One thing we are still struggling with is the coprophagia. This is a problem that has expanded into Tucker's sphere, so to speak....we discovered this about a week ago when Andre came around the corner after having let both of them out, face white as a sheet, having witnessed something that disturbed him terribly. It seems Sofi has taken an interest in Tucker's......well, leavins. And Andre witnessed a scene that apparently traumatized him greatly. I will spare you the details.
At that moment, I vowed to redouble my efforts to solve this problem. I did some more research on the topic, and was once again reassured that this is not as disturbing a problem as it seems...it's not a dangerous habit, just really supremely repulsive to human sensibilities. Most dogs who exhibit the behavior grow out of it eventually, unless it is spurred on by some obsessive/compulsive drive...and I think that's probably what we are dealing with.
None of our solutions have worked up to this point, including the For-Bid food additive, even shaking cayenne pepper or meat tenderizer onto her poop as soon as it hits the ground. Some people recommend enzyme treatments--adding fresh pineapple or even alfalfa pellets to the food to help break down undigested matter--but I think Sofi's problem is a learned and compulsive behavior, not nutritionally motivated.
I awoke the other night with an idea! We have some air freshener that is made of pure citrus oil, and the dogs hate the smell (we've been known to tease the dogs by offering them orange peels and watching them turn up their noses at the unpleasant smell). We've been spraying the trash cans with this spray to keep Tucker from eating kleenexes out of it. So--why not follow the dogs around, wait for them to poop, then spray it with the orange spray?!?! Brilliant, right? Turns out this works, actually!! It completely diverts Sofi's attention from her less than savory activities. She loses interest completely as a result of the spray.
Well, this plan requires me to get up at the crack of early, put on my boots, fuzzy robe, and coat, and run around the back yard at 6am in the dark, poised and ready for either or both of the dogs to poop in the bushes or trees, then descend upon the poop with my spray can before anything disturbing can happen to it. I come back in the house and remove twigs from my hair and assess my face for new scratches and abrasions. I repeat this process a couple more times over the course of the day.
How long can I keep this up? I'm not sure at this point. It's already getting a bit old, as you might imagine. But I'm committed to at least trying to break the habit and hoping that Sofi can be conditioned to associate poop with an unpleasant citrus smell. I'm definitely open to suggestions, if you happen to have any. In the meantime, think of me at 6am, crouching in the bushes in my fuzzy robe with my spray can, waiting for a dog to poop.
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