His ob is great to me. On leash he heel, sit stay down and jumps.
We can do some off leash at home. He can even do a long down while I get Dexter to do some ob work or jump or tug.
I don't feel it is fair to ask him for a long down over 5 minutes yet.

He only has free time when I can keep an eye on him. In the barn while I work or out side. Unsupervise is just calling for some trouble.

The one club I went to told me that he almost have too much drive Maybe they meant hyper? Or for my level, he has too much drive, they tought that Dexter could do a good job, My lazy boy!

 Quote: al curbow

It would annoy me to have a dog on a long line all the time.

I agree 100%.

Ariane, I know you understood what I meant, but to clarify just in case anyone else may have misunderstood when I said we'll put Falcon on a long line:

We will tie Falcon out with us when we are working outside doing anything which requires our full attention, such as burning or using dangerous equipment like chain saws and log splitters. This allows him to be with us vs inside the house by himself, but restrained so our attention can be to the task at hand. When we aren't working on those types of projects, Falcon is off leash with ecollar on. The only time he wears a leash at this point is when we are off our property or when working on a new behavior which requires a leash.

I'm not suggesting restraining Harley instead of working on the leave it or "yuck", but suggest starting that training inside on a not-so-yummy goodie as horse pies. It is just an option when you want your guy outside with you, but you are working and need to focus on the task at hand, without constantly having to pull mess out of his mouth.

First, you need to not think of horse poop as horse poop but as what Harley sees it as. As gross as it sounds, most of what a horse eats are greens which do not get processed to the extent that some other creatures process their foods. Therefore, to the dog, the poop is like eating salad. So gross to you but good to the dog. Obviously it bothers you more than it is bad for the dogs.

I always have my dogs out in my barn and yard but my setup allows for them to tun all over without going off our property. I have trouble with the mal chasing chickens. I don`t care about the poop. I put a drag on him initially and got it mostly broke. Occasionally I tie his to a belt loop on my jeans and make him go everywhere with me and do everything with me. Otherwise, I tie him so he can`t get into trouble behind my turned back or when my attention is elsewhere.

One last option you could try is getting a set of doggie backpacks and letting him carry water bottles, grooming tools, fly spray, what have you to help you around the barn, thus making him work more and help you out at the same time.

There is also the cayenne pepper on the poop trick.

Thanks Lynne,
I don't care so much about poop eating but just the level of it.
All my dogs use to eat a ball or two. Harley will eat piles after piles all day if not stop. It is like some obsessive complusive behaviour.
With any where from 6 to 14 horses on site cayenne pepper is just not an option.
We clean the front yard but paddocks only get picked twice a year.
He can only get to the fall/winter paddock. The invisible fence gives him 10 acres to run. There is one place where we can walk over the fence on leash. Going to the road is not allow by my boy friend. We lost 2 cats in one week just before we got Dexter and there is count less road kill from cat to dog and beaver.

I think that I will just have to crate him, it is not like the neibour will complain

 Quote: Ariane Gauthier

His ob is great to me.

I don't feel it is fair to ask him for a long down over 5 minutes yet.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with extending the long down stay. To me it’s no different than an unrestricted (no walls) version of time in their crate.

And this may not be a popular opinion but I think “this” poop eating is a perfect opportunity for the use of an e-collar.

Eating it may not be causing problems, but the obsession is not healthy, not to mention the blowing off of what sounds like fairly solid commands otherwise.

If you have an e-collar and have gone through the ground work I would be training with it. I would be setting up scenarios - strategically placed poop as we’re marching along, with my hands full, my back turned. My full attention would be on the training though, not an afterthought as I’m out doing the actual chores.

Used correctly, I feel the e-collar would be a very effective tool for you with this “poop eating compulsion”. Much more humane than 180 from a leash correction over a wheel barrow. That has the potential to cause some serious injury.

We have a rotten salmon problem around here at various times of the year. Absolutely disgusting on so many levels – toxic consumption, rolling, head shaking/flying apart in all directions – yup I’ve worn it a few times. Much like proofing to wildlife and livestock, an absolute non-negotiable with me. They learn this very young.

Once they’re taught your magical powers under low distraction – low stim, I haven’t found a more effective tool for these types of issues.

My boys know “Bucky” as in Yucky Bucky. I know, a stupid command but it’s theirs. Their heads turn on the “ck” every time. Buuuu cky. It was initially followed with a “No” and if still blown off, the stim. They got no further warnings. We can do figure 8’s around the rotting carcasses now.

 Quote: CJ Barrett

And this may not be a popular opinion but I think “this” poop eating is a perfect opportunity for the use of an e-collar.

To be perfectly honest CJ, in re-reading this post this AM, I found myself wondering the exact same thing. I had not formulated my thoughts on it, but I think your explanation makes perfect sense.

If I give the Pinker a big breakfast he eats less poop. I know Harley just had an expensive GI problem - - and farm junk probably maybe contributed, but I do not find training not to eat things found on a farm to be do-able, ever, with any dog I have ever had. They have to figure it out for themselves. It's different in town, or in a yard.
I also do not find it reasonable to have a dog tethered to me when I am working with cattle and horses. Its dangerous and slows me down.

 Quote: ariane gauthier

His ob is great to me. On leash he heel, sit stay down and jumps.

I don't see "leave it."

If you can see the dog eating poop in order to use the e-collar, then you can see the dog in order to say "leave it."

Also, I gotta say that ob "on leash" isn't "great ob."

I'm not jumping on you at all, because dillions of owners will say "his ob is perfect, but," or "he knows the command, but."

If his ob was great, you could say leave it and he would leave it.

 Quote: Al Curbow

You do more than most people on this site with your dog, excellent. It's all about obedience. Do more obedience with your dog and then expose him to distractions, not before. It would annoy me to have a dog on a long line all the time. Sounds like a fun dog that needs obedience.

Sounds like that to me too.

I understand what Betty is saying about the difficulty of training dogs on a farm not to eat what they find, but if I understand this right, the O.P. is seeing the poop-eating. Obedience seems like the answer to me. Plus the boredom mentioned by Aaron and Barbara: upbeat marker sessions are non-boring!

No offence taken.
I could add a bunch of other commend, leave it is part of the group, so is viens, lets go, go dodo, whoa, dans l'chart, c't assez, yep he is a franglais dog.

Leave poses a problem at the moment. He leave the one poop/pile he was eating just to find an other one, even better he can find poop heaven, wheelbarle.

He is off leash inside and very good. We are just starting to do some formal outside session. He will come at 100' 85% at 50' he is 95' and at 20' he is close to 100% closer then that the cat is not even an issue. Position charge is not happening off leash if I am more then 20' from him. Outside today we could get good stuff at 5'. I was happy with him.

I would not trust him off property off leash let say for a walk in town. He is off leash in our wood. Very little wild life here. He is quiet good even with all the new stuff out there, spring!

Today I crated him after some hard play in the morning. He was happy to come in. He was a wild dig bat in the wood, he got a 5 min penality on leash for not leaving the thing he found when asked He was very good after ward

Connie, I couldn’t agree more and would never recommend the e-collar without a trained and proofed command. Hence the recommendation for strategically placed poop in a training situation. Marker training on leash, off leash - under distraction when he thinks she’s not looking or busy carrying stuff.

I would be doing obedience all around it, perhaps even just wearing the collar not turned on – a good opportunity to get him used to it. When he’s ready, and she’s got his levels figured out (the groundwork) I’d use it for tightening up any poorer performances before the test of doing the chores. She should rarely have to use it but on that odd occasion that he may choose to blow her off, I think it would be an ideal tool to reach out and touch him if needed.

Our “Bucky” is always taught and proofed on a variety of lower level enticements (coyote poop, garbage, anything they’re supposed to leave), stuff they encounter on a daily basis. “Bucky”…a quick distraction and reward for focusing on/coming to me.

Even with our salmon, I wore a bunch of it and we went through a ton of apple cider vinegar bathing Echo during the training stage. Just to solidify and clean it up in the end stages, he did get a couple of low level stims though – there’s something about that rotten stench that totally appeals to him. I taught him the e-collar at around 8 months.

When they know a command, and I know they know it, performed at least 30 times, out of the home, under distraction, and they blow it off, they will get a “no” once and if they’re still not complying I’ll use the vibrate. This is very rare, and there’s always full compliance. With the first salmon uncovered in the spring thaw last year, Echo got a “Bucky”, and he was still about to go down for the roll. He got a 32 stim and reward for coming to me. Bucky has been sufficient since.

I just really like the tool for things like this that may be a bit of an issue off leash. Of course it never comes before or overrides the requirement for appropriate, hands on marker training to teach the full understanding and ingrained knowledge of the commands.