Dog Keeps Eating Baby Poop...

[VixenAndCub]

Sorry for the grotesque subject, but it's getting concerning now.

So I have my male Alaskan Husky Link and my two year old son. Over the last week or two, I've noticed Link has been eating out of my son's potty. Mostly the second I turn my back to clean up my son he's nose first in there.

There's been times I've been in the kitchen, my son does his business, comes in the kitchen to tell me and in that 10-20 second moment it takes to understand what my son is saying and I go into the room to clean up, the poo is gone and Links licking his lips.

I don't understand what it is. If he was female and it was when my son was born I'd understand a bit more - it's an act of cleaning for mother dogs. But he's shown no interest for 2 years until this week.

He has food every day, obviously, plenty of water throughout the day. He gets walked and played with (my son adores playing fetch with him) every day - unless it's raining because he will whinge and pull me back to the house. Hates the rain. Nothings changed in terms of lifestyle or diet.

Am I missing something? Is it a sign of something more serious? Or is it attention seeking?

This one of the reasons we domesticated dogs, to clean up after toddlers.
You are going to have to start shutting doors, putting the potty in the bathroom, whatever works for you.

Basically you just need to stop your dog having access to where the potty is when your son is using it. My dog would probably do this too, so I keep her with me when DD goes off to use the potty. You could also try an attachment for big toilet - DD has started preferring that to potty now anyway. She can set it up and climb up herself.

To add; I started feeding him earlier than usual because I thought it was to do with hunger but he ate half of it then went to the potty the second my son was finished so I had to jump in to stop him. So he had food available and still chose the poop.

Ditch the potty and get your son using the toilet. It’s just a sign that dogs are gross!

@Hugasauras
My son has a toilet attachment but he's still learning so can't quite hold on long enough to get up the stairs to use it just yet.
Feel bad kicking the dog out of the room every time but looks like I have no choice. He's usually so relaxed and easy going. Feels bad I can't trust him after 6 years 🙄
Never a dull day

Maybe I should clarify; I'm not asking how to stop it, I'm asking if I should be concerned about him. Is it a reaction to bad health etc.

It's natural for dogs to eat poo, gross as it sounds. There's still nutritional content in there, and dogs are natural scavengers. I think I also heard that the bacteria benefits their stomachs by adding to their microbiome.

There's an interesting book called Gulp by Mary Roach. It describes the process for finding food that dogs will want to eat but which also smells acceptable to their owners. Basically, dogs favour smells the closest to things like decaying flesh, shit and sick. But you need to tone it down a bit or humans would never buy the dog food again!

Here, I googled it for you:
www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health-and-dog-care/health/health-and-care/a-z-of-health-and-care-issues/why-does-my-dog-eat-poop/

You can get those travel potties with lids, I think they're called My Potty? That would sort it. Or get your son to only use the potty in the bathroom.

This kind of thing www.amazon.co.uk/My-Carry-Potty-Ladybird-Training/dp/B00MBFWMZI?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

@GrendelsGrandma
Thank you for looking into that! I didn't know that. Hopefully it's just instinct then.

Definitely will put the potty upstairs the moment he learns to hold on long enough to run up the stairs. He's still in the beginning stages so often leaves it to the last second. Probably won't be long.

Put child on potty in toilet and shut the door. Child needs to get used to going to toilet anyway.

There's been times I've been in the kitchen, my son does his business, comes in the kitchen to tell me and in that 10-20 second moment it takes to understand what my son is saying and I go into the room to clean up, the poo is gone and Links licking his lips. Are you leaving your son alone with the dog whilst you're in another room?

I don't think there's anything wrong. It's just that dogs are gross.

When my nephew was a toddler he had chronic constipation and would produce turds like rabbit droppings. Often randomly, whilst walking around. The dog would follow him around waiting for the next yummy nugget to drop.

Dogs are really gross.

Well… I suppose it’s better than the baby eating dog poo.

Dogs eat vomit too. Dogs eh?

And this is why I would never get a dog😂

My mums dog use to eat out of the cat litter tray 🤢

@RedCandyApple mine does that.

Does are gross!

Some dogs just love poo.

One of mine is the same, toddler poo, fox poo, cat poo, occasionally random dog poo, if she can get to it she'll eat it.

Travel potty with a lid is your answer. They eat all sorts of crap, I wouldn't worry about this - the other way around, yes...

Can you put up a stair gate and keep him out of the way while you're out of the room?

No its nothing to worry about as long as they are in good general health. It's very very common. My old dog used to eat my other dogs shit and raid my toilet waste bin for used tampons!!! 🤢 he was fit as a fiddle though. But obviously try to not it happen 🤮

Nothing to worry about re dogs health but it does suggest the dog and son are not 100 % constantly supervised and I’d worry if dog was interested in poo and son got in his way he’d snap.

To clarify to everyone whether dog and son are left alone;
No. My partner works from home and has a mini office in the corner of the living room so when I'm in the kitchen the boys are never left alone with each other. Just, Link apparently thinks he can sneak behind my boyfriends back and go to the potty when he's not looking.

Spacing Link's meal out and inviting him to go outside while I'm busy in the kitchen just in case now.
Sounds like it's not a health thing, that was my main concern. Thankfully!

Nothing to add other than I love your dogs name... is it Legend of Zelda inspired? I have two cats called Skyloft & Midna

@Motorina

I don't think there's anything wrong. It's just that dogs are gross.

When my nephew was a toddler he had chronic constipation and would produce turds like rabbit droppings. Often randomly, whilst walking around. The dog would follow him around waiting for the next yummy nugget to drop.

Dogs are really gross.

Sounds quite handy tbh. Stepping in random toddler poops would be gross too!

@SanFranBear
It is!! He's a Husky, closest we'll get to Wolf Link 😆 people who don't play Zelda ask me why Link and I lie and say 'he links us all together' 😆
Love those names too! Skyloft is definitely a unique Zelda pet name too.