol team so will just have to be more vocal when out and come across an offender.

love it !!
My 3 1/2 yr old does poo patrol in the garden but thank goodness doesnt insist on me picking up other peoples dogs poo.

I have to say he does spot it and will just say someone has been disgusting and not picked up after their dog mummy. BUt thats as far as he goes,

Although did question me on the mound of horse poo the other day and was glad to explain that decomposes itself so I dont need a shovel !!

i think hali's suggestion is a good one - distraction is always good, so lets collect nice things instead - take a bag and get her focused on collecting cones, leaves etc to make something with when you get home !!!

so relieved and glad we are not the only one's with a minnie poo patrol warden out there. thanks

i have just had the most unthinkable thought/vision. what happens if she insists i chase alfie round the garden with her potty to catch "YUKKIE POO" it dosent bare thinking about.