Dog Behaviour

Question
Hi,

I have a 8 month old cocker spaniel. when we take her for her daily walk she rolls around in other dogs poo. This seems to be getting more frequent (every time we go out she covers herself in poo). She is due her first season.
My questions are, how can we avoid this. Is this because she is comming into season. is this somthing she will grow out of.

Many thanks in advance.  

Answer
If she is not on leash on these walks, it will be tough.  Have you obedience trained her?  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm  As top dog, she should respond better to commands like come and leave it.  

Coming into season often brings all sorts of flaky behavior, mostly strenuous, creative attempts to get loose and go find male companionship.  Found this on another site yesterday, ''Well their mom got out of the yard the owner said and she is a border collie mix not sure with what she is mixed with''  Likely the owner was blindsided by unexpected behavior.  The best thing for most pets is to be spayed before their season.  I doubt coming into season has anything to do with rolling in stinky stuff.  Many dogs do it, and they don't outgrow it.