We have an one year old female Labrador, Betsy whose potty habits have still not fallen into a schedule. Though she is taken out for a walk immediately after being fed, most of the time she does not do her potty outside but defaeces in the garden. She defaeces three to four times a day. The quantity is also considerable; sometimes the stools are totally black, at other times a combination of yellow and brown. We have observed that she is always chewing and eating muck like leaves, rotten mangoes,plastic bags etc. When she is taken for a walk, she seems to be more interested in sniffing for something to eat rather than doing potty. Betsy is given a pure vegetarian diet-one bowl of ragi porridge with a glass of milk and two slices of bread in the morning. She is given a full meal consisting of rice and vegetables in the evening at 5.30. After her feeding time, she is immediately taken out. We have also tried tying her up on occasions when she does not do her potty during the walk and taking her out again later but nothing has really worked satisfactorily. When we have tied her up, she has some times done potty right next to the spot she's tied up. Betsy is otherwise very active and intelligent.Our concern is with the following issues-
1) why is she not defaecing when taken for a walk?
2) Is it normal for one year old Labs to defaece three to four times in a day?
3) Why is the quantity of stools large?
4) How do we prevent her from shitting in the garden?
We hope you will be able to help us.
Regards,
Nat (natarajansringmail.com)
