What do you do about your dog poo?

[Macbeth8]

Recently have got a lovely cocker spaniel. Have had a labrador before but he only pooped on his daily walk.
Cocker spaniel just seems to poo when shes let out in the garden even if
Its becoming a nightmare. We have a lovely garden, loads of grass but now kids are ending up coming in with dog muck on their shoes. Its weird cos she is doing poo around different areas of grass. When its seen its easy to just scoop it up but its when shes done it randomly n weve had no idea.
The consistency is always mushy-ish meaning not easy to scoop up and the grass just gets ruined.
AIBU to think this is difficult to manage with? Is there some other option that people do with their dogs?

Walk her first thing and an hour or two after her dinner. You’ll probably find she’ll start to just do it on a walk.

if she’s going more than a couple of times a day and it’s soft I’d agree with others that her diet needs looking at. If you’re feeding raw I’d get rid of the Royal Canin as it’s not great quality and just feed raw. Check out the allaboutdogfood website.

Our dog just has raw completes and only goes once or twice a day and it’s solid 99% if the time. She only goes on a walk unless we’ve not managed to take her out as soon as we’re up on a morning.

I recommend Pets at Home’s Fisherman’s Finest salmon and potato dry for small dogs. Ddog has been on it for years and his poos are textbook 😉

Royal Canin starter is magic for puppies, but I never feed adults RC. Try something else, but change over slowly.

agree with keep the grass super short, and just do a sweep of the garden before the kids go out.

The craper the food produces more crap.

You need to get up earlier then and take her out. Even just in the garden and watch whilst she does it. Then praise.

All sounds quite chaotic.

You shouldn't mix raw and kibble in the same diet—kibble is designed to be digested more slowly while raw needs to be processed through the digestive system before bacteria festers. And nix the royal canine - there are better foods for a lower price. How old is she? It's normal for puppies to poo quite a lot.

The moment you said Royal Canin, I thought that's your answer.

I've got 2 spaniels and they're on Forthglade cold pressed. Lovely solid poo, and you don't need to feed much as it's really energy dense. My 2 have got amazing shiny soft coats.

SlugHell that’s a myth. It really is.

We have a cocker spaniel, lovely dog, quite a lot of mushy poos. Could be an issue with the dog’s anal glands, ask your vet. Our dog is 2 and we haven’t found the perfect diet to get perfect poos yet 😂

We found having a lawn in our last flat a bit of a nightmare, not least because in the winter it got so muddy. We just bought a flat with a patio garden, considering laying some artificial grass which can be easily hosed down… sorry that’s probably not very helpful!! We have managed to train the dog to only pee/poo in one corner of the garden since we moved in though, so that’s worth a try. Good luck! Cocker spaniels are soooo sweet

This.

We use Royal Canin - have tried a variety of kibble but the breeder weaned our doggo onto it and it’s the one he prefers. We mux it with wet good or cooked meat. Poos are just fine.

Always worth trying different ones to see if that helps though.

How many walks is she having? She needs a routine and she'll start pooing on walks - sounds like she needs Atleast x2 walks a day - x1 first thing in morning and x1 again later after she's eaten
There's no way I let my dog in garden if she's not done a poo on a walk as I have a toddler who plays in the garden

Ours is a horrific townie and prefers to poo on hard standing only, so the patio gets the brunt of it. Keep a loo roll at the back door, pick up immediately and flush. Hose permanently at the ready for a daily sluice.
If her poos too wet I would second her diet needs adjusting. Ours has raw only at meals then a top up of biscuits for 'supper'.
We used to have a lawn at the old house and yes, you need to keep it bloody short for visability And do regular sweeps.
They're worth it though.

I feel my spaniel Tails and she’s cut down the amount of poos she does and they are much more solid. Before this I had tried loads of different foods and nothing seemed to agree with her!

Just pick it up before your children go out?
Take a kettle of water for anything too runny to pick up.

Train the kids not to go on the grass til you’ve checked it. Our 2 youngest know not to go near it / step - they just shout and I go clean it up. We have an elderly cocker now and it’s not that difficult.

Your problem is mixing raw with kibble. Mine are on all raw, loads cheaper and hardly any poos.

Look at changing her food is consistency is like that. If kids are playing you’re going to have to go out on poo duty a few times per day. I don’t have young kids but I pick up daily

I'd look at changing her diet

Why ‘no way’? Couldn’t you go out with your dog and pick it up?

I poo pick my garden every couple of days. I use nappy sacks from Lidl (so much cheaper than poo bags) and put them in a small bin in my garden. When that is full, it goes in my wheelie bin.
Keep the grass short as any poo is easier to see.

But regardless of whatever the "contract" says, her poo is showing you that her diet doesn't agree with her, so something needs to change. Dog poo should be firm with a good shape, and should only leave a tiny residue on the grass when you collect it, if it leaves any at all.

Mushy poo is a sign that somethings wrong - it could be as simple as she's being fed too much, but more likely it's because the food doesn't agree with her.

We have a spaniel. They have quite temperamental tummies probably due to all the excitement in their heads!

We feed ours Green Pantry foods. This gives her very firm poos and only 1 or 2 a day.

Is your dog eating its own poo? Runny consistency and going frequently could be an indicator of this. Follow your dog out, and pick up as soon as they poo, so it's not left in the garden and no chance to eat it. It sounds disgusting but is quite common.

I have a cocker spaniel and mini poodle mix and both are on Royal Canin dry plus random veg. Their poos are always firm and easy to pick up.