How do I get my dog to stay out of the cat food/litter boxes?
My dog never ate feces until we got the basset hound. The basset hound came from a less than ideal situation, where she was often locked up and I believe that is where the coprophagia came from. I feel like it was a learned behavior brought on by poor treatment and confinement. Anyhow, my older dog never did this until she saw the b/h doing it. Now it’s a constant battle to keep them away from any kind of poo.
I keep the cat food on a table in the cellar. I don’t free feed my pets, so the cats only get as much as they will eat in one sitting. Still, my older dog (although she is small), believes she is a goat and will jump up and/or climb damn near anything. The table doesn’t thwart her at all. The litter boxes are on a different, taller table in another room… but she jumps up there with ease, as well. Scooping the boxes every single time my cat goes to the bathroom is not likely to happen, but of course they are cleaned daily.The tables solve the problem of the basset hound getting into anything, but I have no idea what to do with the jumping dog.
My house has a very open floor plan, so I can’t just shut a door and stop thinking about it. The only rooms that are easily closed off in this house are the bedrooms and the bathroom. Everything else has an archway. These are dogs, not puppies… I really want to be able to put the baby gates away someday.
Any ideas?
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11 Answers
I am a dog owner and have little knowledge about them and I don’t want to be mean or cruel, but is it an idea to spread something on the cat poo that they don’t like (as an example, tabasco (if that isn’t hurting the doggy of course))?
Hmmm I don’t suppose there’s any chance of you installing a cat door in your bathroom door and then keeping the litter boxes there…?
Aside from a cat door, which @intrepidium suggested (which may or may not work depending on the size of your dogs), the only thing that comes to mind is a top-entry litter box.
Cat door is not an option. Goes with the layout of the house, again. Also, I have 2 cats, which means 3 litter boxes. I can’t keep 3 litter boxes in my bathroom… lol.
Top entry litter box looks promising, thanks for the link. I’ll check those out!
I think there are these sort of pill things you can give your dogs to stop eating their own stool. guess it must work with other stool such as the cat’s. I have never seen them though. I’ve only heard about them.
Either that or just train the dog. Keep giving her a row when she does it and soon she will realize it’s a bad thing to do. : )
Might I correct my previous answer and say that I am NOT a dog owner.
@Seelix that is awesome! Thank you! I am definitely going to test this.
You could put a cloth on the top of the table (partially hanging off) so that the dog will slide off when he jumps up there. Also, every time you see him jump up there, throw a length of chain (or something else that rattles) at the leg of the table and say, “No” (or some other command word) sharply.
@marinelife the table and the boxes are in a place where I never witness her jumping up there. It’s in the far corner of the back room of the basement, as far from the living area of the house as I could possibly put it. But, when I witness her strolling up the stairs with litter stuck to her muzzle and she is smacking her chops, it’s pretty easy to figure out where she has been. :) lol. Awful.
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