Last year Tami Skinner of Denver, Colorado had three beloved Shelties: Domino, Eddie and Wiggins. Sadly, Domino passed away in December. Domino had acted as the head of the pack for Eddie and Wiggins so her loss was deeply felt among the dogs.

Within a week after Domino had passed, when Eddie would go outside to do his business he began bring his feces back into the house. It was not classic copraphagia because he would not touch or eat his feces once it was in the house and he was only doing this when Tami was not home.

Eddie was already a nervous little guy and very unsure of himself. With Domino no longer there to protect him, it was apparent to Tami that his nervousness increased. Not to mention his new habit of bringing in what was supposed to be left outside. After several attempts to work with Eddie, Tami had to resort to leaving him in his crate all day while she was at work. This left Wiggins without a playmate causing him to slowly go into depression.

In an attempt to help her two best friends she adopted Flash (another Sheltie). Welcoming Flash to the family was exciting and wonderful for Wiggins who was pleased to have a new playmate. Flash quickly brought Wiggins out of his depression but the new family member caused Eddie to become more nervous, upset and increased his behavior of bringing feces back into the house. However, now Eddie was not particular about whose poop he was bringing into the house. And he was doing it while Tami was at home!
At her wits end, Tami turned to a friend who recommended she call Kari Bastyr, a local animal behaviorist in Denver to help Eddie. Kari was surprised to hear of this sort of problem, and admitted she had never heard of this behavior before. However, she resolved to help Tami with a treatment plan.

Tami sat with Kari for about 90 minutes watching her little family interact. It was obvious to Kari that there needed to be some leadership control from Tami to let Eddie know that she was in charge and he was on the bottom of the hierarchy list, because that is exactly where Eddie wanted to be. He wants no part of being in charge or alpha dog. Kari outlined several things Tami could do in her daily routine to help Eddie feel less anxious, and it worked wonders. Eddie is a new man! He is much calmer and is not nervous anymore. And best of all, he doesn’t bring any poop into the house!

Tami Skinner