My Lab and Poo Problems......

[BaconAndAvocado]

1. He has recently started eating his own and other dogs’ poo (sorry it is extremely disgusting) and I’d like to know how to stop him wanting to do this! He did it when he was a pup but had stopped. He’s now 20 months old, which I guess is still a puppy.
2. He’s been housetrained for a long time but has recently started seeing and/or pooing in the kitchen overnight. Maybe once a week?

Is there anything I can do about these issues?

Overall, he’s a very happy boy. Playful, cuddly, loyal, mischievous.....a normal Lab.

I don’t think you can stop him wanting to do it, but you can train him to follow commands not to do it.

A stern “No” or “leave it” or “drop it” once he has got it would work.
Our lab only ignored No once & it was as we were walking by a dropped pile of chip shop chips. She grabbed a mouthful but, bless her, two sharp “drop it” commands saw her reluctantly, and very slowly, open her mouth and let the chips drop out. I still feel quite guilty that she didn’t get the pleasure.

I could be wrong, but isn't the eating of poo a sign that they are missing something from their diet?

Again, could be talking absolute crap though 🤣

Not necessarily

Most dogs eat poo (also known as 'coprophagia') out of habit, hunger, stress, or boredom. Only a very small number do it because of illness or something lacking in their diet. Habit - some dogs start eating poo at a young age, which then becomes a habit. Hunger - some dogs eat poo when they are hungry.

My Lab is 15 months and started about four months eating other dogs ' poo. Am letting him sniff, then Leave it and rewarding heavily when he does, but not sure this will work off-lead. I also have the poo overnight (unrelated to poo eating which is almost non-existent while am training the Leave on-lead) but have today started him on YuDigest probiotics. The poo overnight started the day he had his boosters and the vet said it was very possible the jabs had caused it. It's a really gross problem to have!

Can you spot any reason as to why he's not managing to last overnight some nights? Different routine on some days? Different food? Is it random or the same night? We let our two year old lab out for a final run around the garden and a last wee about 10pm or 11pm. Could you do similar? Otherwise it might be a question of you getting up very early to let him out and to break the habit.

...four months ago...

His food hasn't changed, nor his routine, and he has a final stroll round the block about 9.30 when he usually performs. I started giving him his main meal as breakfast too, with about a quarter in the evening. But he can't last now till 6.00. He was thoroughly and easily housetrained and had only one poo accident in the house then. Paws crossed that the probiotics have a positive effect.

i have a 2 year old lab that sometimes poos in the kitchen overnight. She doesn’t bark so even if I could hear her at night, she wouldn’t bark anyway to be let out. We have a dog flap for the day but we lock it at night.

I don’t mind tbh as the floor is tiled and easy to clean and I think it’s quite an ask to expect a dog to never need to go to the toilet at night. Also, her food obviously agrees with her and her poo is small and solid and doesn’t smell offensive.

Regarding hunger, we feed him the correct amount of dog food. Habit, I guess it’s more likely to be this.
Maybe I should do some more training on “leave” and “drop”.
Very difficult to carry out off-lead as someone just said.

Same thing for us Tulipvase re flooring and cleaning. It’s not a huge deal.
He gets his last poo/wee run in the garden at 11pmish and we’re up at 7.