She knows she was bad, so she ate it!!!!!

[puakea]

Ok, so Kea got spayed last week. The pain meds that I gave her for two days I think blocked her up a little, so she has had to go #2 often and in very small quanities. This has been the norm for 3 days now.
Yesterday, I took her to work w/ me where she can roam around our little office.
5 minutes prior to this little "incident" I had taken her outside where she pooped a little.
All of a sudden, I turn my head and I see her pooping again! I caught her in the middle of it, so in my deepest voice, I go "Kea Nooo" and I started to get up to open the door to outside.
As soon as she heard me, she swooped in and gulped up her poop as if to show me she did nothing wrong!!

I felt terrible. I know a lot of dogs like to eat poop, but this was the first time I have ever seen her do this, and I can't help but think that she only did this so she didn't get in trouble.
Usually, when I catch her in the act, I say "No" in a deep voice and even if she's in the middle of her business I take her outside (and lay on the praise thick if she finishes) and then return her to her crate while I clean it up.

She's almost 9 months old, and she's ALMOST got the housebreaking thing down. It's been a little frustrating when I read that some people had their pups trained at 3 and 4 months... but I follow all instructions by the book. (we live in a wet climate, so I sometimes wonder if this hurt our progress cause she hates to go out in the rain to do her business)

I guess I am just wondering if I should change my approach w/ her when I catch her in the act. I want to get my point across that peeing/pooping inside is bad, and going outside is good, but I don't want her to feel like she has to hide it from me by eating it!! Am I reading too much into this, and it's the just the first time I caught her doing a dog thing, or does anyone have any suggestions? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[sgbtab]

sorry but I could not help but laugh that was so funny that she turned around and ate it as if to say what did I do something

 

[Cami]

The only thing I can suggest is to take her out more often than she needs. If she is still having accidents in the house then of course she isn't fully housetrained. At 9 months of age she should be if you have been working with her since she was a baby. Accidents due to medical reasons (spay) are out of your control and that's understandable.

I am not trying to be critical but most accidents in healthy dogs are generally the fault of the owner. We get caught up in other things going on and fail to keep that vigilant eye on them. Keep working with Kea and she will catch on and you won't have any accidents to clean up and she won't have anything additional to eat in the house.....LOL

 

[viperx205]

I think your Boxer did this because she is trying to hide the "evidence." She does not want you to see what she did and be mad at her. My boxer used to do that quite often a few months after I got her, but she has stopped. I took her out ALL the time, but with a puppy's digestion she still needed to go even more (apparently). Does she eat her "evidence" if she goes to the bathroom outside or is she always monitored? My vet told me that it is a stage they grow out of, which she did, but after that she would still eat her "evidence" if it was in the house. Boxers are very sensitive dogs and I think she just didn't want you to get mad at her, so she tried to hide it even though you already saw it. I think you need to make her realize that eating her "evidence" is just as bad as going to the bathroom indoors.