[LibbyRed]

Hi everyone,

Sorry, I haven't been on for a while. I've been busy with my kids. Libby is close to four months old now, and she's been giving me more work than anything.
The problem is that she's licking her urine and has began the terrible habit of eating her poop. She eats three meals a day and snacks. I've changed her food twice so far, but she's still eating poop. Not just hers, but other dog's too. How hungry can she be? She lso drinks a lot of water. I keep an eye on her when I can in our back yard. But I've seen her make and then turn around and start eating it. Or if she pees, she turns around and licks it. This is totally gross!! At this point her cuteness isn't buying it, nobody in the house wants to pet her. Due to this problem, she smells horrible. I must have missed this part about Bassets on my book. I don't know how to stop her. If I try to correct her she runs and obviously doesn't understand what she is doing is wrong, and that it can cause her health problems.

When I say that she's giving me more work than anything, I mean it. So far, I have woken up to the smell of poop at about three in the morning, coming from her kennel. Look, she lets me know when she wants to go outside, but she also likes to make a tiny bit inside her kennel, I think just to eat it. Then I have to clean her up at that hour and the kennel as well. Yet she howls and barks because she hates to get cleaned. By the time I'm done with her, it's almost four o'clock, and it's a hassle for me to go back to sleep (I have trouble sleeping). Then I have to get up at six to get the kids ready for school. I know I'm complaining, but what else can I do at this point.
Enough of this. I read about a pill or powder which I can sprinkle on her food, to make her dislike her excrements. Does anyone have experience with this? If so, does it work? I need help. Or I'm going to have to let her live outside of the house for now. Thanks.

 

[murraysmom]

Murray ate his poop when he was a puppy, but outgrew it. In the meantime,don't give her the opportunity-when she has to poop, stay close to her and pick it up right away. Scolding gives her attention, and could be reinforcing the behavior.

As far as night time accidents: she's still pretty young. I kept Murrays crate next to my bed, and would run him outside during the night when he became restless. He would do his business, I would praise him, and we would go back to bed. This actually helped to housebreak him, because he learned that if he signalled, I would take him out to potty.

I hope something I said helps- hang in there!

 

[LibbyRed]

Murray ate his poop when he was a puppy, but outgrew it. In the meantime,don't give her the opportunity-when she has to poop, stay close to her and pick it up right away. Scolding gives her attention, and could be reinforcing the behavior.

[/b]

If that's the case, then I'm crossing my fingers that she really does outgrow it. She's a pretty good girl, but when it comes to this, it almost seems impossible.
At night, she lets me know when she wants to go by whining. I usually get up with her twice and she makes out in the back yard, then we come back inside. But even still, she makes a little in the crate without making a noise.
I guess I'm going to try to be faster than a speeding bullet to catch her in the act at night.

 

[Aruuuu]

My Charlie's a poop-eater. So's Edith, but she now wears a basket muzzle because she also eats rocks. I did find poop jammed into the nose piece when we first started to put the muzzle on her, but now she doesn't bother trying to eat the 'cookies' on the ground . Charlie, on the other hand, will probably never stop eating poop (he's 5 1/2 and has always done this). If I can't be there to scoop as soon as he or Edith start to go, he's gonna eat it. Disgusting? Yep. But I've thrown up my hands and we love him anyway, the little goof. By the way, I don't think eating poop has anything to do with being hungry. It's actually a fairly common phenomenon. A lot of dogs lick the spot where they've pee'd, too. It's a dog thing, I guess!

 

[Beverly Anne]

Francis ate poop a lot when he was a puppy. I had to watch him like a hawk and never let my guard down for a moment outside. That stopped when he was about 7-8 months old and I think it was something he sort of grew out of. After that, whenever he got his little fits of "coprophagia" (poop eating) it was usually related to a change in diet.
Now he's 7 1/2 and on antibiotics for Lyme disease and I noticed he's more interested than usual in his feces so we're back on "poopie patrol" around here.

 

[Shermie's Mom]

I've never had this problem , thank goodness, but I have seen products for sale in the dog catalogs that you can add to their food which inhibits this. I don't know if it works, but it may be worth a try.
As far as the pooping in her crate goes, it seems to me she should be old enough to hold it. Do you feed her at definite times, or does she have access to food continiually throughout the day? If at definite times, maybe her last meal should be early, like say 5PM, if she doesn't eat it in 10-15 minutes, away it goes until morning. You may have a better idea then as to when she'll need to poop, then go out with her and don't let her come in until she does her job, and praise here lavishishly until she does. Scoop it up immediately. and don't make a big deal out of it. If she doesn't go, take her out at 15-20 minute intervals until she does.
My 2 cents....
Sally and Shermie

 

[LibbyRed]

Well, her first meal's at 8am, and her last is between 4:30 and 5pm. I caught my son giving her four biscuits last night. I'm wondering how long this has been going on. Here I am thinking that she's eating on a schedule. Now I have to watch that my six year old doesn't give her good night snacks. He's a goof when it comes to Libby.
Last night was a good night. She had no poop accidents in her crate. I cleaned her up real good and have been watching her closely.

 

[AmyB]

Spencer is 10 years old & has eaten poop on & off his whole life. I have tried all the commercial remedies - none worked. I even sprinkled his poo with hot sauce & let him eat it, but that didn't work either! Luckily, he goes through spells of doing it & the times he does it are shorter than the times he does not. When he is in one of those times (he is now as a matter of fact!) I just keep the yard as clean as possible & try as often as I can to follow him outside, so I can stop him from eating it.