Question About Long Walks And Diarrhea

[Guest Celestrina]

Whenever we take Angie out on a long walk or to the dog park she will poo three times. First time is normal, second time is very soft, and third time is very runny. Is this common? Before we take her on a walk we make sure she goes in her assigned area first. I don't want her to be sick and I hate leaving a mess on a neighbor's yard because it is near impossible to clean up.

[Trihounds]

Yup, pretty normal. The third poop has spent the shortest amount of time in the GI tract so it will always be softer / softest. Some will go a third time and others will stop at 2. Or 1. Up the the pupper!!

[Guest Fluffy]

I think this is, unfortunately, pretty par for the course with greyhounds. Badger follows exactly this pattern on long walks. At the dog park, he'll even keep going past #3, until he's poop-posturing but only letting out one single, solitary drip because there's absolutely nothing left inside.

 

I HATED trying to clean his liquid poop off neighbors' yards, so I started doing something that looks very silly but at least let me be sure the neighbors didn't hate me: I carry a pile of cheap paper plates, and when he squats I put one in the landing zone. He poops onto the plate, I pick up the plate and drop it into the plastic grocery bag I carry for this purpose, and off we go again. It's unwieldy - you're holding a leash, a pile of plates, and a plastic bag that's getting increasingly heavy - but it's the only clean way I found. I think some people use folded newspaper rather than paper plates to do the same thing.

 

However, since I've switched up his food to one that seems to work with his digestive system a little better (Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream), we're having less multi-poo on walks (although not always, and the dog park continues to be all-bets-off), plus I've started doing our long walks in the woods rather than on the street. I figure the bears and deer can just suck it up if he liquid-poops in their domain

[Guest Plygreygirl]

That's pretty standard with mine also. I have used the folded newspaper trick and that worked really well. It only takes a quarter sheet which is just enough. You do however have to kind of wait below the falling poop and then just let it drop. Which is kind of tricky but a lot less mess then trying to get it off someone's lawn. So quarter page folded again fits in the pocket nicely.

 

FYI I too have change her food. I am now giving her Blue Buffalo basic and we now do not have half the problems with the runny stuff!!!

[Guest greytloves]

I just hope you never get pooed on while trying to put the newspaper down!

 

I can see it:

Wait, hold on a minute precious must get the paper under, don't move! ACK! I have poop on me!

If I was watching nearby, this would be me:

 

Because that is the kind of friend I am!

[PrairieProf]

Totally normal. Dog poop firmness really depends on how long it's been in the pipeline, so to speak.

[DesiRayMom]

Well, this old dog just learned a new trick. DesiRay has occasional splatters from trash picking (all because Mama forgot to put up

the baby gate) and it's a bummer trying to hurry him past neighbors yards to someplace that doesn't matter about splatter.

1/4 sheet of newspaper would be buried beyond recognition, but the paper plate sounds doable. I'm going to add that to my arsenal of

things I drag along on a walk. Thanks!!!!

[Guest Fluffy]

I just hope you never get pooed on while trying to put the newspaper down!

 

I can see it:

Wait, hold on a minute precious must get the paper under, don't move! ACK! I have poop on me!

If I was watching nearby, this would be me:

 

Because that is the kind of friend I am!

 

I've gotten to be pretty ninja-like with the paper plates. One always separated from the pile and at the ready, and a zippy, smooth movement as soon as he pulls to a stop, positioning it just in the right zone to maximize poop-on-plate and minimize off-plate spatters...

 

Yeah, pretty sure my neighbors think I'm totally . But at least I'm the crazy girl who's not fouling their lawns!

[Guest FreddyGirl]

Pretty much the same situation here with Corey on walks with greyhound friends. Always ends withliquid bowels. i think he just gets overstimulated, he's 4.

[Guest greytloves]

"off-plate spatters"

 

 

I can't take it!

 

Very neighborly of you, I might add!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Happily, I'm walking my pair in mostly pinestraw on what's considered "neutral territory": the creek bank that's across the street from condos.

 

But there are times I have to pick up a big clump of pinestraw...

[Hubcitypam]

Totally normal. Dog poop firmness really depends on how long it's been in the pipeline, so to speak.

This happens with Poodle. When we are out walking and the outside dogs really start talking smack he'll mark with poop and it gets runnier the more he does. My first GH was a big time poop marker.

I just hope you never get pooed on while trying to put the newspaper down!

I can see it:

Wait, hold on a minute precious must get the paper under, don't move! ACK! I have poop on me!

If I was watching nearby, this would be me:

:rotfl

[Guest Celestrina]

I just hope you never get pooed on while trying to put the newspaper down!

 

I can see it:

Wait, hold on a minute precious must get the paper under, don't move! ACK! I have poop on me!

If I was watching nearby, this would be me:

 

Because that is the kind of friend I am!

 

I'm not sure which would be nastier - that or what will be at the haunted house tonight.

 

If I do try this, I think I'll carry along a little thing of hand sanitizer in my pocket.

[Guest BillF]

My girl Olive is 6, and her poop can go from firm to liquid in one poop. She's on the same diet as my guy Tip. He doesn't seem to have that problem. I rarely see him poop since he is too refined to poop in public - he prefers his backyard.

 

I like the paper plate idea. I made a poop-catcher with a loop of thin metal bar from Lowes. I bent the end into a circle and clip a plastic grocery bag to it. When Olive goes I just hold it under her rear-end. No picking up, and one bag will last the whole walk.

 

Bill

[Guest Fluffy]

I like the paper plate idea. I made a poop-catcher with a loop of thin metal bar from Lowes. I bent the end into a circle and clip a plastic grocery bag to it. When Olive goes I just hold it under her rear-end. No picking up, and one bag will last the whole walk.

 

Bill

 

That. Is. Brilliant. Do you have pics of this contraption? I think I might have to assign it as homework to my handyman father!

[Guest tinams8]

My girl Olive is 6, and her poop can go from firm to liquid in one poop. She's on the same diet as my guy Tip. He doesn't seem to have that problem. I rarely see him poop since he is too refined to poop in public - he prefers his backyard.

 

I like the paper plate idea. I made a poop-catcher with a loop of thin metal bar from Lowes. I bent the end into a circle and clip a plastic grocery bag to it. When Olive goes I just hold it under her rear-end. No picking up, and one bag will last the whole walk.

 

Bill

 

This is a million-dollar idea! Call a patent attorney right away! Brilliant.

[seeh2o]

Sounds totally normal to me, too. Except...only 3 poops per walk? Carl recently bested his own record. The record was 7 productive poop squats, now it is 8. I carry a lot of bags with me...so much so that I need a fanny pack to house them all. Good thing we've got a lot of trash cans in the park!

 

I forgot to add, the woman who heads our group suggested using psyllium in their food to firm things up. Pumpkin didn't help, nor did yogurt. The psyllium really helps a lot. The first two poops of the day are good, they start to loosen up after that, but the first two of the walk contain the "bulk" of his pooping.

Edited October 11, 2010 by seeh2o

[Guest BillF]

I'll try and get some pictures posted.

[mychip1]

Dustin by the third time forgets if he wants to pee or poop and lifts his leg but "stuff" comes out the other way while the leg is lifted...Of course, one time it landed on his one planted back leg because he wasn't "squating"......I had to wipe it off with leaves - poor boy!!!!

 

And Bill....would love some pics!!!

[Guest Profgumby]

I'll try and get some pictures posted.

Ah...a do it yerself bag holder! very creative!

 

Our girls rarely go on leash, but in our yard, all bets are off. Add to that PatC fancies her privacy, so if we get too close, she will move. We have become very ninja like with the shovel we use to pick up in the yard.

 

Once she really commits we sneak in behind her and let the shovel catch her work...beats trying to remove dog butt smoothie!

Edited October 12, 2010 by Profgumby

[Guest meakah]

This is normal for Koda too. We walk about 4km/day and she will go a good 3-6+ times along the walk. Starts out firm to eventually being nothing but a few drips by the end. Some racehorses do this too. I think it is nerves/excitement that just speed up their intestinal tract pushing things through at a much faster rate. It does suck trying to clean up the liquid state...I do agree....luckily I am usually in an offleash park and so cleaning it up doesn't have to be as thorough as say on neighbor's lawn.

[Guest BillF]

Finally got time for a few pictures of the BFPC 9000 (Big Effin Poop Catcher 9000)

 

It's made from some thin bar stock available in the hardware section of Lowes. About $2 total. I bent it around a paint can to form the hoop on the end. I use small binder clips to attach the bag to the hoop.

 

I'm having trouble linking to individual photos on Flickr for some reason - so heres a link to the photoset.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billfphotos/sets/72157625159405764/

 

Thanks

Bill

Edited October 14, 2010 by BillF

[Guest Celestrina]

OMG, thank you BillF for posting those pics - great idea!