Dogs who play and lay in their feces

Question
Hi James,

Can you offer advice on how to stop a dog from stepping, playing, and laying in its feces and urine?

Background:   We have a Bichon that we purchased from a pet store.  Once home, we noticed the dog would always eliminate near the front of her crate and then proceed to step, play, and sleep in her mess.  When we had to board her, the vet commented our dog did the same thing to the point of getting feces in her food dish.  The vet said it didn't seem to bother the dog to play in her mess.  We had to abandon the crate method at home because the dog and crate would be coated in elimination.  We started using an exercise pen which has bedding and food on one side and pee pads/newspaper on the other.  While our dog will use the pee pads/newspaper for her business, she still steps in it and plays in it if we are not able to clean it up right away. She even drags her toys and bed to the soiled area.  The dog is very sweet but we find the elimination problem very unsanitary.  

Answer
Dear P Mauney

It's impossible to diagnose behavioral problems by email but I can give you a starting point. Yes it is concerning that your dog plays in it's waste. I can suggest that you (one person) will need to be with her all the time to clean up after it every time it eliminates. If she is plays in it she will need to be bathed in a mild shampoo (baby shampoo).

Your dog didn't learn how to be clean and you will need to teach her what clean is. It probable that it was a puppy mill dog that was never taken care of by it's owners.  It's mother never had an opportunity  to teach her pups how to be clean and she may have never been taught how to be clean. She may play in it because, for some strange reason she may like to.

I will give you the best source, I know of, to help you answer your  question. You need to be aware of the three main causes of dog behavior problems in order to help him. They are improper training, improper relationship and lack of training. In your case no training from the pups mother or owners or she may have gotten a lot of attention for playing in it. Negative and/or positive reaction from a owner can lead to a reinforcement of behavior.

You will need to undo what the previous training has done with reprogramming. Dr. Meisterfeld's book Jelly Bean versus Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde explains rage type behavior the detrimental effects of improper training techniques. Too retrain him I recommend the book Psychological Dog Training by C.W. Meisterfeld. Check with your local library for the books or do a C.W. Meisterfeld search on the web.


James Webster