# Are Dutch Shepherds the Sh_t Eating Kings and Queens of the Dogworld?



## Guest (Dec 1, 2008)

I know I've had my problem in the past, glad that's over, but been hearing alot of this lately. LMAO


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## will fernandez (May 17, 2006)

Only dog that I ever had that really enjoyed eating shit was a GSD...of course they all love cat poop like a crack head likes the rock
...Always wondered what the pleasure was...


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

not to worry ... just a possessiveness thing and sign of a confident dog

"it's mine, damnit .... no one even gets to smell MY poop, so i'll eat it just to be sure"


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

wish i could get my house dog to clean out the litter boxes ... would save me a heckuvalotta work ... what's the trick here ??? more positive training and better timing with my markers or just pinch his ears til he swallows ?? //rotflmao//


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## will fernandez (May 17, 2006)

For the swallowing I like to hold there nose...


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Never had problems with shit eaters. I owned GSD's, Rotts and Dutchies plus a couple of mutts when I was a kid. Lucky for 60 years I guess. I can't hardly remember the first 5 years of life!:smile:


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

Lee...you're looking at the cup half empty ... this can be a solution if trained properly //lol//

i have a MD friend who has a shiba shit eater ,,, she paid over a grand for something that resembles a stainless hibachi smoker ,,, she puts her dog poop in and six hours later she takes out a stink free lump that looks like charcoal ... i told her why not just let him eat it ?


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

Cattle dogs are quite fond of eating poo. One of mine is really into it. I am past bothering about it, untill of course she vomits it back up on my floor, which is not often but it does happen when she cant get outside quick enough when I accidently left the dog door closed.


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## will fernandez (May 17, 2006)

what does she do with the lump


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## Brian McQuain (Oct 21, 2009)

Never had a crap eater. This reminds me of the middle part in "My Dog: the paradox" though: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

i realize it's a bit off topic, but are crap eaters finicky ? will cattle dogs lap up the runs too or do they only scarf up the tootsie rolls ?


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

rick smith said:


> i realize it's a bit off topic, but are crap eaters finicky ? will cattle dogs lap up the runs too or do they only scarf up the tootsie rolls ?


Eww, no not into the runs or upchuck, that would even turn my stomach. She likes the firm poos that come out of my sheepdogs as they are on high protein rations when working. Apparently it is the smell of the protein molecules which is why they all love high protein cat poo.


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

Cat poop is high on both dogs good shit to eat list, but dog poop not so much. One winter, when it got very, very cold, I had one dog start to go for the poop-sicles. Yuck. No idea why frozen poop was suddenly so appealing, but it did motivate me to clean up the yard.


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## Jenny Thorp (Nov 8, 2008)

My Dutch isn't into poop, and I'm very glad about that.

Want a dog that is ? I'll send you my Beauceron !!!!


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## Kristi Molina (Oct 1, 2012)

I have a poo eater here too. Can't stand it. It has gotten MUCH better than it was when she was malnourished. but every once in a while she comes inside and I instantly smell it on her breath. GAG.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

slightly serious here ....

anyone consider training to try and stop this ? 
my dog would have eaten anything that smelled good when i walked it if i didn't train it NOT to 
...any reason this wouldn't work for crap .... (pun intended)

the shiba crap eater i referred didn't eat any poop when i boarded it for three months and i even laid a few "poop tracks" for it 
....and i'm no "scatologist" or super trainer by a looong shot  

for you competition types with scat eaters ... are you too scared to have helpers toss turds, so you just stick to the traditional hot dogs ?? gotta think outside the box ... i'm sure they would if you asked nice, but you'd probably have to "BYO" to the training field .... //lol//


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2008)

rick smith said:


> slightly serious here ....
> 
> anyone consider training to try and stop this ?
> my dog would have eaten anything that smelled good when i walked it if i didn't train it NOT to
> ...


 
Diet, exercise, everything you or anyone has ever thought of, the absolute only way is too make sure your shit eater is in eye contact and a method to correct the dog at all times, other than that you may never fix it... not always the same in every dog as well...


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

Jody,,, agree with everything you wrote

my point was i've never heard of anyone explaining what they did to try and stop the behavior; training wise, and that's why i made reference to a couple cases i worked on...both came labeled as shit eaters, but i never saw it as some genetically disposed condition that would not respond to training, but there are exceptions to everything

the subject has come up here before ... gets the usual sarcasm and poop jokes 
but never heard anyone ask for help or explain what they did that didn't work ](*,)

i assumed most people have decent control on where and when their dogs crap, and whether they are allowed to surf the deck when out, but i guess it's hard if they are always off lead or kenneled and outa sight outa mind with crap laying around free for the taking. 
i also assumed most owners have a pretty good idea of when their dog needs to dump 

if i had a crap eater it would damn sure be on lead when it was poop time until it learned, and i just don't see why it couldn't be taught crap was not allowed on the menu. in a similar way i would break a dog from marking whenever and wherever it chose to. hell, you could even muzzle the mutt if you had to let it dump outa sight (i'd go with a plastic jafco, not leather)....lots of ways to work on it imo ...just never seen em written up

...seems like there are a lot tuffer problems than this, but that's just my .02

fwiw, proofing on a training field with poop dogs vice pork dogs was a joke, but the approach is still valid imo


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Rick this topic has been discussed here many times, and all of that discussion that you mentioned above has taken place as well. All training does is teach dog not to do it when you are around. If it were that easy people wouldn't consider it a difficult habit to put an end to. JMO


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Kristi Molina said:


> I have a poo eater here too. Can't stand it. It has gotten MUCH better than it was when she was malnourished. but every once in a while she comes inside and I instantly smell it on her breath. GAG.



The best results I've had (after making sure there was no nutrients missing and no G.I. malabsorption problem) were from first keeping a simple journal so I knew the time relationship of meals to pooping. Then, as Rick mentioned, the dog was always walked on leash at that time (briskly, to stimulate peristalsis) and the poop picked up.

No poop left around. Even at night, I've stood at the back door with a flashlight in one hand and baggies in the other, and those LED lights on the collars of all the dogs.

I've adopted dogs with that habit, and my first thought (while, as Krista said, fixing malnutrition issues) has always been to break the habit with lack of opportunity.

As Nicole says, it's difficult. There are probably several causes, for one thing. Also, I do think that correcting for it, like correcting for licking and scratching pruritic skin, results in the dog doing it in private.

So .... that's my method, as imperfect as it may be.


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

Reducing opportunity is a good way. I always pick up poo every day and also get my dogs outside the yard into the paddocks to poop as often as possible, but with 6 dogs there is always going to be some opportunity for my old gal. It is a habbit that is pretty well entrenched and I dont have the time and energy to worry about doing anything about it as it appears non harmful. I like to keep her lean because of her bilateral cruciate surgery but she is well nourished.

To be honest it realy doesnt bother me anymore. After you have plunged your bare arms into a sheeps uterus to retrieve dead and decaying lambs several times, poop eating drops down the yuk scale pretty quickly.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Sara Waters said:


> Reducing opportunity is a good way. I always pick up poo every day and also get my dogs outside the yard into the paddocks to poop as often as possible, but with 6 dogs there is always going to be some opportunity for my old gal. It is a habbit that is pretty well entrenched and I dont have the time and energy to worry about doing anything about it as it appears non harmful. I like to keep her lean because of her bilateral cruciate surgery but she is well nourished.
> 
> To be honest it realy doesnt bother me anymore. After you have plunged your bare arms into a sheeps uterus to retrieve dead and decaying lambs several times, poop eating drops down the yuk scale pretty quickly.


Yep, I get that.

I also meant to mention that my dogs are all house dogs. Not the same thing when the dogs don't live in the house.

Also, if I had six rather than three, the chances of having a poop-free property would be a tad lower.

For me, with house dogs, eliminating (ha) the opportunity works.


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

Connie Sutherland said:


> Yep, I get that.
> 
> I also meant to mention that my dogs are all house dogs. Not the same thing when the dogs don't live in the house.
> 
> ...


Mine have a dog door so are free to come and go at will. Its reaching 40 + degrees C here at the moment and they all hate being outside LOL, which gives me more opportunity to beat miss poop eater to the poop.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

My two are outside 24/7/365. I pick up 2-3 times a day but one still manages to scarf up a turd now and then. 
He's the one who refuses to crap or even pee in the kennel run so they have free access to the yard most all the time.
I'm thinking he's just a clean freak and doesn't want the yard getting dirty. ........... :-k........ or maybe not! :lol:


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Sara Waters said:


> Mine have a dog door so are free to come and go at will. Its reaching 40 + degrees C here at the moment and they all hate being outside LOL, which gives me more opportunity to beat miss poop eater to the poop.


"Miss Poop Eater." :lol:


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

Not going to read all the posts. I can't live with a dog that does that. Just not my thing. I can't stomach the idea of having to go through it. @ Joby. No, DS's aren't the only crap eating queens and kings out there. Aaaw man. I have some vivid memories of a dog that did that. It was a malinois. 

I know some dogs will try and eat animal poo. There is some, though very little if I'm not mistaken, nutrient value in the scat of some animals. That, I can tolerate to a degree. I do my best to discourage it. Eating their own poo or the poo of another dog is intolerable. I can not live with a dog that does that. No offense to those that can.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Zakia Days said:


> Not going to read all the posts. I can't live with a dog that does that. Just not my thing. I can't stomach the idea of having to go through it. @ Joby. No, DS's aren't the only crap eating queens and kings out there. Aaaw man. I have some vivid memories of a dog that did that. It was a malinois.
> 
> I know some dogs will try and eat animal poo. There is some, though very little if I'm not mistaken, nutrient value in the scat of some animals. That, I can tolerate to a degree. I do my best to discourage it. Eating their own poo or the poo of another dog is intolerable. I can not live with a dog that does that. No offense to those that can.



not my post...Jody Butler's LOL.. ;


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## Karen M Wood (Jun 23, 2012)

I had a Am Bulldog that never even thought about touching her poop until she had pups. This dog was down right prissy and would look horrified if she stepped in poop. But after the first day or two of freaking out cause we wanted her to clean her pups (she made the most awful faces) and there for eat poop. It became the best thing in the world! After the pups were grown and gone she started cleaning up after herself. If she couldn't get her own she'd sample the other dog's. I had to be fast with the scooper or she'd beat me to the drop. It's the most disgusting thing dogs do for us. Be self cleaning. 
I miss her dearly but i don't miss her shit breath! Poor Ivy!
K


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## James Kotary (Nov 14, 2012)

Some times it is not a nutrition or other problem but some thing they picked up from mom in the litter. Bitches will clean up their pups' poo when they are young and still nursing so to keep the area clean and disease free. Occasionally the pups pick up the habit. 
As I have seen mentioned, the easy way is to monitor your dogs while they take a bathroom break and immediately pick it up. Or spend a few bucks and go get some pills that make stool taste bad. They make it for cats too for those dogs that like the eat kitty poo poo.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

We had a dog at Schutzhund club that looked like he got snake bit when he got anywhere near a dog turd. The owner said he was like that from the time he got him at 7 weeks.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

That's funny Bob. I had a bull faced dog that would get the most disgusted look on his face if he accidentally stepped in shit.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

One of mine won't go at all when they are in the kennel run. The other is a shit stomper. He moves all over the place while he's crapping and stomps on most of it. He just doesn't care. :-&


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## Maureen A Osborn (Feb 12, 2010)

I think it is a primal thing. Every female dogo I have had/have eats/ate poop. My female DS does not, my male dogo does not, my female AB didnt , my male ABT didn't, and my female dalamatian didn't. You can correct them all you want, like someone said, they wont do it while you are out there with them, but if you aren't, bon apetite! LOL. I did some reading and females seem to be more inclined to do it because of the "wanting to keep their nest/den clean" when having pups.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I don't know where I've been all these years but I never realized what a problem this is with so many dogs. I apparently have been very fortunate for all these years. I only had one mutt when I was a kid that used to roll in shit but as I previously posted never had a shit eater.

That being said if I did have one I would have to break him/her or re home the dog. I would have draw the line on eating shit. I just couldn't handle that type of problem.#-o](*,)


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

I don't know if its a big problem as in relatively common bit what makes it a problem is its very difficult to stop and by the time you realize its been happening chances are its been going on for a long time by then. Its a terrible thing. I used to laugh at people who had this issue with their dogs. Until it happened with one of mine.


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