It is not uncommon for dogs to eat their own feces. It is a natural behavior for many dogs, and while there is some danger from parasites, it is not especially dangerous or harmful. Human beings (like me) react sharply and impatiently to this habit, we have a hard time stomaching the idea, especially from beloved companions who like to lick us and cuddle with us.

We love the idea of Bud as farm dog, we don’t love the idea of Bud wolfing down enough poop to fill the belly of horse. What goes in, comes out.

I’m doing well with Bed’s recall and basic obedience – come, sit and stay – but Bud was scarfing up so much poop on our farm (donkeys, sheep, chicks, dogs) we were wary of bringing him out into the pasture.

So I put my training cap on and went to work. I got out my can of Pet Corrector, an aerosol air spray that makes a hissing sound dogs hate (you can be 15 feet away) and brought it outside.

This was one of the toughest training issues for Bud, because his poop-scarfing was obsessive and continuous, it wasn’t about him being hungry. Carol Johnson, Bud’s rescuer, said when Bud was abandoned outside in a metal pen for more than a year, he survived in part (his pen mates died of heat stroke) because he ate feces. So it’s an instinctive and deep-seated behavior, those are the toughest to work through.

Poop eating wasn’t just an occasional habit, it was the difference between life and death, that make sit a hard habit to break.

The spray helps, don’t react sharply to it but it doesn’t harm them in any way. I also came up with an alternative behavior. Instead of eating poop, I walked closely alongside Bud and led him out towards the back pasture. I know he loves to explore the pond and marsh back there.

When we came into the pasture and he lowered his head around the donkey manure, I hit the spray and he backed off, then I held out some treats and led him out beyond the sheep feeder (see the video).

Bud loves to go back there and I used it almost as a reward for not eating the donkey or sheep droppings.  After the third day  – and only three hisses from the Pet Collector, Bud began running straight out towards the back of the pasture and out to the pond, his favorite exploring site.

Yesterday, he had a confrontation with two ducks sitting in the pond, he circled and barked until they took off, disgusted. But he loves to look for them there.

In any case, the spray can and the alternative behavior theory seems to be taking hold with Gus, he came out of the pasture and walked past a lot of poop and headed straight out of the gate. As he turned toward some sheep droppings, I used the can once, and he went right of the gate and towards the house.

This, judging from my e-mail is a very common problem. I’m going to talk about it on my radio show Wednesday, WBTNAm1370, Wednesday from one to three p.m. Please call: 855 406-9286, or e-mail me a question, Wednesday the 2nd of January, one to three p.m. You can live stream the show here, or download a free Simple Radio App. You can hear it anywhere in the country and much of the world.

I’m excited about Bud’s training. One by one, we are picking off his biggest problems.