# Training issues



## Mike H (May 24, 2018)

SO Bandit does great sometimes with the "come" "sit" etc. Treats are provided. But then sometimes, he just doesnt listen. You go to pick him up and he runs away from me. Or sometimes he is more interested in eating his poop then listening. He starts puppy class in a couple weeks. Hoping they can help. 

Not sure if he is just young yet.....but I am frustrated with his listening and coming when called EVERY TIME. Ugh.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Mike H said:


> SO Bandit does great sometimes with the "come" "sit" etc. Treats are provided. But then sometimes, he just doesnt listen. You go to pick him up and he runs away from me. Or sometimes he is more interested in eating his poop then listening. He starts puppy class in a couple weeks. Hoping they can help.
> 
> Not sure if he is just young yet.....but I am frustrated with his listening and coming when called EVERY TIME. Ugh.


Come is something that takes MANY MONTHS (sometimes years) to get really reliable. For a long, LONG time, it is up to you to set it up so that he can't be wrong. Wait until he's already running toward you, THEN call him to come. Then reward him BIG TIME when he arrives.

Make sure you set it up so he CAN'T eat poop... (have him on leash) If he's running away from you under any circumstances, you've already set a bad precedent. If he is in a space big enough that you can't just pick him up without him getting away, put a drag line on him. step on it so he can't get away. Then go and pick him up gently and give him a treat. Then IMMEDIATELY put him down to play again. Do that 1000 times. eventually, he will realize that getting picked up means good things are going to happen, not htat it's the end of his fun.

None of this is a "listening problem". They are training issues.


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## Marni (Apr 1, 2017)

Eating poop by your adorable pet in front of a group is soooo embarrassing. For the human, that is.:surprise:


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

Our puppy ate poop once soon after we brought him home and at the time I was proud of handling it calmly even though I was terrified it would keep happening. He never did it again until one day at the park. He was on a leash sniffing around a tree in some mulch and all of the sudden he was proudly holding up a huge smelly poop that did NOT belong to him. It had that horrible smell of strong, cheap smelling dog food and poop and I completely panicked. I know you’re supposed to be calm so they don’t hide poop problems but I completely panicked - I had nothing to take it away with so I had to run back to my car, holding him so that it wouldn’t get on me - ugh, it was awful. After that I wouldn’t let him walk I bark/mulch for months. Fortunately it hasn’t ever been a problem again, but I’ve also been vigilant about picking up poop immediately because I was traumatized and I didn’t want to risk traumatizing poor puppy over it, too 

No advice, just empathy here!


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## tklp55 (Mar 29, 2018)

How dangerous is it for them to eat their own poop? Diva has started to do it once in a while. She's contained in our huge yard, with an invisible fence (correction set very low, and she never challenges it) and has a pet door. She mostly poops in the early morning when my husband gets up and nobody sees her go. Mid-day, a few times, I've seen her with the "cigar" in her mouth (ew!!) and there's no catching her. I have Lupus and can't deal with her in the mornings.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

tklp55 said:


> How dangerous is it for them to eat their own poop? Diva has started to do it once in a while. She's contained in our huge yard, with an invisible fence (correction set very low, and she never challenges it) and has a pet door. She mostly poops in the early morning when my husband gets up and nobody sees her go. Mid-day, a few times, I've seen her with the "cigar" in her mouth (ew!!) and there's no catching her. I have Lupus and can't deal with her in the mornings.


There is a danger that they can reinfect themselves with parasites. Other than that, it's mostly just gross.

Do remember, though, if you allow her to go out in an area with an invisible fence, it might keep her from leaving, but it doesn't protect her from either larger dogs or wild animals.


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

tklp55 said:


> How dangerous is it for them to eat their own poop? Diva has started to do it once in a while. She's contained in our huge yard, with an invisible fence (correction set very low, and she never challenges it) and has a pet door. She mostly poops in the early morning when my husband gets up and nobody sees her go. Mid-day, a few times, I've seen her with the "cigar" in her mouth (ew!!) and there's no catching her. I have Lupus and can't deal with her in the mornings.


With winter around the corner, depending on where you live, giardia is one that can really be a problem because it's not covered by any preventative meds you might be using and it's really easy to get reinfected by poop. Our little guy was a winter puppy and had several bouts of giardia even without eating poop because the rate of infection is so high in our climate- lots of melting and refreezing snow. That being said, don't hurt yourself running after him over puppy poop. It's not the end of the world, I think there's a lot of overreaction to it, myself included 

if you have kids, make it a "find the poop" game. At our house, picking up poop immediately is part of taking him potty, but there are times when someone doesn't see him poop, so it's a money earning chore for someone to scan the yard for any missed poop once a week before the grass is cut. It's not a big ticket chore, but it's worth a few "points" towards weekly allowance. If you don't have kids at home, i would ask around and see if there are any kids in your neighborhood. I would bet there's a 12 year old near you who would love to earn some spare change and puppy play time helping you out for 5 minutes after school. One thing I've learned from having a kid with disabilities is when your health is poor, you have to let people help you and sometimes that means being creative.


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## Mike H (May 24, 2018)

Thanks everyone for the replies. We have been using the leash exclusively and it has solved the poop eating. lol He seems to be coming around and doing well. We have had no inside accidents lately!!!!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Mike H said:


> Thanks everyone for the replies. We have been using the leash exclusively and it has solved the poop eating. lol He seems to be coming around and doing well. We have had no inside accidents lately!!!!


Yay on all counts!!!


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## Mike H (May 24, 2018)

Bandit is getting better at holding it. He only goes on his potty pad sometimes at night but has been waiting for me to take him out. All good stuff. I think maybe he is just getting older and getting "it". 

His ability to come when called has improved for sure over the last couple weeks. We start puppy class on Saturday. Looking forward to it.


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