Our whippet Yona (1.5 yrs) eats everything she comes across. During a walk it is very difficult to prevent her from eating poop, acorns and other rubbish. With all its consequences, diarrhoea, flatulence, vomiting, worms, ... We had already bought her a muzzle (genre racetrack), but also with this she manages to get poop and acorns inside the muzzle and eat them. According to what I find on the internet, there are also muzzle baskets with a kind of saucer at the front to prevent dog poop etc. from being pushed through. However, I cannot find such a muzzle tailored to a whippet. Does anyone have experience with this? Where could I buy it? Or perhaps someone has other tips to temper our omnivore. Thanks in advance, Hilde
Hi Chris, Thanks for your advice. We have been doing this for 1.5 years but it is not reallyhelping. We also thought she would stop when she got older (some people say most dogs stop when they are more than 1 year old). You just can't walk relaxed if you have to constantly focus your attention to her. And when it's dark, it gets really difficult.
My little girl was a demon for duck poo when she was a pup so we deliberately incorporated a walk round the lake where there is tons of it and we were ultra vigilant on that part of the walk. Once that was cracked, picking up other stuff stopped too (ie McDonalds burger wrappers etc) It really is very much a matter of patience, persistence and making sure you get them at every turn
Beagle owner, and you know the reputation of Beags for eating nasties. Is your girl on or off-lead when she does this? I would have her on a lead, and wearing a fishtail hound collar rather than a harness. By all means use a long line or an extending lead to give her some freedom, but encourage her to keep moving. When she strains forward towards a particular spot, call her back to you and reward the recall with a small but super treat, eg. liver, chicken, cheese, - whatever she loves best. Having said this, I have never completely weaned my girl off hoovering rabbit currents because there are so many that she can snatch the odd one as she goes, but she is much better at leaving the nasty stuff.
Hello CaroleC, our whippet is always on an extending lead. I'm not sure what you mean with a fishtail hound collar but she's not wearing an harnas. Just a normal collar. It is a good tip to keep calling her back, when she's trying to go and search for something further away, and rewarding her. We are definitely going to try this out. Many thanks and a Merry X-mas.
I meant a proper Whippet collar which is wide in the middle but tapers towards the buckle and tongue ends. If you have to pull on her collar, the weight gets distributed over the broadest section. I'm sure you will get there - especially if she is fond of a treat!
