How to Stop Scavenging

[arealhuman]

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Hello All,

Happy New Year and all that I'm hoping for some help with Rusty, he's started scavenging when out on walks. He will eat anything he finds, including poo, discarded food, and recently even picked up a bit of woodchip that someone had placed on the flower beds for some reason (he spat it out of his own accord). He's a dog that likes to sniff, so we allow that normal behaviour, but we have a lot of grass verges and hedgerows near us and he does sniff close to the ground, so it's very difficult to see if there's anything he's homing in on to snaffle. He has a sensitive stomach so we have to be careful. Just after Christmas he even managed to get to a box of chocolates that we thought was securely stored which ended up with an emergency visit to the vets, so we're now even more paranoid about what we leave around the house.

Some will remember he's a rescue which may explain this behaviour. He's also well fed at home and his weight is generally stable. Can anyone offer any suggestion please for training out this behaviour?

Here he is getting ready for Christmas, wearing his big brother Jimmy's (RIP) Christmas outfit - it didn't stay no for long!

 

[JoanneF]

It's a really tough one. The obvious suggestions are to teach a good 'leave' and 'drop' but I know from experience that that won't cut it with some really high value finds. Timber got hold of something on the beach last year, it was so dead and decomposed that I don't know whether it had been a bird or a fish originally. Or something else entirely. Nobody, and no dog, was going to get near him to get it off him. For the rest of the day his breath smelled as rank as a long dead thing, and I won't give you nightmares by describing his poo the next day. Anyway, the point is that I don't know of any training that would have persuaded him to give that up (thank goodness his other finds have been discarded sandwiches and pizza).

Maybe a muzzle?

My go-to 'leave' and 'drop' videos are these -

 

[Flobo]

I'm afraid I can't help with training advice either, other than what @JoanneF has already suggested. Some of the dogs I walk have this issue, but other than scanning the ground as they sniff, which gets easier with practise, it is not a 100% success rate especially with leaf litter at this time of year and with the fact that a dog's nose is sharper than a human eye! But being hyper aware helps, you may even notice subtle changes in Rusty if he's on to something. My dog poo eaters I try and distract by throwing a tiny treat for them to find, so that when they are following their nose I shout 'what's this' and they go 'ooh treat!' and forget about the poo...mostly! None 100% but definitely limits it, I know a muzzle would not work with my two, as they would still try and eat the poo with it on and then things get really, really messy!! I do think training a 'watch me' or 'what's this' is also helpful to get their attention if need be.
Love that pic of Rusty, he has got the 'what the hell! look about him

 

[arealhuman]

Thanks both for the replies, will check out the videos as soon as I can, just preparing for another week away for work!

 

[arealhuman]

Still haven't watched the videos, it's on my long to-do list this weekend before heading off again!

 

[dfordog.co.uk]

A lot of my rescue dogs have been scavengers, bless them, and it is a very hard habit to break. With some of my terriers I have managed to break the habit by staying really vigilant and getting in there quickly with a tasty treat (but you do have to make it REALLY tasty, lol) but my German Shepherd persists and is very quick (and strong). She will eat anything she finds from dead animals to poop. For her safety, we use a Baskerville basket muzzle on her (by Company of Animals). Make sure it is the Anti Scavenge Baskerville muzzle not their Ultra one. The Anti Scavenge Baskerville muzzle has an additional plastic grill slotted into the front to stop scavenging. Good luck.