please advise me before i lose the plot!

[Caleb the wonder dog?????]

on the whole caleb is loooovely dog i couldnt really ask for a better dog to fit into the family! when we adopted him he came with a small pack of a very very expensive dog food (£50+) for 15 kilos we since have changed him over to a cheaper but not rubbish dog food and since the proportion of more expensive dog food has got lower he has started eating his own poo.....bleeaauurrghh! i have now ordered him some food for working/high energy dogs and specified the muesli variety as he is still a puppy (7months) he still needs higher energy food than adult food but not as rich as puppy food, i am hoping this will help but i think it might be an ingrained habbit now! i have tried telling him to leave it and spraying him but by the time i get there he has run off grrrr!!! he also has an extremly expensive chewing habbit, he only does it when i cant see him he will take anything off the work top including packs of butter, loaves of bread still in the bag etc and also non edible things, i have also noticed that my skirting boards are sporting some rather suspicious bald patches on the corner!!! please help its driving me nuts! i have ordered a remote control vibration collar so i can correct him when i cant get to him but its not here yet!

[Bill]

since have changed him over to a cheaper but not rubbish dog food and since the proportion of more expensive dog food has got lower he has started eating his own poo.....bleeaauurrghh! i have now ordered him some food for working/high energy dogs and specified the muesli variety as he is still a puppy (7months) he still needs higher energy food than adult food but not as rich as puppy food, i am hoping this will help but i think it might be an ingrained habbit now!

As per my last post to you, go back to the other food. You want a food that is very high in protein and low in carbs. It's the carbs that are making it through the GI tract and out the back end. Don't worry about "Puppy" food. The terms, "puppy", "adult", "senior", "active", "maintenence" are just marketing terms to make you think that food is made specially for your dog. There is so little difference between those foods as to have no meaning whatsoever.

i have tried telling him to leave it and spraying him but by the time i get there he has run off grrrr!!!

Methods like that just don't work. Don't leave stuff he would like to eat where he can't get to it. Thats a simple problem to solve and you aren't harming your relationship with your dog.

i have also noticed that my skirting boards are sporting some rather suspicious bald patches on the corner!!! please help its driving me nuts! i have ordered a remote control vibration collar so i can correct him when i cant get to him but its not here yet!

If there is something all puppies have in common it's chewing. If you don't catch him in the act there is nothing you can do. If you catch him, Immediately say in a normal tone of voice, "no, no, don't chew that ... here chew this" as you put an acceptable chew item in his mouth. Don't keep a zillion chew toys around. 3 or 4 is all thats needed. If you have too many he won't be able to learn what is acceptable to chew and what isn't.

If he has certain places he chews, like your skirting boards, go to a pharmacy or health food store and get some Alum. It is a white powder. Get about a spoonful and add a couple of drops of water to make a paste out of it and spread it over the places he is chewing. He wlll chew those places one more time and that will be it. The Alum will make an ugly crust where spread but don't worry about that. In a few weeks you can wash it off.

From your posts, I think you need to do some reading about dogs and dog training. I suggest the following books:
1. The Other End of the Leash by Dr. Patricia Mcconnell
2. The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller
3. Clicking With Your Dog by Peggy Tillman
4. Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson