Don't do it---if you are close enough to know what he is eating you are close enough to stop him.

You could end up with a dog that is frightened to eat anything. Or frightened of a particular field or a hedge opr anything you may not have thought of.

A dog is a dog and they will eat things we don't like them eating. IMO it is part and parcel of owning a dog and if it bothers you too much muzzle him when you can't stop it.

rune

I am not after a quick fix, I have tried the 'leave', making the faeces less palatable and managing the situation.

I am not normally in favour of spray collars but in some instances I can see uses for that piece of equipment which is why I am considering using one.

I dont understand using a spray collar for recall. However eating something that is paired with an aversive smell (taste and smell are pretty much the same in dogs) may be enough to break the habit.

As for other dog's waste not being dangerous, many of the most dangerous and contagious dog illnesses are transmitted through faeces. I'm not sure if dogs are venerable to diseases from horse poo or cow pats.

I just don't personally see a use for the collar. At the end of the day, if you really can't train pup to not eat poo, simple solution is to go places where there's not loads of poo. I had to go to slightly less convenient places to avoid rabbits etc. - yes, it's annoying but the dog's health is the priority. I do agree with you that it's not safe to continue letting the dog eat poo just incase one day, the poo he eats causes something more serious than a tummy upset, but there are lots of behaviours that can potentially be dangerous and there are lots of steps to try before using something negative like a spray collar. Alternatively, introduce him to a muzzle and muzzle him for now to break the habit.

It should work, if he is sensitive to the spray sound ect.
You have tollers don't you, they are usually fairly sensitive so should be ok.

Training wise I suggets you put the collar on him for several days first and don't use it, just let him get used to wearing it and having fun with it on.

When you wish to use set him up to fail to eat the pooh whatever happens.
In other words put some in a clear palstic bag and leave it on the ground. Whern he goes up to sniff/eat it spray him with the collar on the HIGHEST SETTING!
He will jump away. When he does call him and make a fuss of/play with a ball (just jolly him up again really).
Then set the situation up again.

Don't try without the bag until he refuses bagged faeces.

Note I advise the highest setting because this dog is confident, a nervy dog would be fine on a lower setting.

Additional pointers.

1, keep the collar on after he's ''cured'' for ages, you don't want him getting collar wise.

2, when you take if off deliberatly hid it in the grass by some faeces, if he does try his luck you can then spray near him and remind him about how faeces are to be ignored.

Adam

Setting him up to fail is a very bad thing. It ultimately won't teach him much and you're still going to have to consistently deal with this.

The best way is to be constantly vigilant and use your leave it command.

Someone also asked what food he's eating. My dog was prone to eating cat poop until we switched her to a higher quality food. I don't think you answered if that was a possible part of the problem.

Just a few thoughts, I will try to be as factual as possible

Forgive me if you've already been through some of this anyway.
Medical conditions or medications can affect it. Physical examination should include evaluation of body score and coat quality. Baseline lab data should include a faecal evaluation for intestinal parasites and TLI to screen for maldigestion.

It can sometimers indicate anxiety (as a secondary behaviour to, say, separation related problems); attention seeking or stress and can be a compulsive behaviour - support for this diagnosis would be evidence of underlying anxiety - owners often report the dog spends time scavenging for faeces rather than routine sniffing/playing.

Prevention is part of treatment......dogs should not be off lead until they have defecated, etc....

Prognosis for resolution of problem in owner absence - only "fair".
Prognosis for resolution of problem in owner presence - (with supervision and good hygiene) is good.
If a punishment based method is used the need for long term management should be reviewed to include supervision.
(BSAVA manual .... canine behaviour).

Wys
x

...it is normal behaviour scavengers by nature and if it smells good eat it!!

some do it some dont... making an issue of it is not the way to go.

only on rare occasions it is a malabsorbtion problem.

i also do not think the remote spray will work the way you want it to and may make new issues.

Both my Beagles and still do from time to time eat other dogs poo, they both respond to the leave command but when they were at a certain distant from me would chance there luck.A lot of puppys grow out of it but my dogs had been doing this for two years and it is easy to say its nutritional which i found was the first thing people would say. When i spoke to the vet about this he said it was possibly cheaper foods the other dog owners were giving their pets and it was not getting digested properly. My dogs are better now after i used the citronella spray collar for about a year and at no point in my opinion is or was cruel to my dogs, they have improved considerably. One of my dogs we didnt even use the spray we could get away with just the bleep on the collar and that was enough to distract him. I am not saying the collar is the be all and end all but with positive and treat based encouragement i think this can be a useful tool if everything you have tried has failed. Further more this is not guaranteed to work as some dogs choose to ignore the spray collar. If you know anyone who has one i would surgest to try and borrow it for a week and see how you and your dog gets on. I have stopped using this colar now for about a year and from time to time they will pick up poo and a shout of leave will make them drop it.

Many years ago, one of my puppies constantly did this and the vet told me it was lacking in enzymes, so he gave me a tub of SA37 (don't think you can get it now though?) and voila, she never did it again, so he could have been right.

My current youngsters used to do it too when she was a puppy last year, so I was very vigilant at stopping it when I could, sometimes you just can't catch them in time can you I didn't want to chastise her about it coz she wasn't particularly keen on eating her food, so to me, if I were to chastise her, it might have made her think she's not supposed to eat! To me, she didn't know the difference between eating what had just come out of her, it smelled good, to what I put in her bowl, so I just used to grab it before she had the chance! It seemed to work and months went by, and yet only the other morning, there she was again out there.....

I don't want to make you despondent, but we have a chap in my village with a bearded collie, who does just what your dog does, he's been doing it for years, he eats anything that's left by other dogs on the green if the owners haven't cleared it up if the owner can't get to him first and he said he's tried just about everything to stop this behaviour without any luck.

My older dog used to do this and he has lived on steroids his entire life, BUT, his problem was, in his previous home, he wasn't taken out/let out enough, and when he did it in the house he got severely scolded, so his solution was to eat it up quick to hide the evidence! He stopped doing it here when he knew better, he knew he would get let out/taken out at regular times so he didn't have the need.

Good luck, it must be a nightmare for you and yes, some animal poo can be quite dangerous, i.e. horse poo where the owner might have wormed the night before or given bute cow poo the same and maybe ab's (perhaps, dunno I'm no farmer!) oh the list is endless, and as you said yourself, the most vile diseases are spread from dog poo, especially parvo, so how the heck can it be safe unless it's their own!!!!

I think you`ve turned this into a huge competition between you and your puppy to see who can get the food first. (Yes it`s poo - but to him it`s food).
Personally I`d ignore it, and concentrate on alternative behaviours that offer more rewarding results.
Play-based training (using a tuggy or dummy) encourage the dog to hold an article, therefore prevent the seeking of faeces.
Games which are rewarded with high value treats offer far tastier alternatives.
Using your dog`s natural instincts to direct him to scent games and agility excercises offer exciting distractions.
I think you need to put more training, work and fun into your walks. Especially with a youngster. Get him into good habits now, and it will set him up for life.