# What The Heck Is Wrong With My Dog?



## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Let me start off by saying, if you're eating and squeamish, don't read.

First, I come home from work, I'm a little late, had to work extra today, took the hoodlums out, everything appeared fine. I've been working with Shasta a LOT on leaving dog poo alone. Today, though, he got one and gulped it down greedily. Grrrrrrrr.

Anyway, come home, start going through the routine and am in the middle of getting all the pets' food ready, (this is about 1/2 hour later), when suddenly, Shasta pukes up, hard core.

It is all brown and liquidy and clearly it's the poo he ate....Fricken GROSS! That went all over the carpet.

Then he puked all over the couch. This time it was yellow.

Then he puked all over the carpet again. This time it was white.

Now I'M about to puke so I put him in his crate because DAMN, man, stop puking on all my stuff!

In the crate he puked 4 more times.

I thought he might be hungry. Maybe it was severe hunger pukes. I gave him his food....it's still sitting there, he's not touching it.

All he is doing is laying IN his food in the crate, staring at the cat and making low growls.

WTF?!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Does he normally puke some after he eats poo?

I don't really have any idea, I would say ew but i will save it until after everything is ok, and you're sure he's not sick or anything. I hope it's nothing serious.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

When I used to work for vets we would call the official diagnosis "got into something". As in ......your dog got into something that he wasn't' suppose to and it's disagreeing with him! Usually after multiple upchucking, they would get it out of their system. I had one of my girl chows eat a giant flying bug (we live in the south too) and she puked about 15 times. 

That being said, I would watch and make sure there were no other symptoms, like fever, diarrhea, rash, lethargy, etc.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Sounds like that poo was severely infested, hard core.
Maybe just take his food away and give it later, just watch him to make sure he doesn't get worse.


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Yes, definetely take his food away. His stomach is not "right" right now and he needs time to re-coup.

Do you know what kind of poop it was he ate??? 

I'd keep an eye on him, make sure he gets some water or some form of hydration so he doesn't get dehydrated. If he won't drink regular water you could try a tiny bit of low sodium chicken broth in his water or some pedialyte. 

Poor guy, I hope he feels better soon!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Unfortunately, he's eaten a lot of dog poo. Sigh. We are working HARD on that. He does GREAT on leash, even the 30' leash...he knows when I say, "leave it", he leaves it. BUT, the second I let him off leash? In to the poo again. I REALLY wish these people would clean up after their dogs!!

Anyhoo, I've had him for almost 8 months now and he's only puked one time. That was awhile ago, it was a very little amount, yellowish, what most call hunger pukes. He has never puked, ever, besides that.

So, you can imagine my alarm when all of a sudden, he's puking up a storm and refusing to eat. That dog never refuses to eat.

I let him out of the crate and he drank quite a bit of water so at least that's a good sign. I took him out to use the bathroom and he had one, tiny, small, little nugget. Kinda weird but....I'm not gonna worry too much about that.

The kind of poo was dog poo...some neighbors dog....like, brand new poo, (which is part of why it was so appealing to him and he did not listen to me and ran off from me...cause he knows I'm not gonna let him have it).

I wonder what it was infested with?!


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

That is a bummer sorry, it's never nice to come home to something like that, I hope that Shasta gets better, I've never had a dog vomit after eating poo personally so i'm not sure, but definitely sending Healing vibes your way! Feel better Shasta!


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

SerenityFL said:


> I let him out of the crate and he drank quite a bit of water so at least that's a good sign. I took him out to use the bathroom and he had one, tiny, small, little nugget. Kinda weird but....I'm not gonna worry too much about that.
> 
> The kind of poo was dog poo...some neighbors dog....like, brand new poo, (which is part of why it was so appealing to him and he did not listen to me and ran off from me...cause he knows I'm not gonna let him have it).
> 
> I wonder what it was infested with?!


Hopefully not worms... Probably not, but you never know if the neighbors dog was sick.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Plus, I don't know which neighbors dogs. Three neighbors take their dogs to the same area....that means it could be 5 different dogs. NONE of them pick up. 

We'll see how he is tomorrow morning I guess. I really think it was the poo because he was perfectly fine before then. It was about 1/2 hour or so after he ate it that he went through this.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Certainly, the poo seems the most obvious. I surely hope this is a temporary thing, and he is better in the morning. Somehow, it seems better to throw it up than digest it.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

The good thing is that his body knew what he ate was not the best and naturally knew how to get rid of it. It sounds like it happened all in pretty short order probably well before anything could be digested and affect him. 
Hope he's ok in the a.m.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Yah, good points you two. He most certainly got rid of it. I guess I'm gonna have to let him run around in the parking lot instead since these people don't clean up after their dogs. This is most annoying, frustrating and making my life HARD when it comes to training. I mean, training takes time, I don't need to go through this every single time when we are training before he gets it.

I'm sure he'll be fine...you're right, he got it out of his system. I'll keep thinking that so I can relax.


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Yep, just chill. If he knows you're relaxed he will relax too. 

Blech! That had to be some nasty poop to upset his tummy that quickly!!! Wonder what the H-E-L-L they fed their dog?!


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## SilverBeat (Jan 16, 2011)

Hope he feels better soon. You need to buy him some of these: Doody Pops


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

SilverBeat said:


> Hope he feels better soon. You need to buy him some of these: Doody Pops


Or get some to help leave its in the house without having to use real poops! :lol:


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

You should pick up some of this. :wink:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. Just keep an eye on him for the next day or two. I wouldn't feed him until tomorrow and make sure its a "bland" meal so nothing rich with upset him further.


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## Janet At Nutro (Mar 11, 2011)

Well I hope that Shasta feels better soon.


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## SilverBeat (Jan 16, 2011)

Just curious, Tobi brings up an interesting point. Did you try It's Yer Choice with him [the treat on the ground thing from my "we have a problem" thread]? The key there is that you want to emphasize that the dog can make the right choice and good things happen. That's why you start out small, first with a treat in your hand... and build up to having it on the ground and your dog totally ignoring it. It's a little different than Leave It because the dog actually makes the decision to Leave It all by himself. Then he gets rewarded like there's no tomorrow.


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

How's he doing this morning?


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

hope hes feeling better today, did he poop? just wondering if his gut is moving my dog was sick a couple of weeks ago and he had eaten the hard part of a palm fron and it was slow to move out of his gut. had to take him to the ER though an ennema fixed it all :becky:
he has eaten clothing in the pasthwell:


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

SilverBeat said:


> Just curious, Tobi brings up an interesting point. Did you try It's Yer Choice with him [the treat on the ground thing from my "we have a problem" thread]? The key there is that you want to emphasize that the dog can make the right choice and good things happen. That's why you start out small, first with a treat in your hand... and build up to having it on the ground and your dog totally ignoring it. It's a little different than Leave It because the dog actually makes the decision to Leave It all by himself. Then he gets rewarded like there's no tomorrow.


We're not there yet. I'm still working on the first step that I was talking about in that thread. I have a lot of...what shall I call them..."areas of concern"...things that I have to work with that do make training more difficult.

The biggest problem is the lay out of my neighborhood. And the fact that there is always someone out and about, always. It would be fantastic to have an area to ourselves, with no interruptions, no distractions, (and I mean outside....in the house, they "perform" brilliantly...taking it outside...sigh), and just give me the opportunity to teach them. 

I don't have a yard. I have an area just big enough to park my car. And that is in front of the house so again, we are met with the ongoing, (and might I add, loud), distractions.

We are limited to where we can go. Out here, because of wildlife. If I drive somewhere, I'm all up in the city and bam! More distractions. Yes, I know, you eventually work with those but you need to start off with some place that has minimal distractions once you get them outside. At least that's what I've been reading and I believe it is absolutely right.

And finally, it's HOT! Cripes it's always hot here. (Enough with the hot.) That limits the amount of time I can keep them outside. Even when they get their off leash run around like a lunatic time, it only takes them a few minutes to 5 minutes to be worn out because they are so hot. So I have to let them rest a bit, get some water and then we do a bit of training for a couple of minutes and we really do have to get back inside. Doesn't help that they're black...sun beats right on down on 'em.

So, this is my situation, I do the best I can with it but it does take longer. They are not stupid dogs. And I have been following what has been said here. They do eventually get it, it does eventually work but it does take longer. (To repeat myself from other posts I've made, just to give you an idea about the distractions here....it should be relatively easy to housetrain a dog. It took me months to train Sakari simply because of the distractions and neighbors not respecting my wishes that they not come up to her, themselves or with their dogs, until she had gone to the bathroom. I had to train THEM first and then my dog!)

So, very long winded way of saying, "no, we haven't got to that point just yet". We're getting there. In the meantime, he's back on his 30' lead. 

Took him out today on that and he was doing good, then he found a pile but I was able to tell him to "leave it" and give a slight tug on the lead and he left it. So, I guess it's just going to have to be this way until he understands, "you eat that, you lose your freedom"...and I mean, FULLY understands.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Northwoods10 said:


> How's he doing this morning?





Chocx2 said:


> hope hes feeling better today, did he poop? just wondering if his gut is moving my dog was sick a couple of weeks ago and he had eaten the hard part of a palm fron and it was slow to move out of his gut. had to take him to the ER though an ennema fixed it all :becky:
> he has eaten clothing in the pasthwell:


First, it's touching that you guys asked. That's so dang cool. Thank you.

In the morning...kinda hard to tell because they are NOT morning dogs! I swear! They'll be on the bed, still, even while I get ready for work. Then I take them out and when we come back in, they get back on the bed. Spoiled mutts.

But, this afternoon, when I got home, he was looking good. I fed him dinner, (chicken), and he seems to have handled it well.

No, he has not pooped since that little, tiny nugget last night. But, I'm about to take them out again for their after dinner business transactions and we'll see what happens.


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Glad to hear he's doing better today!! His system went through a lot in the last 24 hours, so the one tiny nugget since then doesn't surprise me! 

Continued well wishes!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

I mean he had one, tiny nugget last night. Nothing today....until just now.

Just got back from taking him out and doing a teensy bit more training, (few minutes worth), and before training he did his bidness. It was dark, small and just the way it should be. Yay!!!

And then we worked on training with the 30' leash. I went back a step and worked on recall some more and just ran backwards, turning and twisting, stepping from side to side, running full on speed away, then backwards again and only one time did his focus leave me. And we both got a hell of a jolt from that one. He went flipping over at the end of the leash and I almost got my arm torn out of socket...but the rest of the time, focused on me. Then we walked around the area and I walked him to where I knew some other dog poo was and when he went to sniff it and go for it, "leave it!" and a slight tug if he didn't back up immediately. By the third one, he saw it and backed up on his own. So, we'll just have to do this for awhile.

Anyway, I'm now positive it was the dog poo that he ate that caused that massive stomach upset. What the heck is wrong with that other dog, who knows and what they feed them? WHO KNOWS! But Shasta seems to have recovered. Whew!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

So glad he is better. it is very curious, that some dogs like to eat poop. I wish I knew why.


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

My dogs ALL sniff each others poop right after they drop a fresh one!! GROSS! But at least they don't eat it. They prefer goose & cat sh!t instead! uke:


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Northwoods10 said:


> My dogs ALL sniff each others poop right after they drop a fresh one!! GROSS! But at least they don't eat it. They prefer goose & cat sh!t instead! uke:


Snorkels likes to sniff hers to see if she's proud enough of it to kick up the grass. Rebel poops and runs like he's afraid the poop is going to eat HIM.

But there is a lady that comes to the dog park who can't let her dog off a leash or her dog immediately runs around like crazy eating poop. I almost wonder if its some kind of nutritional thing, like eating grass, or if it's just a learned habit. There has to be a reason us humans aren't getting.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I'm relieved to hear he's back to normal again. You know, I can't work out what it is that makes them eat poo either. Lola the pug puppy eats other dogs, cats, racoons, rabbit craps, anything she can get her little mouth around. Beats me.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

yes, I would be totally freaked if one of my dogs started throwing up like that. That's why we like good poo so much, and nothing coming out the other end!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Well, we did have this conversation on here at one point when I and another user were talking about our dogs eating poo. Her dog was eating its own poo and mine is eating others poo.

In a nutshell it boiled down to, "They do it because it tastes good to them"....blech! And also, because the other dogs are kibble fed, it may be appealing to my dog so he eats it. Which, is strange because when I first got them at 3-4 months old and fed them kibble for a month before switching to raw, they didn't care one whit for kibble. I would have to hand feed it to them or toss the kibbles on the floor to make them think they were getting treats for them to eat. Frankly, they didn't like it. 

But in another dog's poo? Apparently it's like fricken cheesecake. Whatever! I don't get it.


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## SilverBeat (Jan 16, 2011)

I was having trouble adding distractions at first too, because our neighborhood is like that too, and so was Wallaby. Inside? The perfect pooch. Outside? May as well have been feral. 

So what I did was--and this takes some participation and planning ahead--I asked my mom and my brother to make noise in another room. Then just the next room over. Then just stand and talk in the room we were in. You could imitate this with a radio if you don't want the rest of your family [especially the cats] knowing how nutty you are :wink:
Then they started walking around in the room we were in [slowly]. Then walking and talking. Then walking in and out of the room randomly, then rolling toys across the floor... etc. 

Another idea: use what you've got. If you find yourselves alone outside, even if it's just for a couple minutes, do a super-quick training session. Have him sit while people walk by, or whatever. Then continue. 

Just a couple of ideas. I know how frustrating it is, not being able to find peace and quiet in your own darn neighborhood.


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## doggiedad (Jan 23, 2011)

first, take your pup out of the crate and give him a bath.
don't let your pup lay in his own vomit. now go to the Vet or
the E-Vet.



SerenityFL said:


> All he is doing is laying IN his food in the crate, staring at the cat and making low growls.
> 
> WTF?!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> first, take your pup out of the crate and give him a bath.
> don't let your pup lay in his own vomit. now go to the Vet or
> the E-Vet.


Well, first of all, he was laying in his food, not vomit. Of course I don't just leave my dog in vomit. 

????

Second, this was yesterday and he has recovered...it was clearly the dog poo he ate. But all is well now.

To prevent from happening again, he is on a 30' lead and when we get near to where I know the neighbors' dogs like to poo, I keep the lead shorter so I can have more control if/when he spots a pile until he learns that when I say, "leave it" he better leave it.


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