Dog with chicken problem

[Hinotori]

I have a GSD who is a vicious hunter of chicken poo. She even will follow the poor birds around trying to lick their butts. I've yelled and yelled at her. It only makes her stop until I turn around. Spray bottle of water and e-collar haven't worked to stop her either. It's the nasty habit I haven't been able to break. She's good with the chickens, they can climb all over her. Just she gets all excited when one poos. My aussie/heeler doesn't touch the stuff.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop this nasty habit of hers?

 

[gamebirdsonly]

sorry no ideas

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

nope, sorry.


Ours dine on chicken dropping too.

And duck, goose droppings. They prefer the goose droppings be a day or so old, so the dropping have dried a bit.


Then there are the "road apples" from the horses - yup it is a never ending buffet around here!

 

[FireTigeris]

Um... teach the "leave it" command? other then that no clue, "leave it" works on -food- with my food motivated Grey-

 

[Hinotori]

She knows leave it. I can put a treat in front of her and she'll do the "I cant see it" thing when told leave it. She just can't do it with the droppings. I'd read somewhere that dogs can catch some type of worms or something from eating bird poo, so have been trying to break her of it since day one of her eating it.

 

[callahanfarmgirl]

Quote:
Yes, they can get coccidia (spelling??) which has similiar symptoms as parvo in puppies, most adult dogs can live with it. If you find the trick at breaking the habit let me know, 2 of my 3 dogs LOVE chicken poo and they know the leave it command but that only works when I see them going for the poo.
The next time you take the dog to the vet have a poop test done for worms & make sure they look for coccicidia!!

 

[bogielousa]

I want to know the trick too. My aussie girl is a poop seeking missile. She beelines for it every time! She also knows leave it, drop it, and a billion other things for leaving it alone but still as soon as I turn my back she's got a mouthful of poop, cat, poop, horse poop, goat poop, she hasn't discovered duck poop yet but only because she's not allowed in their pen

She's also addicted to pecans! she's just an oddball.


My aussie boy could care less. he'll occasionally grab a mouthful of horse poop when it's fresh but the cat and goat poop must not be as tasty to him. Of course he's also my 'cleaner' dog, she's a pure mess always rolling in the mud too!

 

[FireTigeris]

The guide puppies were expected to do "leave it" in any situation 98% of the time...

I'd rework "leave it" outside with a pile of poo on a paper plate or towl or something that can be tossed afterward, I'd 'load' the plate at night by leaving under a roosting chicken...

then I'd get it and really hammer the command.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Quote:
Yes, they can get coccidia (spelling??) which has similiar symptoms as parvo in puppies, most adult dogs can live with it. If you find the trick at breaking the habit let me know, 2 of my 3 dogs LOVE chicken poo and they know the leave it command but that only works when I see them going for the poo.
The next time you take the dog to the vet have a poop test done for worms & make sure they look for coccicidia!!

Actually, dogs can't get coccidia from eating chicken (or any other non-canid species) poop. Coccidia is species-specific, so the kind that infects chickens won't infect dogs, or people, or cats, or any other non-avian species. It might show up in a stool sample as a pass-through, but it won't cause illness. I work for a vet and one year we had several different dogs drop off fecal samples that tested positive for coccidia, except that they looked "weird." We sent them out to another lab with more experience doing fecals and they informed us that what we were seeing was rabbit coccidia, dogs were eating rabbit poop and the coccidia was passing through their digestive system, and that it did not require treatment.

Dogs can get some other kinds of worms from chickens, but only if the chickens have the worms themselves. Also, if your dog is on heartworm preventative many of the heartworm pills out there also get the most common species of worms that a dog would come into contact with. So you are essentially deworming your dog every month when you give them their heartworm pill. If you are concerned, have the dog's poop (and the chicken poop too if your vet will do it) checked once or twice a year and deworm them if necessary.

As for how to stop it, I agree on working harder on the leave it command. But don't expect it to work when you aren't around. Dogs are just gross. Both of mine eat chicken poop and cat poop whenever they think we're not around to see it and stop them. One of them even eats dog poop if he thinks he can get away with it (he's much better about not doing it than he used to be, but every time I start to think I've gotten him over that disgusting habit he goes and proves me wrong).

 

[CupOJoe42]

Maybe you can spray some chicken poo with bitter apple or cayenne pepper and let her go for it.