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?

This.
also, my dog had soft pop until over a year so in addition to dietary changes age seems to have helped?

Spaniel owner here. I wouldn't like to have to deal with two kids, he's enough of a handful. But then I knew they were high energy dogs when I got him. It suits our lifestyle.

The ‘miraculous secret’ is to hold off getting a puppy until your children are more independent and can do some of their morning routine without your help.

That is what the majority of people do surely?

@Youcansaythatagainandagain

sigh Again, she is not a puppy..She is 20 months old.
We bought her from a famous reputable place that trains dogs for the Police force etc. For that reason she was mega expensive as she had all the home training and THAT is why we decided to get her as a family with young children. Just like the 1000s of others that left reviews on their page 🙄

@Youcansaythatagainandagain

Is that why there is a dedicated group/thread young children and dogs? 🙄🙄🙄

And never once have I said she is a "handful"
reread my op...merely asking if there is anything particular people do if dog goes in the garden. I was hinting more at anything you can use to dissolve the poos as a quick fix

Macbeth8

Personally I would not have been able to look after a dog while my children were very young however much I would have liked one. I recognised my limitations and that I was busy enough with the kids. My dog and my children are older than yours and it’s hard enough to juggle their needs and my time.

However you seem to have all the answers….best of luck to you and your dog.

I’ve always had dogs and children and never had any of these problems with time and training that others seem to have. All of my dogs have always attended training, ringcraft, shown and been walked twice a day around babies and toddlers. It’s really not that hard.

OP we fenced off some garden too. The non dog part stays clean for the children and the dog half we can disinfect regularly. It works really well!

I have always grown up with dogs and always vowed I would do the same with my kids.
One of my newborn pictures show me in a moses basket right next to my dad's labrador! I never was that brave though! I decided to get her after the youngest turned 1. We spent alot of time researching. We also are very lucky to have the garden for it. A whopping one acres with a field behind it so sometimes when its nice and warm in the evening we will go and play fetch with her on the fields so she has other dogs to interact with. We got her 2 months ago and my youngest child is now 19 months so not so bad as in she walks with the dog round the garden, absolutely adores her and all kids get involved with her - throwing the ball and feeding her etc..

I will have to take a picture of the garden. Its very difficult to fence off one area. Hard to explain. I will ask my dh when hes next back to see if he has any ideas of how we can do this as this would be so much easier.

Really really unhelpful post 🙄 the op already has the dog! It is perfectly possible to have dogs and children if managed correctly.

OP
If I were you I would fence off a small section of garden for you to let the dog into so she can toilet but is also in sight. It also makes getting dog back in quick and easy. That way you know where any mess is likely to be.
I would also change her diet. You shouldn't be feeding raw and kibble. It never ends well. I would switch her to a completely raw diet. There are lots of raw food suppliers who do a complete meal with the correct ratios of meat, bone and offal. Check out barf Facebook pages for raw feeders.

Just water will dissolve it.

Dobbysgotthesocks

I think, before you comment about poster’s helpfulness, you should read the thread. I posted three or four times with different suggestions and every single one of them was shut down by the OP.
Neither did I ever say the dog was a handful so no idea what the OP was referring to there.

She wont poo on walks as the majority of the time (5 days a week) she is let out in the garden first thing in morning - so she's trained to poo in garden.
Guess your options are
-dog walker for early morning walk - bear in mind might take abit of time for her to get used to pooing on the walk, obv that's v expensive but suppose depends how much the kids playing around the dog poo bothers you
-like others suggest train her to only poo in certain area of garden your children do not access ?

Echo pp you need to watch her in garden and pick up immediately. As to the consistency , changing diet to a reputable dry food from vets worked for our dog and NO TREATS EVER ie he literally only ever eats his quality dog food and nothing else.

Our dog is great on virbac, though it is expensive.

I'd take her off the raw food

Just re-read your OP, OP, and it reads that your main concern is that your dog is going in the garden rather than on walks. The fact that the poo is mushy is mentioned as an additional factor.

Can I suggest that you sort out the mushiness first, with the suggestions that various Pps have made here, and then worry about getting the dog to poo on walks? Because otherwise it’ll be someone else’s kids, not yours, encountering your dog’s mushy poo that you’ve not been able to clean up properly. From my point of view, as a mum of young children who lives in a dog pooey area, I think it’s great that your dog poo is staying in your garden!

Not the sympathetic response you were after, but there you have it.

It was me that said my dog was a handful. As in he's hard work and I wouldn't like to have to deal with two little kids as well.
I really don't understand why you can't just go and pick it up when she poos. Doesn't everyone do this? Why does it need to be dissolved. Follow dog. Poo bag. Job done.

Err what on earth is a "nutritional rate"? Can you send me where you've got this odd number from? :)

Try her with just the raw food. Made a big difference with ours.

Take her for a walk before the kids are up. It's light early at the moment. Take dog out for a proper walk at 6am. That's what I do.

If you can't fence of an area, put her on a lunge line while she goes out for her morning wee, so she can't then run off and do a poo somewhere hidden.

Also for managing a dog and young children in the morning, do you have a partner? One of us walls the dog while the other is getting kids ready.

This.

@Youcansaythatagainandagain I don't get you problem 🤷🏻‍♀️ I commented on what my opinion was - which funnily enough was what the OP presumably wanted. And whilst she might have shot you down if several people are saying the same thing the. You know what sometimes people change their minds!
Perhaps if you were using the same condescending tone you used in your comment to me then that might be why she shut you down! 🤷🏻‍♀️