Doberman eating Horse Manure?

[chickiepoo]

I know this is disgusting. We have a Doberman two year old who in an inside dog, basically, but needs to and does get outside for exercise. Since we got the chickens, It seemed to me that she wasn't getting out enough, cause if the chickens were scratching near the back door, we won't let her out. The electric fence for the horses starts a few yards from the back steps, and the chickens have figured out that if they are in the electric fence, Poopsie can't get to them, so we let her out then. We started a coupla weeks ago taking Poopsie in the fence area when we feed up and the chickens are preparing to roost, so she can run and be safe. She immediately started eating a big bite of manure! Phil rebuked her. Most of it is scratched down by the chickens anyway.
After a few days of supervising her with the horses, we started turning her out with them for a couple of hours a day for exercise. Well, it's my fault, but when I went out last evening for my last trip to the barn, I wouldn't let her go out with me and when I got in she had pooped in the floor. When I went to clean it up I could see that it had a LOT of hay and alfalfa cube fiber in it! I don't guess it is hurting her, cause she has and is behaving just fine, but "what the h#$$!" Apparently she has been eating the manure on a regular basis! I joked that all the animal have the same staples in their diet. Chickens and Poopsie are all eating the horses "left-overs"!
Last time DH bought dog food he bought something different than what she usually gets and is bout finished with it and will go back to the Natural Choice. As a matter of fact, I think I will start mixing it in with the little bit of the other that is left this moment!
Sheesh!

 

[lizardz]

With a name like "Poopsie", what do you expect?

Really, our dogs are the same way - "what a great treat!" is their thinking. At least they're not like my friend's dog who brings the road apples into the house and hides them for later consumption!

 

[chickbea]

Oh, dogs love horse poop. To my knowledge it does them no harm.

 

[LynnGrigg]

Dogs LOVE poop -period. If it's poop, it's good. It's whats for dinner and If it's something dead it's a fine perfume.

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
Our neighbor's expensive little Papillon dog comes over to have a quick chicken poop snack every time he sees us out in the yard with the peeps. Oreo likes the crunchy dried poops, not the fresh splats. He also likes to pick up feathers and carry them arround in his mouth while he looks for a nice crunchy bit to eat. Looks like he's smoking a stogie when he does that. Keep meaning to try and get a pic...

 

[equine chick]

My dogs do it too, and it drives me crazy. I just worry about the worms and the dewormer i give my horses. My horses are regularly wormed every 8 weeks but face it every horse has worms especially with all the flys around.

 

[Poison Ivy]

We had a german sherpard who not only would eat it sometimes she loved to roll in it! So glad she was a outside dog.

 

[broncbuster07]

Yes, every dog I've ever had loved to eat and roll in horse or cow poop. Even Clovis

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

LOL... just wait until poopsie starts eating the bark of a tree like horses do... LOL... my littlest boxer eats and I am not exagerating either..... When she is with the horses... she eats what they eat... grain, grass, bark, leaves, and yes she will also eat their poop. When she is with the pigs.. she eats their corn with them and will eat their poop too... when with the chickens, she eats their feed, scratch corn, and yes I have seen her eat their poop as well. I just cant seem to get her to stop. I read somewhere that if you do not want your dog doing this, you can get a special medicine from the vet that is supposed to deter them from eating poop. I have no clue, didnt look into it.
I have not seen any problems with trixie in eating all this, but I still do watch her, and will try to keep her from eating everything except the grass (never ending battle, and no she does not have worms) and her dog food lol.

 

[chickiepoo]

I had no clue. lizardz, never even thought about the name connection!

I have been around plenty of dogs and plenty of horses, but they weren't MY dog! And...well I just had no clue. I really thought it was something missing in her diet! I thought she might get sick the first time I saw her do it, but she didn't, and she has obviously been doing it on a fairly regular (pun intended) basis since with no harm done...
here I thought I was revealing some embarassing secret about my high-dollar, impressively predigreed dog and turns out the joke is on me!

One thing is for sure. Doesn't matter who their mama and daddy is, a dog is a dog after all.
Well, the chickens scratch in the horse poop, poopsie eats the horse poop (haven't caught her eating the chicken poop...yet). We are looking at getting a couple of miniature dairy goats...so we'll have a freaking smorgasbord of manure to choose from around here!

Thank-you all for the responses!