[winniethepoo]

I love Winnie dearly, she is a really good dog, no messes in the house, she nearly always obeys a command, a quick learner. I really have very few complaints about her.
That said, she is on her THIRD bath in the last week for rolling in dog poo.
I know this is a natural instinct in dogs but how do I get her to stop? She is 2, and had was living in a kennel for much of her life. Do you think this behavior is correctable? She does stop when I tell her "NO" but its too late by then and I have to give her a bath. I'd love to catch her before she does it but the ground sniffing she does before rolling in poo is no different then the ground sniffing she does before urinating. I cannot really tell her not to sniff the ground. :banghead:
She is very picky about going potty and will NOT go if she is on the end of a leash.(seriously, she'll hold it for 48 hours before she'd go potty like that, I've tried.)
Just to clarify, we do not have a fenced yard(live in a tiny town) and Winnie goes outside off-leash but NEVER alone. This is how most of the dogs in our town go out to potty and unfortunately other people don't always make sure they're dogs are pooping in their OWN yard. (Winnie does not roll in her own poop and we keep it picked up.)

We are putting up a fence this summer but still, I'd like to be able to take her to the lake or a dog park without her rolling in poo!

Any advice?

 

[winniethepoo]

I was thinking more about duck poop at the lake. Who knows though, maybe she only rolls in dog poo?
At least she doesn't eat it!
I caught her just as she went down for the roll this morning. I told her "NO" and she got right back up, before she got poo on herself.
I know where the other dog pooped in the yard and I've thought to clean it up but maybe I should just leave it there and watch her very closely? I have the benefit of knowing what she is sniffing in exactly that spot, and maybe the more often oppurtunity knocks and she is told "NO", she'll begin to understand that rubbing herself in poo is a no-no.

 

[winniethepoo]

I got her from her foster home where she'd rolled in poo a few times. I do think she is trying to disguise her own scent because she does not roll in her own poo, and she is quite interested in preying upon the local squirrel population. (not so much cats or birds)
Here is what I am told of her history:
She was started as a housedog as a puppy, but kenneled outside full-time before she was housebroken. The poeple who took her in were dog people but not poodle people.
She was taken to the groomers(maybe for the first time?) and she was a mess and had ear infections in both ears. My understanding is that her original owners had attempted to groom her with scissors but had done nothing with her ears.
Anyway, the people who took her in pottytrained her and taught her some very basic manners, but I don't think they had any idea the grooming she required. I was told they did not brush her and she'd only been to the groomers twice in the last 6 months. She had a lot of hair in her ears which I took out but her ears were stinky. I took her to the vet and both ears are infected again. (To be clear, I'm not knocking her former home, they were Winnie's angels to get her out of the living outside situation she was in and I know they truly cared for her!)
This is her THIRD home and the poor girl is only 2.
Anyway, she is very much a dog and a bit undersocialized, though she does very well considering her prior cir***stances. She is mouthy and she "chews" on you too hard sometimes and has been known to shove hard with her nose, too. Still there is absolutely no agression in it, she just wants to play or has to go outside. We're still working on those manners. :0)
The mouthiness and pushing, I don't believe are dominance issues since she only does them when she wants to play or potty and she as I said, she obeys about 90% of the time. (I consider that pretty good for a dog whose only been here a little over a week.)
Now that I've written a book.....