It's seems like I have nothing but problems with my poor boy, as some of you may have read about behavioural issues, since then he has had the snip yesterday so he's recovering from that, however it turns out he has an inflamed intestine, I can't remember the name of it, but he caught it from eating something wrong, however this is the second time he has had this, some of you may have read from previous posts that he is an eating machine and will literally eat anything including non edibles, even tonight on a walk less then 30 mins ago he managed to get some cat poo which is his favourite and isn't going to help his intestines.
I mentioned this to the vet today that he would literally eat anything and he didn't give me any advice or anything, all he said was he is low to the ground and have a good nose.
I'm at my wits end with this eating issues, I know it's bad but I'm losing sympathy for him as he isn't learning from eating bad things with cause him discomfort.
We have tried a caged muzzle on a walk but he isn't stupid he would squash the poo down and lick it through the gaps.
What else can we do, I'm losing it with it.
Thanks
Intestine issues
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Re: Intestine issues
I would use a two- or three-pronged approach on this.
First: management. The cage muzzle didn't work, good to know - could you block off the front? They do make muzzles with solid fronts, more easily found in leather than plastic. Here is an example of what I'm talking about (source website here. I would NOT use this for long periods of time in hot weather. You may be able to find something more like this, with a solid front but more open sides. This particular one doesn't give much room for panting, so again, use in moderation in hot weather or when exercising for long periods of time. There are reviews on this muzzle that say it prevents poo-eating from other dogs who worked around the plastic muzzles.
Second: Leave it training. Using It's Yer Choice and Kikopup's style of leave its worked really well for my dog.
Third: "Heel" training - working on getting him to walk next to you and ignore everything else. I wouldn't ask for a heel constantly on a walk, just if you spot something or an area with several somethings that he'd be interested in. The way I taught my pup:
Start inside, on or off leash. Have great treats in hand. Show dog treats in hand, bring hand to chest (or hip, for small dogs - far enough that they aren't trying to actively get it, but close enough that it's still "in play"). Take two steps, and if the dog walks with you while looking at you, mark with a click or "Yes!" or whatever you're using, and reward. Repeat a few times, end session. Next session, start with two steps a couple times and if they're successful, take three steps...then four, five...increase gradually.
Next step is to take this outside. I'd recommend somewhere paved so you (and he!) can see there's no food or such on the ground. Start back with two steps of attention. If you can't keep his attention for those two steps, I'd work on rewarding attention - Kikopup has some videos on "attention games" and "building attention." I bet they're great.
Just a note: I would not drop or throw treats on the ground for him, ever really. I'd only give treats from my hand, so hopefully he may make the connection that food is not available when it's on the ground, only when it comes from my hand.
First: management. The cage muzzle didn't work, good to know - could you block off the front? They do make muzzles with solid fronts, more easily found in leather than plastic. Here is an example of what I'm talking about (source website here. I would NOT use this for long periods of time in hot weather. You may be able to find something more like this, with a solid front but more open sides. This particular one doesn't give much room for panting, so again, use in moderation in hot weather or when exercising for long periods of time. There are reviews on this muzzle that say it prevents poo-eating from other dogs who worked around the plastic muzzles.
Second: Leave it training. Using It's Yer Choice and Kikopup's style of leave its worked really well for my dog.
Third: "Heel" training - working on getting him to walk next to you and ignore everything else. I wouldn't ask for a heel constantly on a walk, just if you spot something or an area with several somethings that he'd be interested in. The way I taught my pup:
Start inside, on or off leash. Have great treats in hand. Show dog treats in hand, bring hand to chest (or hip, for small dogs - far enough that they aren't trying to actively get it, but close enough that it's still "in play"). Take two steps, and if the dog walks with you while looking at you, mark with a click or "Yes!" or whatever you're using, and reward. Repeat a few times, end session. Next session, start with two steps a couple times and if they're successful, take three steps...then four, five...increase gradually.
Next step is to take this outside. I'd recommend somewhere paved so you (and he!) can see there's no food or such on the ground. Start back with two steps of attention. If you can't keep his attention for those two steps, I'd work on rewarding attention - Kikopup has some videos on "attention games" and "building attention." I bet they're great.
Just a note: I would not drop or throw treats on the ground for him, ever really. I'd only give treats from my hand, so hopefully he may make the connection that food is not available when it's on the ground, only when it comes from my hand.
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
Re: Intestine issues
To add to that excellent advice - you have to commit to paying full attention to your dog all through the walk - so no phone calls, no scrolling through your pad, no listening to music - watch your dog. You will soon learn that there are brief preliminaries to his trying to eat something, and also if YOU see it first, you can move him away from it. It soon becomes second nature.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
Re: Intestine issues
Thanks for the replies, since the replies, I have tried the heel work with his favourite treats mutiple times a day, nothing seems to be working with him, we started small like said with two steps, he would just run and jump up for the treat time after time, he just won't sit or stand and wait if there is any kind of food.
On walks he's still basically jumping on anything possible he can get in his mouth, there was recent cut grass with the lumps of cut grass all over and he picked up a big lump of grass which I had to try get out of his mouth, but later that night he was sick with loads of grass in it.
I had to pull a screw from him mouth which I have no idea he got from as we try and keep the floors free from anything so things like this don't happen.
I'm getting really frustrated with vets as he just keeps saying this is just him, just the type of dog he is. What happens if he gets some glass on a walk and I'm not fast enough to get it from his mouth, it would end up costing me loads from a major op or worse it would be fatal, surely that is not just a normal dog.
He acts like he is starving even though he isn't and is an ideal weight, if we have to lock him out the room when we eat which is a lot of the time, he goes crazy at the door.
We're at our wits end with him now and food, he won't listen to anything when food is around,
On walks he's still basically jumping on anything possible he can get in his mouth, there was recent cut grass with the lumps of cut grass all over and he picked up a big lump of grass which I had to try get out of his mouth, but later that night he was sick with loads of grass in it.
I had to pull a screw from him mouth which I have no idea he got from as we try and keep the floors free from anything so things like this don't happen.
I'm getting really frustrated with vets as he just keeps saying this is just him, just the type of dog he is. What happens if he gets some glass on a walk and I'm not fast enough to get it from his mouth, it would end up costing me loads from a major op or worse it would be fatal, surely that is not just a normal dog.
He acts like he is starving even though he isn't and is an ideal weight, if we have to lock him out the room when we eat which is a lot of the time, he goes crazy at the door.
We're at our wits end with him now and food, he won't listen to anything when food is around,