# Dog eating cow poo.



## Adina (1 October 2013)

My young GSD loves eating fresh cow poo.  Are there any worms/ parasites/diseases I should specifically treat or watch for?  It doesn't seem to affect her, although some people who use the same fields for dogwalking say that it makes their dogs vomit and get the runs.


----------



## Dry Rot (1 October 2013)

Adina said:



			My young GSD loves eating fresh cow poo.  Are there any worms/ parasites/diseases I should specifically treat or watch for?  It doesn't seem to affect her, although some people who use the same fields for dogwalking say that it makes their dogs vomit and get the runs.
		
Click to expand...

Horse/cattle poo is an excellent source of vitamins and the best cure is to look the other way and remember not to let your dog lick your face!

Never heard of anything in poo that is harmful to dogs but dogs do carry diseases that can infect cattle. Can't remember what off hand but I'm sure Google would find it.


----------



## Spudlet (1 October 2013)

You need to watch out with horse poo - if the horses have been wormed with Ivermectin, it can make the dog ill. Alright if it's your horse and you know what they've had, but obviously with horses you don't know, you need to take care. So personally I discourage it as much as possible. Don't know about cows, but I generally don't encourage it as I do have one that will gorge himself then vom it back up all over the car - or the carpet!


----------



## CorvusCorax (1 October 2013)

I don't encourage scavenging - it can be A) dangerous - dogs won't differentiate between a bad poo and a good poo!! and B) it's a nuisance if you ever decide to do any work with the dog - if there is poop on the obedience, agility or tracking field and you've already said it's OK to eat it on walks, why wouldn't the dog stop the exercise and help itself?

Better to keep her on a lead and train her to ignore and reward her highly for ignoring, than let her run around and help herself. Once the dog is neck deep in a tasty treat, it's way too late.

GSDs need consistency - if you're not allowed A, then you're not allowed B - not....sometimes A, sometimes not B, and then there's C, which I'm not quite sure about, depends on how I'm feeling. It doesn't work with this breed, they're too smart!! JMO though


----------



## Adina (1 October 2013)

Thanks for replies.  She is always on 15m longline and I always stop her eating it, but I don't always see the horrible greeny ones in the grass before she has her nose stuck in it.  She ignores any that aren't fresh and gooey.  Yuk.


----------



## tokiayla (1 October 2013)

Eewww mine will grab a mouthful if he can....then breath on me - yuk!


----------

