AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Chat Area question for COLLYK 6122

Chris, if you think that's bad, mine likes to snack in the chicken yard. Suggestion: don't kiss the dogs!

My cousin never has to clean up after her dog. The dog eats her own mess. Ick.

"My cousin never has to clean up after her dog. The dog eats her own mess. Ick."

Your cousin might want to get a patent on that concept. It sounds like some sort of perpetual motion machine.

Anyways, I am going to try sprinkling some hot sauce onto a few of the kitty made "treats" to see if that does anything.

Regarding ChrisW's "issues", our vet also confirms that it is normal. He uses the unfortunate term "litter fritters". It is difficult to know what is normal though, because we have always had Shelties, and they (and we) are far from normal.

oh my God... and here I always thought some of the people on this board was nutty... including me. What are you people doing to your pets? laugh... and seashell, by any chance is your cousin from Alabama?

Denny Shane,

Staying at Paradise Villas will be staying in AC for about a month. Any input would be greatly appreciated. By the way been reading message board for the past year first time, I actually logged on. Thought it would be great to converse with some of you guys. Thanks for responding!

Seashell.....that was too much information for me!

jumpingjean, Fidos is always good on Friday night. Have a great trip.

whoa...just woke up to find this...sorry I have not replied earlier as I have been abroad....well abroad for me...anyway...Hi Malibu, The behaviour you are describing is unusual though not abnormal...The behaviour is very similar to other 'primitive' behaviours such as turning several times before lying down and rolling in things that smell nasty in so much as it has little relevance to modern life for domesticated dogs. Or does it? To us it does, but these are certainly behaviours through which a dog can express itself. The apparently ritual and ineffective burying of uneaten food is likely to hark back to the days when the ancestors of the domestic dog hunted and scavenged. Remaining food would be buried for later use. The compulsive element of this behaviour in your own dog suggests some level of anxiety related to the behaviour. Often, as you have discovered, something as simple as a diet change can eliminate behaviours like this. Other approaches would include feeding in different locations, using different equipment (a plate instead of a bowl etc.) or completely changing the style of feeding (using activity balls or scatter feeding). As for the pros and cons of Science Diet, I am not a nutritionist so I cannot comment other than as a pet owner. I agree that it is overpriced, I know that vets get huge kickbacks for selling it and my last puppy would have rather starved than eat it.

Chris unfortunately the eating of poo is a very normal behaviour for dogs. Cat poo is high on the list of canine delicacies. As long as you allow your dog to have unsupervised access to cat poo, your dog will eat cat poo.

Seashell, that behaviour is fairly normal too although it should be checked with a vet. It can be genetic, learned or a sign that the dog is unwell.

Thanks collyk. My cousin did check it out with the vet, more than once. There is a term used to describe the condition (which I can't think of just now) but as you say, not totally abnormal, especially if the dog wasn't trained not to do it when young.

My cousin claims that she couldn't catch the little duffer doing it often enough or consistently enough to train her not to do it. The dog is getting old now, so I guess it hasn't done her much harm. And I don't mind when the dog comes to visit, because she doesn't mess up my lawn.

Oh yeah, and to Teenah. Sorry about that, hee hee.

I agree with Tinah... hit Fido's on Friday nights.

Check out the food at Caribe Island... it's excellent!