...to ask if and how you stopped your dog eating cat poo?

[Turmericpie]

Our 6 year old dog has always had this habit - lots of cats go over our garden and clearly stop and poo. We've always gone out and pulled him away. But it feels like it's got worse, not better.

Any suggestions for things we can try to stop it happening?

I adore our dog to bits but this revolts me

Well part of me posting is for ideas. I think you need to deter the cats.
In dry weather I sprinkle liberal amounts of ground pepper where the cat poos; I also read, and plan to try, netting or chicken wire over its favourite spot.
Someone suggested coffee grounds, up my Labradors would just eat that too and it’s toxic.
Large hose trained on cat when it enters the garden ..

Never managed to stop our spaniel, rarely had to change the litter tray 🤮 she loved rolling in fox and badger poo too 🤢

You can try impulse control training and teach them 'leave it'. But that doesn't help if they snaffle it up before you even spot it.

I've given up trying now to be honest. I've taught my dog to leave her favourite treats, but as soon as she spots cat shit she goes nuts. I think the local cats are mocking me as they dig holes in my front garden and deposit dead birds in them. So my dog gets to roll in bird carcass and eat cat shit before we even get to the end of the path

Ugh.

What about one of those citronella collars, that you press and it squirts citronella? Do people agree or disagree with thise?

No advice. I'd love to know the answer to this as well. Our garden has been inundated by what feels all the neighbours cats in the last couple of years and our labrador retriever seems to constantly hunt out their poo and eat it. It's just so disgusting and is also ruining our garden. I put down chicken wire over some of our flower beds, but it's not really a great solution.
Funnily enough we also have our own cat who only goes in his litter box and our dog won't touch it's poo.

Cou t your blessings, OP. At least it’s not a human poo...
at our RIP elegant daschund girl

Oh, he has also eaten human poo...but thankfully we don't find that too often in the garden

Should probably add that my dog was guide dog trained, responds well to orders to "leave" but cat poo is the one thing that the command just doesn't work on. She's so quick when she spots it!

Give him some cat biscuits in with his food. There’s something in it that they like. I forget what.

I brought a cat litter box he couldn't get in to.. Nothing else stopped him, he just loved the cat poo more than he loved treats!

Yak op I have two poop eating golden retrievers, we have to constantly be on poop watch when on our walks as local sheep poo is a doggy delicatessen which promptly gets vommited up on our carpet! We have a house cat and have had to get a big cabinet with doors on where you put the litter tray inside to stop the disgusting pooches truffle hunting

@Turmericpie we got this off Amazon

@Joinedjustforthispost - we don't have a cat. It's cats coming into our garden

Years ago when we tried having a dog it would eat any sort of poo. I used to carry Tabasco sauce with me and sprinkle liberally on any poo and he doomed stopped eating it.

I apologise and realise that it's probably not nice or kind to do it now I am a grown up!

A supersoaker water pistol, one of the big pump action ones. Fire at the cats entering the garden and also the dog when it tries to get the cat poo.
It will keep the cats out (we have a cat and had to discourage the neighbourhood thug cat who was beating her up).

@Turmericpie

Ugh.

What about one of those citronella collars, that you press and it squirts citronella? Do people agree or disagree with thise?

Those are cruel. Please don't use something like that on your dog.

It's an impossible task. Our dog loves ALL types of poo and sometimes even his own! 🤮 I'll be keeping an eye out for suggestions on the post!

@sunflowersandbuttercups - no I don't like the sound of them. I heard of ones with compressed air that sounds more humane.

I wish I knew...one of mine is a poo connoisseur, he's been known to sample 4 different types on a single walk before now. I love him but could live without that habit!

[quote Turmericpie]@sunflowersandbuttercups - no I don't like the sound of them. I heard of ones with compressed air that sounds more humane.[/quote]
TBH I don't like the use of any kind of aversive - and yes, compressed air is still an aversive.

Aversives work by scaring the animal. There's no way around that. The problem is, you can use the aversive at the wrong moment and end up making your dog terrified of the wrong thing. So if the dog is in the litter tray and the cat is nearby, you can end up making them scared of the cat. Use it around a child, and they associate the sound with the child.

I don't really think there is a solution as such - dogs are gross and eat things they shouldn't - including poo but as long as you make sure he's upto date on his worming, it won't do him any harm if he does manage to eat some.

The only other option would be to not let the dog out until you've checked the garden and cleaned up.