small dog potty question and coprophasia

[Beth Williams]

Hello,

I have yet another foster dog only this time I think I'm adopting her. I have been a big dog person and she will be my first small dog (10 lb yorkie mix). My question to any and all small dog owners is how often do you let your adult, housetrained dogs out to pee/poo. I have the impression they need to go out more often than my large dogs who I generally only let out 4 times a day to potty. I am not interested in using a doggy door in part because I like knowing what's going on in the potty department.

Another question is that this 6 month old foster eats her poo (coprophasia) - I have to be really, really quick about cleaning it up. I know this can be normal for puppies but until what age? I suspect this was one reason she was relinquished to the shelter. Could this be a "forever" management issue?

Thanks!
Beth Williams

[Grace Erick]

Beth, I think my chihuahua (3-1/2 pounds) goes out about 4-5 times a day to pee in the yard, but you know how dogs are. If you are taking them ON a walk instead of letting them out, they will pee a few times during the walk. That is not to say if you are not available for potentially 5 times that the dog can't hold it without a problem.

What I don't understand is why she has to go every two hours when we are in the car on a drive. She will look up at me, and that's her signal she has to go, so we pull over.

I'm sure there is a site about poop eating and I think it's been addressed here to. One way would be to spray it with bitter apple spray so he would think all poop tasted bad, but I'm sure there is another way that's probably better. I don't think anyone would give up a dog for poop eating. People give up dogs for all kinds of reasons, some having to do with not being able to housebreak their dog etc.

[Grace Erick]

http://www.diamondsintheruf f.com/poopeating.html

This site is a quick, easy to read site about poop eating.

Bye, Grace

[Grace Erick]

This is link is a little more indepth:

http://www.veterinarypartne r.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1613&S=1&SourceID=47

Bye, Grace

[Grace Erick]

This link goes into the most detail and takes poop eating very seriously:

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/pets/_archive/study.htm

Bye, Grace

[Beth Williams]

Thanks for the links Grace. I like the method that teaches a dog a recall at the same time! Good idea and cleaning up when the dog is put away makes sense. I can tell she's really interested in that poop when I pick it up in front of her!

If I understand your experience with the "how often" question then it sounds like 4-5 potty breaks per day should be fine eventually (she's not there yet!).

As a shelter volunteer I can say you would be shocked to hear the reasons that people will relinquish a dog. Poop eating is a likely cause - this family had a toddler and probably worried about poopy licks to the kid's face. We had a cat relinquished because her fur didn't match the new furniture that lady bought!! There's a reality check about unbelievable reasons to relinquish an animal. But I'm off topic here ....

Thanks for the great info.

Beth

[Grace Erick]

Beth, I go to chihuahua rescue fundraisors in my state and go to a site where they post the dogs that are available. There are stories of why people gave up the dogs. Many seem to have been lost, but possibly booted out if they got sick, but then there was another chihuahua site where they were brutally honest about the dog and how it came to them, and I couldn't read it those stories. The stories were too bad.

I figured from the 3 links with their varying degree of......how severe they thought the problem was and their solutions, you could pick one that sounded good to you.

I did read where you should not garden in front of your dog too, somewhere else, because it makes them want to dig like you. What it does to my dog is, she steals the weeds my husband pulls out and brings them into the house:)

[Krysta Smith]

I find that Lola usually will go first thing in the morning (usually both) and then she won't pee again until the afternoon. Then it's every 3-4 hours depending on how much water she's had to drink. I think it's probably about the same as a larger dog.

[Lauren Frisbie]

About the poop thing, you can try taking her out on lead and then just walking her away from it when you are done. I don't know if this would work in your situation, but it was the first thing that came into my mind. Well let us know how it goes,

[Amber]

I let both of my small dogs (when I say small, I mean 11 lbs and 19 lbs) out to go every 2 to 3 hours when I'm home. When I'm not home, they are crated together (if not, my poodle has seperation anxiety from the other dog! lol). Sometimes they will be crated for 8 hours and they will have no accidents. I will let them out as soon as I get home and then 2-3 hours from then on until bedtime. They go out RIGHT before we go to bed, that way there is no overnight peeing. (I have a puppy pad on my floor just in case there is though! lol) My dogs are 11 mths and 1 1/2 year old.

Also, my poodle had a problem with eating her poop as a puppy, as well. When I got my rescue, Sally, she picked up on it as well. Only for a little while though. It was easy to get Sally to stop...I just caught her a few times and told her "No". My poodle, on the other hand, still does it more times than not. I'm hoping it will go away in time. She seems to do it when she's bored or when she wants to get rid of it because she realizes that she wasn't supposed to go in the house and she doesn't want me to find it.

[Victor Medeiros]

I think it is a small dog thing, my Yorkie will do it, the only way to stop the poop eating is taking them out on a lead, as soon as he is done have a treat in hand and usually they come running for the treat, and leave the poop. I make him go inside and then i go clean it up. Thank God he is small, small dogs small mess to clean up!! :dogrun:

[Beth Williams]

Thanks for all your replies! Good reality check on "how often to go out" for small dogs. It really does sound like smaller dogs do need to go out more often. My 60 lb girl can easily hold it for 8 hours - and even then I sometimes have to encourage her to go out. I will have to get used to the tighter schedule.

On the poop eating issue: It is working VERY well to take her out on lead to poop, do a recall immediately when that last turd hits the ground and give lots of treats for coming, putting her inside THEN go back out and pick up the poop. She hasn't whipped her head around to get the poop in a couple days. In fact, I really do think she was trying to get it first when I was picking it up in front of her - I think my doing this was making that turd a really valuable thing to her. It's a nice thing to realize that a treat and I are more valuable to her now than a piece of poop! : )

Beth

[Susan Bacon]

We began having trouble with our 10-month old, Beans, a few weeks ago when he started eating his poop too. I decided to try both our puppies on Deter, which claims to have a 95%-98% effect on coprophasia. They say to start with one tablet daily and to double the dosage after 2 weeks if it doesn't seem to be working at that point. I figured, hey! with the main ingredient as "vegetable extract," we'll see how it goes!

I don't know if we'll ever know if it's as effective as the manufacturer says it is, though. With two pups around 10 lbs. apiece, that vegetable extract got into their systems and they started pooping all day long! The stool wasn't runny, thank goodness, but everything seemed to just go right through them and we are struggling with housetraining our younger one without this extra headache--HA!. Now I just make sure to pick up as we go so Beans doesn't get a crack at it before I do (gross). I've also heard that you can douse the deposits with Tabasco to break them of their habit (that'll show 'em!), or sprinkle their food with MSG. I think, though, that I've had enough experimentiation with food additives for a while!! Good luck! :confused: