Dog food - NOT

[Topperace]

So our year old Aussie snubs her nose at the decent dog food that we have been feeding her since we got her to the point that you will hear her stomach giggle for want of sustenance.... but you get her outside and she will find every little piece of deer/rabbit poop to try and scoop up.

Now if I can only figure out how to manufacture that smell with good decent nutritious dog food, we might be successful in her eating regularly.
(not AVA or PITA approved message).

[Midnightmoon]

Pretty much like any picky eating teenager worldwide. My 17 year old daughter acts the same way at times. Rather eat "crap" than actual food....lol

All joking aside, my GSD has gone through those phases from time to time. Will not eat his regular food for days. I certainly don't understand why. I've had good success feeding plain ground beef or chicken breast when he gets picky and he usually resets after a week or two.

[RogerR]

Try a multiple angle attack on this habit.
NO! Use only one correction word with a sharp jerk.
A treat pack using it as a reward when NO! works and the dog stops straining towards the poop.
A bad smelling spray to put on poop if you can see it first, training the dog to associate bad odors with poop.

Electric collar (not my preference, but some habits are really ingrained).
Even a beagle can be trained.

[Stavman]

Instinct Raw Boost food is amazing....
My Dutch shepherd loves the salmon..it smells like dead fish....so must be good...lol

He is a deer niblets eater too..so maybe try a small bag, or get the boosters they sell

[Tunce the traveler]

Duck poop is a real favorite delicacy enjoyed by many a pooch on the Bellingham Water Front

[Marcm157]

My German Shepherd used to do the same thing. I switched to feeding her homemade dog food. I use chop meat, kidney beans, carrots, peas and butternut squash. I cook a weeks supply in a crock pot and bag into individual bags.

She hasn't had an no eat / eat poop experience since I switched a few years ago...

[Murff]

I forget which comedian said that he could open 27 cans of cat food and his cat would turn it's nose up to all of them and then go and lick it's butt.

He figured if someone could make cat butt flavored cat food, they'd make a million dollars.

Murff

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by Tunce the traveler

Duck poop is a real favorite delicacy enjoyed by many a pooch on the Bellingham Water Front

So is Canada goose poop on the pathways around the lakes in our neighborhood! Our Dachshund (RIP) used to love dried worms, too.

[jetlag]

We have 2 toy Poodles that thankfully did not pick up this tasty habit. Our last two puppies, Silky Terriers, the boy dog you had to watch out for, lol. I used to joke NASA should send him to space so they wouldn't have to waste space and weight for food, as Harley was self-sustaining.

[norty1]

My wife started reading up on the pet food industry early last year. She decided to transition them over to frozen or freeze dried food to see if it affected their appetites and reaction to kibble type food.

They have loved the food and gobble it up. There are some benefits to it in that they suggest that vet bills may offset the increase in costs. That remains to be seen. I have committed to try it for a year which ends in April 23.

[DocBrown]

Animals are as picky as many humans. When we adopted our cat, we started him on a mid priced "higher end" food that's supposed to be healthier. I've read enough about it to know that it's not everything promised, but still far better and healthier than the cheaper food we fed previous cats we had.

Last summer we stopped at a shop that caters to pet owners who only want the "best", i.e. very expensive pet food that you won't find in any grocery store, nor many pet shops. We bought a small bag of treats, a small bag of dry cat food, and they gave us a generous sample of their own blend. He wouldn't touch any of it. So much for gourmet pet food.

[us71na]

Originally Posted by Tunce the traveler

Duck poop is a real favorite delicacy enjoyed by many a pooch on the Bellingham Water Front

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

So is Canada goose poop on the pathways around the lakes in our neighborhood! Our Dachshund (RIP) used to love dried worms, too.

Be aware that water fowl poop can contain salmonella, which can be fatal to dogs. One of our neighbors had a chocolate lab that used to eat the droppings from the flock of Canada geese that came to their field. It died from salmonella poisoning according to the Vet.

[tnka trk]

If your dog is suddenly refusing to eat the food that it had previously enjoyed, trust your dog’s senses, as they can smell and taste changes to their food that you likely would be unaware of. We’ve gone through this with different dogs over the years and when we investigated we found that every time either the ingredients had changed or the formula had. For the past 6 years we have been feeding our dogs raw, but even then there have been times when our dogs refused the food and once again we found that the manufacturer had changed their formula.
As for your dog eating other animal waste, well that’s a hard habit to stop. Persistence, patience and continuous positive reinforcement. Good luck!!

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Our dogs have eaten only Purina One lamb and rice and good quality training treats. No human food except occasional raw vegetables, popcorn and tortilla chip pieces. All four have liked the Purina One and seem satisficed with their breakfasts and dinners.

Our current dog - if he IS a dog- is a beagle, Bailey. We don't know how we ended up with him, a young rescue, but we found a beagle specialist who has trained us well. Bailey is much better now, but if we let him he'll eat anything including sticks, rocks, and pieces of concrete. He no longer shows interest in goose goo and fast food wrappers and he responds well to "Leave it!". He is very polite now and asks permission before going through doors and gates and before eating food. Dogs, including beagles and our former Plott mix, are trainable but it takes consistent frequent extremely carefully-timed - immediate to 1.5 seconds - positive reinforcement. In the past 18 months we have found the intense training to make a beagle off the street into "a real dog" has been worth the effort.

[Shorty Cox]

When it comes to dog food, someone needs to be working on dog food that creates "glow in the dark" poop!

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Originally Posted by Shorty Cox

When it comes to dog food, someone needs to be working on dog food that creates "glow in the dark" poop!

Perhaps an idea, but why need it when it's so easy to find with your shoe?

[Brownie]

Some dogs just get "picky" about eating their food from time to time. When my former dog would get picky, I'd add a single bouillon cube (beef or chicken) dissolved in a little warm water to make a thin gravy. That never failed for me!

[Loaded-N-Rollin']

Originally Posted by RogerR

.
...A bad smelling spray to put on poop if you can see it first, training the dog to associate bad odors with poop.
Even a beagle can be trained.

I give. What could possibly smell worse than poop that you could spray on poop to make it smell worse?

[JFlightRisk]

Skunk spray!

[Loaded-N-Rollin']

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

Skunk spray!

I don't mind skunk smell. It reminds me of burnt popcorn, which I don't mind the smell of. Poop smells much worse to me. That is the great thing about America: we get to choose which smells repulse us.