The “Deuce” is not on the menu

I mentioned last week that we got a new dog from the shelter.  She is a super sweet dog now that we got her all fixed up.  You see, she came to us from the shelter with parvovirus, fleas, ear mites, and maybe kennel cough (she has that now but it may have come from the vet).  So, first thing, I am pretty disgusted that the Kanawha/Charleston shelter doesn’t deal with it’s ickiness better.  A few months ago, they had to put down masses of animals because of disease. I have talked to several people who got dogs from there that had parvo and died.  Apparently it is a common problem for that shelter, but I think it is unacceptable.  I get that it’s a big and busy shelter, but gee whiz, it is what they are all about.  Parvo kills a lot of dogs, especially puppies, so not treating/testing/quarantining animals effectively makes them a high-rate kill-shelter depending on how you look at it.

Ok, sorry, I have strayed a bit.  So, Ginny came to us and within 2 days she was obviously very sick.  Many hundred dollars later and we are fortunate to have a mostly healthy dog.  But I wonder…you see, she has taken to eating poop from the yard.  We have some less-than-prize neighbors who let their dogs run and poop all over the neighborhood, but that only provides Ginny access, not inclination.  We walk Ginny on a leash every day and she has started searching out and eating other dogs’ poop!  Did something happen to her brain when she was sick?  I am not positive about this, but I suspect that poop doesn’t taste all that good (especially compared to the food she seems to like) so I cannot come up with an explanation why my sweet Ginny would eat every pile of deuce she comes upon.  “It’s number 2 Ginny…run away!”  Nope, not my dog.

She's sitting on Emily's back as she tries to sleep

It’s been a long time since I had a dog so maybe this is the new trendy thing that all of the young and hip dogs are doing nowadays…surely not.  No, I can definitely say that eating poop is a bad thing.  Come to think of it, I may have a new alternative saying for my kids.  No longer will I have to say, “Would you jump off a bridge if all of your friends were doing it?”  I can now say, “Would you eat poop just because all of your friends are doing it?”

Maybe I am being over-reactive.  She’s a puppy and I know puppies are crazy.  I hate to say it, but I would prefer she would chew on my shoes rather than the biohazards in the yard.  I guess we will have to work on her manners some.  The first trick I am going to teach her is “shake”.  You see, I can shake her paw without hesitation, but she is definitely not getting kisses from me!

10 thoughts on “The “Deuce” is not on the menu

  1. If they do it after about 6 months that typically means that they need better food, or so I am told. I would also carry a bottle of hot sauce with you. You see it first, you can quickly spice it for her. It is likely about a weeks worth of smelling spicy poo will end it. Of course I don’t recommend letting the dog eat the hot sauce, but it certainly would be effective…

  2. Eating poop! That is really weird. I have seen dogs eat their own vomit but not the poop eating kind. I have also seen butt licking. However I agree with the last comment, no licking the face!!

    Btw, I know how much you love the NCAA tournament (not really). I am #1 in two different groups!

  3. Glad your pooch-i-doo is feeling better!She is SO cute!

    Since Katie is my first and last dog, I am not a fountain of information here. I have seen her eat and roll in goose poop, but not actively seek out other brown material outside. We did finally raise the litter boxes up because that was a treat she could NOT resist. GROSSE!!!
    .-= Capri Kel´s last blog ..The Rustling =-.

  4. Our chiots had parvo when we got her from the pound as well, she almost died a few days after we got her. She was infested with fleas and had hundreds (yet literally hundreds) of ticks in her ears.

    I can’t complain about the local pound, they work with what they have and they as good as they can (our shelter puts down pets after 1 week). I’m more upset that they are pet owners that don’t spay/neuter and that buy dogs from puppy mills. That’s what’s really causing this overpopulation of unwanted pets.

    I’ve heard that feeding dogs pumpkin helps with poop eating (my mom’s dogs occationally do it) and feeding them papaya enzyme is supposed to help as well (you can buy it in pill form at the store). Give those a shot.
    .-= Chiot’s Run´s last blog ..Perennial Potato and Egyptian Walking Onions =-.

  5. Hi,

    This is my first time to your blog and I saw your question. The main thing I have heard about poop eating is that is that at least when it starts the dog attempting to right a deficiency. That could be one of two things they are not getting what they need from the food you are feeding.. the second their gut flora is all over the place and isn’t processing the nutrients they are receiving efficiently.

    Considering this dog is likely to be on massive levels of antibiotic I would actually be putting my money on the gut flora being compromised. It might be worth talking to your vet to see if they have a canine appropriate pro-biotic they would suggest to see if it makes any difference to her situation. The main thing is until you get this under control is make sure she doesn’t get to practice the behaviour. Things like this can go from an instinctual reaction to a very real problem to a learned behaviour very quickly. Unfortunately this is a very hard to tackle once it has become a learned behaviour.

    Kind Regards
    Belinda
    .-= simply.belinda´s last blog ..Mudbrick Palace Back to Basics – Week 17, Yr 2 =-.

  6. Try substituting Baby Ruth candy bars instead…LOL
    But seriously; our dog Harley, has a poop eating fettish also, the crunchies out of the cat’s litterbox seems to be his favorite snack, so we must guard against his litterbox intrusions. Outside anything but dog crap is his quest. Deer, rabbit, chicken, etc. are all fair game to him. So we have to keep him under survailence whenever we let him off of the chain. We have raised him since he was 6 weeks old so it wasn’t a learned behavior. It is just something he has always done and will continue to try to do.
    .-= GreyWolf´s last blog ..Spring is Coming =-.

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