Help with Lucy's behavior
Hey guys,
Truth be told, I'm about at my whit's end with little Lucy. God I love that dog, but she is driving me NUTS right now.
Back in the end of June I moved into a house with a fenced yard---something I've been dreaming about since getting Lucy (my first dog) over 3 years ago. At my old townhouse, we had a fenced dog run that I would take the dogs to a few times a day, but now we have our own private yard. The old run was wide open and I could see everything. My new yard is the exact opposite. It's heavily wooded and damn near impossible to keep a close eye on the dogs unless I follow them around.
Now, in case you don't remember, Lucy has some chronic health issues. Most pertinent to this discussion is her IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). She's still on a low dose of prednisone and a medium dose of cyclosporine and a SEVERELY restricted diet. She's a healthy weight with a nice soft coat, has plenty of energy, no gas and regular mostly solid stools with this current cocktail.
Now, here's the problem. In the yard, she EATS EVERYTHING! Her favorite snacks are dog poo from the boys, but dirt, sticks, leaves, bugs, skanks, snakes, pine cones, and pretty much whatever else she can get her mouth on are fair game. From the time I let her out there to the time she has something in her mouth is typically about five seconds. That's right, she's eating something before she even relieves herself. Fine, the boys snack on pine cones and sticks in the yard, what's the issue right? Wrong! She eats so much back there she can't keep a meal down. If I don't have her leashed back there and discourage her from eating then she'll eat so much crap that she ends up vomiting up her dinner 30 minutes after eating it.
I hate having to keep her leashed back there. It's less enjoyable for me, less enjoyable for her, and less enjoyable for the boys because they can't play with her as easily or with me because I have to keep such a close eye on her.
I've tried following her around and giving her a "timeout" (1 minute on the leash back near the door) every time she puts something in her mouth. I've tried keeping her leashed and dragging her away from things she wants to eat. I've tried distracting her with treats. I've tried sectioning off a small part of the yard with an x-pen for her. I've tried *almost* everything I can think of, but the behavior hasn't changed.
The one thing I haven't tried yet is an e-collar. I HATE the idea, especially on my little Lucy. But I'm completely out of ideas. So, my questions are these: 1) What the hell else can I try to get her to stop eating things in the yard? and 2) What are your thoughts on the use of an e-collar to dissuade her from this behavior?
Truth be told, I'm about at my whit's end with little Lucy. God I love that dog, but she is driving me NUTS right now.
Back in the end of June I moved into a house with a fenced yard---something I've been dreaming about since getting Lucy (my first dog) over 3 years ago. At my old townhouse, we had a fenced dog run that I would take the dogs to a few times a day, but now we have our own private yard. The old run was wide open and I could see everything. My new yard is the exact opposite. It's heavily wooded and damn near impossible to keep a close eye on the dogs unless I follow them around.
Now, in case you don't remember, Lucy has some chronic health issues. Most pertinent to this discussion is her IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). She's still on a low dose of prednisone and a medium dose of cyclosporine and a SEVERELY restricted diet. She's a healthy weight with a nice soft coat, has plenty of energy, no gas and regular mostly solid stools with this current cocktail.
Now, here's the problem. In the yard, she EATS EVERYTHING! Her favorite snacks are dog poo from the boys, but dirt, sticks, leaves, bugs, skanks, snakes, pine cones, and pretty much whatever else she can get her mouth on are fair game. From the time I let her out there to the time she has something in her mouth is typically about five seconds. That's right, she's eating something before she even relieves herself. Fine, the boys snack on pine cones and sticks in the yard, what's the issue right? Wrong! She eats so much back there she can't keep a meal down. If I don't have her leashed back there and discourage her from eating then she'll eat so much crap that she ends up vomiting up her dinner 30 minutes after eating it.
I hate having to keep her leashed back there. It's less enjoyable for me, less enjoyable for her, and less enjoyable for the boys because they can't play with her as easily or with me because I have to keep such a close eye on her.
I've tried following her around and giving her a "timeout" (1 minute on the leash back near the door) every time she puts something in her mouth. I've tried keeping her leashed and dragging her away from things she wants to eat. I've tried distracting her with treats. I've tried sectioning off a small part of the yard with an x-pen for her. I've tried *almost* everything I can think of, but the behavior hasn't changed.
The one thing I haven't tried yet is an e-collar. I HATE the idea, especially on my little Lucy. But I'm completely out of ideas. So, my questions are these: 1) What the hell else can I try to get her to stop eating things in the yard? and 2) What are your thoughts on the use of an e-collar to dissuade her from this behavior?
Comments
Maybe a basket type where she can still breath and open her mouth, but just can not get to anything to ingest?
I know it sounds kind of simple, but do you think that it would work? I know she would probably not be a fan at first, but with a little conditioning and positive reinforcement, I think it would work.
My guys wont eat horse poop anymore, or deer duds or moose munchkins, but its been trained in a moving situation- they sniff them, if they linger or give me the look, I say "ah! leave it", we keep walking. The yard is different, and I am sure if I dumped a bucket of ungulate nuggets in the yard and forgot about where they were, the dogs would partake- Rei would eat, Sage would roll...
Wraith was very much the same way [ being a puppy & all ] & I found nothing worked except making a REALLY loud noise. Like, screaming "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" at the top of my lungs. Now, when he goes to grab something, all it takes is an "Ah-ah!" to dissuade him.
The basket-muzzle seems to be a really good quick-fix tho, & can be used in-conjunction while you try to train her off of it.
You could use an e-collar, & since this IS detrimental to her health, I think it's more than fair, but I'd still try the basket-muzzle first
I hope they make one small enough for my "petite flower". :-)
I am sure you will be able to find one. I found a cloth muzzle small enough for Nola, so I bet the make basket ones that small too. Keep us updated on how it goes with little Lucy!
Thanks again guys. It's amazing how my mind limited that problem. I was convinced there was some training solution I hadn't come up with when all I needed to do was block her ability to put stuff in her mouth. Occam's razor. :-)