seperation anxiety and pica

nala2012

Hi this is my first time posting. My question is about my year old female mastiff cross Nala. She's been a serial poo eater pretty much since I got her at ten weeks but she also eats anything else when left alone.
About 5 months ago I started bringing her to doggy day care because she loves playing with other dogs and I work long hours so thought I was doing the best for her by bringing her there. Now I'm not so sure. One day I got talking to their dog trainer about her poo eating. He spoke to a behaviourist in Dublin and told me that she had separation anxiety and the eating of poo was how she was soothing herself. He recommended using kalm aid.and teaching the leave it command.
My dillema is that she's still eating poo even though they've been really good trying to clean up poo before she gets them. She's so quick though that she
still.manages to get one most days. So would I be better off leaving her at home and getting my boyfriend to walk her during the day because he works near home?

andreac

Is it her own poo she is eating? Have you tried the remedies which stop poo eating? Putting pineapple in her meals so when the poo comes out it tastes awful for them so it puts them off eating it.

My female eats poo sometimes, my males poo bleugh, but shes is just greedy and its nothing to do with separation anxiety.

Seemingly its more common in females than males for some reason.

I wouldnt be stopping her going to daycare for this reason imo.

DBB

OP, it seems to me, from the info you've posted, that a rather large leap has been made in the diagnosis of separation anxiety. A behaviourist would not have been able to accurately diagnose separation anxiety based on poo eating alone.
There are so many reasons why dogs eat their own poo, from boredom to habit to malabsorption problems and plenty in between. Were I you, I'd talk to a qualified behaviourist on the phone to assess what may be at the root of your dog's coprophagia, and you may need to have blood tests done to establish if there is an underlying health problem.
But don't do anything too drastic until you have an accurate diagnosis.

nala2012

She eats other dogs poo's as well as her own. The reason I'm thinking of keeping her home is that they said its become a habit and when at home I'm able to make sure she doesn't eat any.
I tried putting tabassco sauce on some poo to try and put her off them but she still gobbled them up and just sneezed.
I really want to break this habit because I think that what its become. I've seen her when I drop her into doggy day care she ignores the dogs and goes hunting for poo. They said in daycare that she doesn't bother with poo in the evening.
Does anyone know of a behaviourist in galway that I could talk to?

DBB

Tara is the only properly trained behaviourist I know in Galway, I've had nothing but good reports about her:
http://galway.info/business-directory.html?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=71&sobi2Id=364

Also, I would strongly advise getting those bloods done to make sure your dog doesn't have a digestive/malabsorption problem that is driving her to eat poop. There is no point in trying to address it behaviourally if there is an underlying medical cause.
Good luck with it!