The votes are in and the winner is….
The votes are in and our Star Dog contest winner is Munster! Munster is a sweet American Bulldog that was born with Spina Bifida, but he doesn’t let that stop him from enjoying life!
Name: Munster
Breed: American Bulldog
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Did you know there are rating systems for the quality and consistency of dog stool? Becoming familiar with the normal consistency, texture and color of dog poop is one way of gauging a dog’s digestive health and recognizing when there might be a problem. There are a couple of different approaches and charts for measuring canine excrement. Popular charts issued by the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition and Purina describe similar ranges by shape and texture. The Waltham guide has nine categories and the Purina chart has the familiar seven-point scale.
Whether or not you use a scorecard to rate your dog’s dung, being aware of what’s normal for your dog can give you useful information to share with your vet in the event of troubling alterations, such as:
Let’s look at some of the most common causes of abnormal dog stool!
Diarrhea takes a number of forms, from loose stool that emerges long and snake-like to a messy puddle, and falls under two general categories, acute and chronic. Acute diarrhea in dogs is a sudden-onset condition, meaning that there is a rapid transition from solid, well-formed feces. To some extent, regularity is a function of maintaining habits, whether that’s being acclimated to a certain diet or a certain location.
Healthy stool varies in appearance from dog to dog. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.
Any abrupt change in a dog’s food can lead to an episode of acute diarrhea. It is recommended that any such change be managed over the course of several days, during which the new food is combined with the old, giving the dog’s digestive system time to adjust. Anxiety can also cause fecal disruptions; a dog who is not prepared or unused to car or air travel may experience short-term diarrhea as a response to stress. In situations where food or motion is the cause, regular consistency should return within a day or two.
When a dog experiences diarrhea on a regular basis over the course of two or more weeks, it is referred to as chronic diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea in dogs may indicate a number of potentially serious health issues, including organ dysfunction, parasites, and infection. Inflammation or irritation of key organs in the digestive tract, such as the liver, pancreas, or the intestines themselves, can cause extended periods of digestive upset. Chronic diarrhea also tends to present with additional symptoms or complications, such as vomiting, fever, weight loss, or abdominal pain.
Accidentally ingesting parasites or infectious agents can lead a dog to develop chronic diarrhea, and both are key reasons to keep your dog’s food and water dishes clean at home, and to pick up after your dog when you’re out in public. One of the most common parasites involved is the single-celled Giardia, which is found where infected feces contaminate and are ingested from a range of items, from grass to drinking water. Among infectious agents, parvovirus in dogs is particularly dangerous to puppies, and largely preventable with standard combo vaccines.
Since there are so many potential causes of both acute and chronic diarrhea in dogs, it’s worth taking special note of the relative shape or shapelessness of the feces, as well as its content and color. When dogs poop, they’re not only excreting waste products and indigestible parts of food, but also eliminating internal waste. This internal waste includes dead red blood cells, which come out in feces in the form of bilirubin. In the process of digestion and excretion, bilirubin combines with bile, giving dung its typical brown color.
Sudden changes in dog poop color can be alarming. Photography by Joshua Ganderson on Flickr.
Discoloration in dog poop, particularly if the feces is yellow or green, can be caused by a variety of factors. Yellow stools that have a normal consistency and shape may indicate a simple short-term dietary shift. In cases like these, when things move too quickly through the digestive system to allow bilirubin to pass with feces, poop can take the yellowish tint of bile. Yellow poop can also be the result of liver, bile duct, or gallbladder problems. Green stool or dark green diarrhea may be a result of your dog eating too much grass or plant matter, or a result of ingesting a household toxin or rodenticide.
As disconcerting as it can be to see your dog’s poop change colors, it is startling to witness an episode of hematochezia, or bloody dog stool. Here again, there is no easy answer, as the causes can range from eating a foreign object discovered in the litter bin to colon inflammation. The color of the blood can be an important indicator of the approximate area of the affliction; the more vivid the red, the more likely the source of the problem is in or near the colon. Darker, blacker blood indicates that the problem is higher in the digestive tract and has had time to be digested.
The amount of blood in the dog’s stool, as well as the relative consistency of the poop, are key signs in determining a course of action. For instance, a small streak of blood, seen once on an otherwise normally shaped piece of poop, but not afterward, could signify nothing at all. On the other hand, repeated incidents of bloody diarrhea in the course of a single day should certainly warrant a veterinary consultation. The more senior a dog, the more likely the cause is to be tumor-related; the younger the dog, the more likely the source of bleeding is parasitic.
Any general overview of abnormal dog stool should take into account, not only degrees and colors of wet diarrhea, but also the appearance of small, hard poop. Since nearly 75 percent of normal dog poop is water, struggling to defecate, or producing dry stools with great effort, could be a result of dehydration. Dogs can become constipated by swallowing foreign objects, especially bones or hair. These items can also absorb available water and prevent normal poop formation.
If abnormal dog stool lasts more than a day or two, consult a vet. Photography by Shutterstock.
Regular exercise has an impact on normal stool formation and movement through the digestive system, as does a dog’s diet. Dogs who are overfed, or exclusively fed low-quality dry kibble, may be consuming more fiber and filler than their digestive systems can process. The longer a dog excretes dry feces, or none at all, the greater the chance that constipation can turn into obstipation. Obstipation occurs when difficulty defecating causes a logjam in the colon, and unmoved feces itself causes an intestinal blockage.
It might sound unappealing, even repulsive, but regularly observing and cleaning up after your dog’s poop can be both intimate and comforting. The more familiar you are with the typical appearance and texture of your dog’s feces, the more aware you’ll be when it deviates from the norm. I admit to feeling a sense of satisfaction with my dog’s diet and exercise habits, and with myself as a dog owner, when she is in a good rhythm with her pooping.
Should you notice any of these changes in your dog’s feces for more than a day or two, resist the urge to treat your dog with human medications. Before you dose your dog with something as seemingly innocuous as Pepto-Bismol, consult your veterinarian. The more detail you can provide, including when the changes started and how long they’ve persisted, the better equipped your vet will be to diagnose and treat the underlying issue.
Read more about dog poop on Dogster.com:
About the author: Melvin Peña trained as a scholar and teacher of 18th-century British literature before turning his research and writing skills to puppies and kittens. He enjoys making art, hiking, and concert-going, as well as dazzling crowds with operatic karaoke performances. He has a two-year-old female Bluetick Coonhound mix named Baby, and his online life is conveniently encapsulated here.
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We’ve all been there! Your guests’ arrival is imminent, and there’s no time to put your dog away. The bell rings, your dog goes wild, and as soon as your guests come through the door, they’re flattened against the wall by an exuberant greeting from a highly excitable and energetic bundle of fur. How do you train your dog to stop jumping on your guests? Having been on the receiving end of much dog jumping, I know what it’s like. I’ve been pushed over, bruised and slobbered on. One time, I nearly had my arm broken by an 80-pound Bulldog who jumped up on me as I came through the door, grabbed my wrist, and led me hastily to his dog bed. “Don’t worry,” said his person, “he does that to everyone he likes!” I’m pretty sure she meant it as a compliment, but I was in too much pain to feel very flattered.
Teach your dog to keep four paws on the floor with every person he greets, including you. Photography by Shutterstock)
I love dogs who say hello with energy, and it’s always a relief as a trainer to be greeted by a dog who is pleased to see me. Still, not all dogs who jump are eager for attention or social contact. Sometimes dog jumping behavior can be a dog’s way of coping with a change in the environment that makes him nervous. It’s pretty easy to recognize an uncomfortable jumper, especially if you know how your dog reacts to new people.
A nervous jumper exhibits much stiffer body language than a dog who is excited to see you and may eye guests warily as they enter his space. Regardless of why your dog is jumping, the aim is pretty much the same: Teach your dog that four on the floor is better than two on you.
Here’s how:
Four on the floor, or in this case eight on the floor. Photography by Shutterstock.
Teach your dog to keep four on the floor at all times with every person he greets, including you. Sometimes pet parents reinforce jumping behavior by allowing their dogs to jump on them, but telling them “off” when they jump on other people. There needs to be one rule for all.
Harness the power of giving your dog something else to do, especially during times when he is most likely to jump, such as when people come to the door. The energy and adrenaline that drives jumping behavior has to find another outlet.
Teach your dog a different activity for when people first arrive. For example, he could go to fetch a toy or run to a mat or bed and stay there until cued to come off. This requires a certain amount of impulse control and can be difficult for excitable dogs. But if you make learning fun and reinforce success with motivating rewards, you will get the behavior you desire.
Prevent dog jumping by training your dog to go to a certain spot when guests arrive. Photography by Shutterstock.
Teaching your dog cues to find alternate behaviors is key. A sitting dog cannot jump, so utilize family members, friends, and neighbors to help you practice his sitting on greeting.
Here are a few tips:  Line up your volunteers, and approach each one with your dog on leash. If your dog jumps, simply turn in the other direction, walk away a few steps, turn around, and approach again. If he walks up to a person and sits, give attention and a secondary reward such as food or a toy for complying.
Start by teaching these basics in a quiet environment and with calm volunteers. Later, you can take it to where the jumping behavior usually happens, which in most cases is by the front door.
Once your dog is sitting consistently as a person walks through the door, introduce auditory triggers that get your dog excited, such as a knock or bell ring. Wait for your dog to calm down before opening the door and letting someone in to greet. If he jumps up, your “guest” will turn around and leave, and the secondary reward goes away. If he sits, he gets attention and a reward.
Make sure your dog is calm before opening the door. Photography by Shutterstock.
Only practice off-leash when your dog is consistently performing what you need him to do, and always expect failures — they’re a normal part of the learning process.
If your dog is wary of strangers, keep everyone safe and comfortable by keeping him behind a baby gate, or in another room or “safe zone,” until your guests are settled. If he is wary but social, allow him to greet calmly; if he prefers his own space, give him an activity toy and leave him in his safe zone.
Sometimes dogs forget what they have been taught and jump on their owners or guests. If this happens, ignore your dog and turn your back, or keep turning around until he gets off. Wait for four seconds of paws on the floor before giving attention. If your dog jumps again when he has attention, repeat your behavior until he realizes that jumping gets nothing, but four on the floor gets him all the attention he desires.
Teach your dog a different activity when people first arrive at your house, such as running to a mat or bed. .Photography by Shutterstock.
Don’t knee your dog in the chest, yank his collar, shout, shock or physically reprimand him for jumping. Even though these actions might “fix” things for that moment, they don’t actually teach a dog anything. Also, you will usually find your dog continues to jump when a similar situation arises. Teaching him what to do instead will encourage him to make better choices the next time he feels the need to jump up.
Thumbnail: Photography by mikeledray/Shutterstock.
Read more Dogster articles that feature the methods of Victoria Stilwell:
About the author: Victoria Stilwell is a world-renowned dog trainer, TV personality, author, and public speaker best known as the star of the international hit TV series It’s Me or the Dog, through which she reaches audiences in over 100 countries. Appearing frequently in the worldwide media, Stilwell is widely recognized as a leader in the field of animal behavior, is the editor-in-chief of Positively.com, and the CEO of Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Training — the world’s premier global network of positive reinforcement dog trainers. Connect with her on Facebook and on Twitter.
Editor’s note: Have you seen the new Dogster print magazine in stores? Or in the waiting room of your vet’s office? This article appeared in our magazine, and we’re thrilled to have Victoria Stilwell as a contributor. Subscribe to Dogster and get the bimonthly magazine delivered to your home. Read an interview with Stilwell on Dogster.
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