Fence Fighting and Poop Eating?

There are two behaviors in off leash play that most dog owners don’t want to hear about, but pet care facility owners know they exist: Fence fighting and poop eating. Thankfully, these behaviors are usually limited to just a few specific dogs, but they still present a challenge for the daycare staff. So what do you do when you encounter these issues?

Fence Fighting

Fence fighting usually happens as a result of barrier frustration. Dogs can get frustrated by the fence in between them and something they want to sniff or see and the result is an explosion of aggressive behavior. We had this happen quite frequently with German Shepherds at my facility. Ironically, with many of these dogs, as soon as the dog entered the daycare and the fence was gone, the fence fighter played happily! Just because a dog looks like a terror behind a fence, doesn’t mean he will be aggressive.

However, the other side of the coin is that arousal and aggression are linked. Allowing a dog to get too reved up will sometimes lead to trouble so the best solution is always to manage the fence fighting. (Not to mention that no owner wants to see his dog encountering “Cujo” when he goes to daycare).

One of the easiest ways to manage fence fighters is to simply remove them from the daycare area when dogs are coming and going. We often crated our fence fighting dogs during the early morning and afternoon period when dogs were entering or existing the daycare. Another option is to use body blocking to claim the space at the fence from the dogs who want to fence fight. Usually if they can’t get near the fence, the fence fighting doesn’t happen. Strategically placing playground equipment or landscaping can have the same affect as body blocking but can be a more permanent solution for some dogs as well.

Poop Eating

This is one of the most disgusting issues we have to encounter. There are simply some dogs that love to eat poop! First and foremost I would have a conversation with the owner to make sure the dog is on a good diet. Sometimes dog will eat poop because they are lacking something in their own food so a conversation about good nutrition is in order. Additionally, if this is a problem the owner is having at home, you might recommend they try Forbid  or meat tenderizer on the dog’s food because that can sometimes help to reduce the problem.

Then, to deal with the behavior in daycare, you’ll want to make sure you manage the dogs well. This is a great opportunity to work on recalls and call the dog away from the poop before he has a chance to get to it (yes this really will work if you practice with the dog!). This allows you to clean up the poop before it can be eaten. If your poop eating culprit hasn’t learned the recall command yet, then you may need to tether or crate him from time to time to allow you to clean up accidents without his help. This behavior can become a habit for dogs if allowed to continue long enough so early intervention is really key to curbing this bad behavior.

You can, of course, spray a bad tasting deterrent on poop to make it taste bad to dogs (because apparently they think it tastes good now!) but personally I find that if I have time to spray something on poop, I should just pick it up instead. But that’s just me!