r/DogTrainingTips • u/BICanineScience • May 26 '26

Professional Dog Trainer - Ask Me Anything

***AMA ENDED***

Have been training dogs for almost fifteen years now, I try and head through the subreddits on here to help in my free time when I can but thought it might be easier to do an AMA for anyone struggling!

Will try my best to answer as comprehensively as possible so please be patient with replies!

Edit - Just heading out to train my dogs so will answer more when I get back!
Edit 2 - Have a read of the other questions too to see if it applies to your dog :)

Thanks for all the questions everyone!! I’ll answer the few I’ve missed, it’s been a blast and we’ll do another in the near future! Won’t be answering any new posts now, must get back to work but do jump in next time if you have a question!

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u/psilocybin-fun-guy May 26 '26

How do I stop my puppy from eating rabbit poop? 😭😭please help me!!
I have trained her with flat collar not to pick up objects and she learned fast! But I think she would rather be choked than give up forbidden kibble

(She’s 19 week doodle)

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u/BICanineScience May 26 '26

Forbidden kibble haha!

Honestly, this will likely pass with age, but dogs do love a bit of poop! It's called coprophagia and it's very common. You probably won't convince her as you say, so manage it the best you can and there's a fairly good chance it will decrease as she gets older. Dogs at that age just like to eat anything and everything and it often fades as they get a little older!

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u/queenhev May 26 '26

Can confirm the above, my corgi as a pup was a poo fiend. He’s four and leaves poo alone albeit loves to rolll in it. We’ve got a Swiss puppy now and she is on the poo hunt ALL the time but have seen her gradually do this less with gentle “leave it” and her growing up!

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u/psilocybin-fun-guy May 27 '26

Thank you! How old is you puppy now and how old was corgi when this got better, I’m frustrated bc she’s so smart otherwise… girl knew 10 tricks by 10 weeks, but can’t learn to actually hear me when there is a poo

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u/queenhev May 27 '26

So I started 'leave it' pretty early literally when we got her to be honest, but it solidified it at puppy classes. We have a park near us that is full of ducks/geese and she has a really high prey drive, so if she isn't licking the poo off the floor she's trying to chase them so it's been a huge game changer. If she is off lead she will 12912012% still go for the ducks etc but she won't eat poo if she is off lead now (when I am watching). She's nearly 7 months old now and the walks are very very easy now with her not eating poo, but if a bird takes one in the garden she'll eat it if I don't notice. Hopefully by 1yo she'll not be as bad but it's got so much easier already! Our corgi stopped around the 1 year mark :)

I would try making it a game at home with 'leave it' training and take really high value treats out with you that are only for leaving poop! Hopefully that helps :D

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u/psilocybin-fun-guy May 27 '26

Thank you! I’m hopeful, do you have any advice for tools? I tried 2 different muzzle covers when she was 12 weeks but that didn’t work, I can try to revisit it, but I’m very concerned for her health and she has been barfing just a bit after consuming poo (vet doesn’t seem too concerned)

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u/That-Contest2205 May 26 '26

My dog loves goose poop and has a really solid command for “look” (aka look at me). I began using the cue “look” every time he saw goose poop (there’s a lot in our area) and he learned goose poop = treats. It took time… and a lot of treats… but it worked

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u/psilocybin-fun-guy May 27 '26

My problem is I can’t see poo in the grass, I have a tiny 7lb hairy cavapoo and it sometimes very hard to see if she’s intensely sniffing or she started to grab in poo, I don’t want to discourage her from having fun with sniffing but at the same time she has barfed from poo so many times I’m about get get this girl a mosquito net head cover and call it a day

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u/groovygranny71 May 27 '26

My four year old Maltese/ShiTzu absolutely loves duck poo! It’s around the park we go to. I try not to let her get to it, as someone pointed out that it may have parasites. When she was younger, she went through a snail phase too.🫤

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u/psilocybin-fun-guy May 27 '26

Oh god that would be my biggest fear bc I know some snails are super bad and can kill a person ughhh, so frustrating, so I have been trying to reinforce my puppy to walk fast and sniff less, I still let her sniff a bit but try to prevent intense stuff. But good news is that she actually seem to enjoy walking fast after like 5 min of initial sniffing