7 month old puppy has a taste for discarded poo bags

[Spatula]

Hi, all

May I ask your advice, please?

Our 7-month old cockapoo, while otherwise pleasant and placid, has always had a habit of ferreting out discarded poo bags while on walks. So far all our efforts to deter this behaviour have failed. These efforts have ranged from light punishment (a tap round the snout) and a sharp "NO!", to ignoring the behaviour in the hope that he gets bored of it. So far no luck.

Does anyone have any ideas, please? Sadly, he does have a taste for his own poo (sorry if anyone is eating while reading this...), so I imagine his behaviour when on walks is an extension of this.

Advice v. welcome, or feel free to reply to rant at how irritating it is that people feel comfortable tossing poo bags into bushes...

Thanks in advance.

 

[JoanneF]

Hi.

First, please can I ask that you don't tap him on the snout? It's a very sensitive (and important) part of a dog's body, and it won't do anything to make him want to comply with anything you ask him to do. In fact, it's a bit like smacking a toddler in a very sensitive place for playing in the mud ...

Ignoring behaviours we don't want is great advice, but sometimes the behaviour is self-rewarding so ignoring makes little difference.

Anyway, two important things for any dog to learn are leave (don't pick it up) and drop (let it go if you have been too slow with the leave cue). And just like us, learning to perform tasks for a reward is far more effective than having him get it wrong then punishing him. We can point you to plenty of evidence to explain why if you would like, but not here; we should stick to the subject in hand.

I'll attach a couple of videos that will help, but three other things are important to add. First, start with things to leave/drop that aren't particularly valuable to him, just to make the lessons easier for both of you. Second, leave/drop in the kitchen isn't the same for him as leave/drop outside or even in a different part of the house. Dogs don't generalise well. Third, cockers have a breed trait that leans towards resource guarding. If you force something from him, he will try to keep things all the harder.

I hope that helps, maybe others will chip in with more ideas, but if anything isn't clear or you want to know more, please do ask.

 

[Hemlock]

I haven't seen the footage, but would like to emphasise that we should ALWAYS reward a leave/drop as soon as it happens. It is a big thing to ask of a dog that it gives up something glorious when we ask. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to immediately give something even better, and as fast as we can, while moving away from the delectable item we don't want them to have.

 

[Sez1]

Hi, all

May I ask your advice, please?

Our 7-month old cockapoo, while otherwise pleasant and placid, has always had a habit of ferreting out discarded poo bags while on walks. So far all our efforts to deter this behaviour have failed. These efforts have ranged from light punishment (a tap round the snout) and a sharp "NO!", to ignoring the behaviour in the hope that he gets bored of it. So far no luck.

Does anyone have any ideas, please? Sadly, he does have a taste for his own poo (sorry if anyone is eating while reading this...), so I imagine his behaviour when on walks is an extension of this.

Advice v. welcome, or feel free to reply to rant at how irritating it is that people feel comfortable tossing poo bags into bushes...Still working on a 100% leave.

Thanks in advance.

Hi
You have had some good advice. My lovely spaniel also had a couple of incidents of eating a poo bag and chewing up one. One, he took from my pocket which thankfully passed through his system.
I can only say, remove temptations, be careful not to drop things and be calm. Have treats ready for a swap. My spaniel has been terrible for picking up things. While he has largely grown out of it, still needs to be told to drop tiny bits of plastic in the street and or in the case of people's belongings, 'give' . A 100% leave command is vital. I wish I had this as my dog is also partial to poo. Good luck.

 

[Spatula]

Thank you, Joanne F, Hemlock and Sez1 for your replies. We'll get to work right away.