[Lone Star]

I have a 7 month old lab who is doing really well in his training but I am struggling going on a relaxing walk round our house because we are surrounded by farmland and sheep. It's not the sheep that are the problem but the poo! I am working on loose lead training with clicker and treats which he is doing well, but when I just want to have a relaxed walk on or off the lead he is like a hoover! I am also building up training for "Leave it" without distractions so I don't want him getting confused. Any tips?

 

[JohnW]

All I can say is "Good luck!" I used to regularly train in a Deer park, and found Deer the worst of the lot! My usual way is to walk my pups on lead over the droppings and if they put their head down I either lift the head with the lead while growling or slip my toe under the head and lift it that way, again giving a growl. Does it work? After a fashion, but thats the best I can say. Some people use a muzzle to prevent their dogs from picking it up, but as I work my dogs picking up I cant do that. I actually work my dogs in the fields with sheep and cattle, but of course when working their mind is on the job rather than sheep droppings so I dont get the problem there.

 

[Tarimoor]

I live right next to a field that sometimes has sheep, sometimes cattle, and in fact they've just been muckspreading so it's a complete smorgasbord, which is why I put my dogs in the van and drive somewhere without sheep poop. It's a hazard of living rurally I'm afraid, I'd rather drive somewhere else than risk them eating a lot of poop.

 

[gcwebbyuk]

Mabel's favourite was horse poo (a lot on the shared trails near us), our technique for that was if we saw any we would make a silly noise and run and she would wonder what we were doing and run with us - made us look a right couple of wallies though! After doing this a few times she seemed to give up on wanting to hoover up horse poo and walks straight past now. If she does we good girl and treat.

However, her new favourite is rabbit droppings. We live near the south downs and walk there quite a lot - no chance at all in preventing her hoovering them up - maybe worse as they look like treats!

 

[rjalex]

Mine is particular to cat poo Bleah yuck

 

[Maddie]

One of mine eats a couple of the others dog pooh 🤮🤮

 

[Deboragh]

Living in the city our girl Cleo used to love pigeon droppings. Think because they were so crunchy!

 

[mandyb]

Rabbit droppings are the main delicacy here. LOL