Thanks everybody for the advice. I'll have to talk to the vet about the pills / food additive.
Mosey, I'm sure you & I could work out an agreement, but the wife will have none of it.
The wife is getting really upset about this. I think she is taking it too personally. Somehow she is a bad "parent" because the dog eats poop. We are going outside with them when we let him out to do his business. Can't leave him unattended because he is digging under the 2 feet of snow & finding old poop now! Very frustrating considering the cold temps!
I feel the wife pain! My wife can't believe we have another potential nasty. After several generations of non poop eaters our youngest has decided at 18 months to "Go to the dark side" (as we call poop eating in our house). The second after touch down we are running outside in our white tyvek suit for the pickup. We would have preferred she waited until spring to start her new habit but...
We joke that she really doesn't like the poop as much as she likes it served as a Poopcicle due to the winter freeze effect.
The only method we found that works is a immediate pick up. With four dogs we can't treat them with any pills or addatives.
We were always able to call off our prior poop eaters so that we didn't have to rush but left on their own, forget it, it was a snack in minutes.
Just to confirm -- the word Poopsicle is absolutely, positively brilliant and is one that our household has fully embraced. While getting it "fresh out of the oven" seems to be wonderful, there's nothing quite like digging through 2ft of snow to get the good stuff. Or so I hear.
OK, so I just finnished reading all this poop talk and laughing my a-- off, but I just ate lunch and I'm feeling queasy now [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
<font color="purple"> I was told at the pet store to sprinkle Garlic powder (NOT Garlic Salt) on thier food and after a while they should stop. </font color>
Sure, but be prepared for some extra flatulence [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
Since there has been some recent activity on this thread, I figure it is time for an update. For the last month or so we have been religiously walking the pup on the leash, untill the two of them do their business. Now that the snow has melted, he's been in the fenced yard a couple times un - supervised, and hasn't gone after any of the old poop (pre-snow).
I talked to the Vet when I took the other dog in for a checkup. She said not much we can do except to limit his opportunities. Also said that some dogs grow out of it, and suggested trying a new dog food.
So right now we are hoping he has grown out of it, or has forgotten that he likes to eat it. We are now leary of leaving him alone with my parent's dogs (who, despite a diet change, are still connosuires of the poopsicle). Also don't plan on leaving him outside for long periods unsupervised. In addition to the poop eating concern, he also enjoy's digging [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]
I too would be cautious about leaving him with known poop eaters. They learn by watching each other, and if the others are eating something, yours would probably want a share.
(Do poopsicles come apart in the middle so you can share with your friends?)