If you write about dogs or live with dogs, then sooner or later you will be writing or talking about poop. It just goes with the turf. It’s my day for that, and I have good news about poop.

As some of you know, Bud, our re-homed dog from Arkansas, came with some surprises and new challenges. Rescue dogs are a crapshoot under the best of circumstances, they can be a string of surprises.

Yesterday, Bud leaped up into the air near a marsh and snatched a small bird leaving its nest to look for food. He held the bird in his mouth and dropped it when I shouted at him to leave it, the bird flopped down into the marsh and died .

Gus, our first Boston Terrier, never did anything like that, nor have any of the other dogs I have had. This was hard for Maria and I to watch, but Bud, sweet inside the house, is ferocious outside, a true hunter with enormous prey drive.

He wasn’t being cruel, he was just being a dog. But it was not fun to watch, we were both upset. Part of the challenge of living with animals and also of rescuing them.

Bud’s other problem (in addition to marking furniture for months) was enthusiastically eating poop – his and Red’s and Fate’s. Every day, every chance he got.

On a farm, this raises some health issues, because the dogs can pick up worms and parasites easily. Bud was having accidents in the house, we realized he was just eating too much between the food and the feces, and his intestines are short, he can’t hold food inside of him for too long.

Bud grew up living outside in a small pen, he eliminated right where he sat, ate and slept. This was a hard nut to crack. We tried all sorts of home and vet-recommended recipes, from pineapple to pumpkin, none of the worked. This week, a breakthrough.

Carol Johnson, the dog rescue person in Arkansas who saved But and got him well and shipped North, said the vet who treated Bud recommended sprinkling all the dog food with meat tenderizer. You might want to check with your vet before getting it for your dog.

Bud sniffed it the first few days, all three dogs are eating normally now.

I never heard of this solution, but ordered some and it has been going on all of the dog’s food all week, every meal. Yesterday and today, we noticed that Bud wasn’t eating dog poop any longer. He would go up to it, sniff it and walk away.

It’s early in the game, but I think it’s working.

We’ll give it a few more days, but this feels like a big break. Sometimes, you get advice you can use.