ArcaMax

To get her to stay longer, give her a Kong filled with frozen peanut butter that she can work on for a while. If this gets her too excited, stick with the treats. Your son's initial goal should be 10-minutes rest, eventually leading up to a 30-minute "stay." Always follow-up playtime with a "rest period" and she will eventually learn to settle down on her own.

Dear Cathy,

What can I do to discourage my doxie's occasional dog-poop eating? I try to pick it up every day but sometimes she gets back outside before I do. Also, my daughter can't clean her yard every day and her dog "snacks" as well, sometimes bringing dried poop back inside -- yuck! Is there anything we can add to their food that will make their poop unappealing? We both reprimand them when we see it happening but that hasn't seemed to do the trick. -- Malinda, Tucson, AZ

Dear Malinda,

Unless this poop-eating is the result of a health problem, reprimanding the dogs won't change this behavior, which is called coprophagia. Some remedies that are not necessarily proven effective have included adding pineapple, cottage cheese or yogurt to their food to alter the taste of the poop. But I recommend one of the over-the-counter coprophagia products that can be given to all the dogs to make all the poop in the yard unpalatable.

Picking up poop every day is a must, but also training the dogs to come for a treat every time they poop can reduce access to the remaining poop still in the yard.

========

(Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 25 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to cathy@petpundit.com. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal.)

(c) 2018 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.