Poo Eater

You'd never suspect a poo eater.

Poo eater, caca eater, caca mouth, or poopy mouth however you want to write or say it I have a doo doo eater. Lucee that sweet faced puppy eats her poo.

I’ve done all the standard things to discourage her from eating it. You know the frantic, “Nooooo! Don’t eat that…” Trying to body block the fresh poo only to step right into the warm fresh mess, I’ve even fed her pineapple because it supposedly makes the poo smell or taste icky, doesn’t poo already taste icky. Apparently, Lucee found her doo more appetizing and she ate with gusto! Then I moved onto herbs. I fed her herbs that should have helped deter the eating but again, I think they made the poo more aromatic and savory. Finally, I tried a medication from my vet to no avail!

I started to think I was going to have to live with a poo eater. YUCK! Then it hit me, and it shouldn’t have taken me so long to think of this…Training! I could train her to leave her poo alone, all I need to do (ha, ha) is find something she values more highly than her doo doo and I can proceed to train an impeccable off. So, I switched gears, while sits and downs are important, I’ve decided to elevate the “Off” command to the same level as “Stay” since the whole poo thing grosses me out.

Training the “Off” command has also done wonders for her “fangness” (her mouthy/biting) I started by using the highest value food treat to her fresh boiled chicken and held it in my closed fist close to her nose. I let her get a good sniff going and then I would say, “Off” and the moment she removed her nose from my hand I said, “Yes” or used my clicker to mark the behavior. Then I would say, “Take it” and click or say “Yes” when she took the chicken from my hand. After five to ten minutes, I would stick my chicken smelly hand out for her to nose and she wasn’t even engaging, she turned her head or laid herself down. And by the end of the day after a few more five to ten minute sessions I hold the chicken on the palm of my hand and when I’d call her to me she would come, sit and look to me for direction. She sat for two minutes without paying attention to the chicken on my open hand before I told her to “take it.”

Lucee & Josie after some running.

As of today I can put a high value item like the chicken on the floor call Lucee to me, tell her off if she shows any interest and she leaves it and proceeds to me. I’m close to 100% indoors, nearly 50% outdoors, so if she poops twice in a day she’s only eating one! Not bad for one week of intensive training of one of the hardest headed puppies I’ve ever owned. Another thing I’ve done is upped her exercise, the idea being that she’ll be too tired to eat her poo.

It’s all a work in progress and while the poo eating is gross to me, it is quite natural for her. While she is with me, in the yard, there will be a no poo eating rule and I am cleaning the yard at least once a day. And for those of you wondering I do not feed her a grocery store brand food. We feed a completely natural diet.

I’m shooting for close to 100% with off outdoors by the end of next week.

Until next time, Woof!

Kibbles and Bits

It’s under my fingernails, it’s in the pockets of my jeans and coats and the smell, oh the smell. While I dislike it, Lucee and Josie love it. Especially Josie, if you haven’t guessed it’s treats and I haven’t had to carry them since Josie was about 18 months. I have kibbles and bits in my all of my pockets and the smell of the tastiest treats isn’t so great. I am clicker training and it won’t last forever and if someone doesn’t understand then they’ve probably not clicker trained or trained a dog in a completely positive manner. I love the clicker in less than three weeks Lucee has mastered sit, down and a one-minute down stay. I no longer click her sits and downs and she rarely gets more than a good girl and a pat. She does her sit and downs verbally and with a hand signals. She has the verbal command for stay as well as the hand signal. I am still clicking and treating the stay. This one takes much longer to condition than the others. My goal is to have her down stay in one room while I move around the house and not move from the spot until I release her. I am up to one minute, where I walk 50 feet with my back turned, decent progress for a puppy that three weeks ago was untrained and had absolutely no manners.

Slowly she is losing her Fang nickname. The mouthing is a tougher issue; I am no longer a chew toy. All the training and learning to play games and plenty of chew toys has helped. But as with any toddler, it takes a while to truly get the point. I have found that the less I talk, raise my voice and the more I use body language the more responsive she is too me. Yesterday I didn’t say a word to her and her behavior was impeccable, she even stopped chewing on Josie. I’ve noticed that the more I or someone else tenses their body or the louder we Lucee is talked to the more amped she gets and that’s when I or the other person become the human chew toy. She’s telling me to shut up. When I relax and stop talking, she calms too.

What a teaching moment from my puppy. I’ve been teaching her manners and proper behavior for the human world and she reminds me that I also need to remember that she is a dog and I too need to learn her world. If I stay calm and firm, she listens and doesn’t shut down. When we are both calm, we have fun.

Kibbles and bits left in my pockets and under my nails is an easy price to pay for a happy, well-balanced relationship with my dog.

Until next time, Woof!

Work In Progress, That's Lucee

Lucee a.k.a. Fang, don't let the innocent look fool you.

We are a go for exercise! Thank heavens. My kids want nothing to do with the puppy A.K.A Fang because she wants to use them as a chew toy.

We finally decided on a name after going several rounds. I wanted Beckett but the youngest daughter didn’t like it at all. So we went back to my list and the first name I wrote down, Lucy. We aren’t spelling her name the traditional way we are spelling it Lucee.

Lucee will turn seven months on Friday and she is a terror. We have quite a bit of work to do before Lucee is ready to hang out with children or people outside of our home. She nips and yesterday barked at a man walking past us on the sidewalk.

I am eager to start training classed with her but I need to make sure she is parasite free, I wouldn’t want to get any other dogs sick. Right now, we are using the clicker, Kong’s, tug and her daily food to mark and reinforce the behaviors we want. My husband is handling the tugging activity and I will teach her fetch and work on her loose leash walking. Hopefully when classes start in two weeks she’ll be well on her way.

We have a long road ahead of us and hopefully the next 24 weeks of training I have enrolled in will teach me to lead her to proper family manners and eventually to Canine Good Citizen. It worked for Wyatt and have no doubt it will work for Lucee.

Until next time, Woof!

Off the Leash Crazy

She’s cute, she’s cuddly, she’s smart and she’s rude, under socialized and under exercised. The pup I counted down the days to bringing home is more than a handful she’s off the rails. Not to sound cliché, but she puts Marley of Marley and Me to shame, though right now she is perfect. She’s asleep in her crate. 

The SPCA spayed her last Wednesday so her exercise options have been limited to mental exercise i.e. training and walks, even those have been limited because she is pulling. The most pressing problem behavior is she thinks my entire family is a chew toy. This behavior needs to go or she will never have the opportunity to hang out with my school-age daycare children. First order of business is learning the “Off” command as well as reintroducing or introducing from what I can tell, basic training. Since last Thursday, all four humans are able to get her to sit on command and two of us are able to get her to lie down and one of us, me is able to get her to follow the off command. I am no longer a chew toy.

She has no clue how to interact with my older dog. She ignores Josie’s cues that her behavior is inappropriate. Working with a trainer is in our near future, but first we have to get rid of the urinary tract infection and parasites, both common ailments for shelter dogs. My family and I have already started the clicker training. I’m using the clicker because it in my opinion helps with marking the behavior I want to see more quickly and efficiently. In less than a day we had her responding to the off command and sitting with a hand signal as well as the command to sit. Inadvertently I created a hand signal for off. Holding my hand up and flicking my hand back and forth. Hard to describe, but if you’ve ever shoed your kid away, you probably know the gesture I am talking about. The signal works, she gets off whatever she is attempting to get on.

Since physical exercise is still a few days away, we will challenge her mind and make her work for all of her food. Hello stuffed Kong’s, hide n seek for her food and tons of basic training with lots of puppy pushups, sit, down, sit, down and so on. Today we fit her with an Easy Walk Harness and work on loose leash walk to burn some of that pent up energy.

Until next time, Woof!