Empty Poop Bags - What a Relief!

A couple months ago, Cabana started the habit of needing to poop on our morning walks. Even though she goes poop first thing in the morning and we go for a walk only about an hour later, the walking was making her need to go again. If I tried to make her go before our walk, I'd just wait and wait and wait on our lawn with her--but she needed the walking to stimulate her bowels.

On our walks, Cabana would show signs of needing to relieve, like pulling over toward patches of grass or walking in a zigzagging fashion. When she started behaving like that, I would look for a good place (i.e., not someone's fastidiously manicured lawn), then I would give the command, and she would go. She was very good about waiting for permission.

However, my puppy group leader said that we needed to help Cabana be even more controlled about her relieving. And we needed to break that habit, because she was needing to relieve 9 times out of 10 (she's got a regular little system!). So we picked a designated spot on our route where she could relieve if necessary. She would not be allowed to relieve anywhere on our walks except there.

It took a couple weeks, but Cabana was able to handle that. We had a lot of success with that plan. If Cabana needed to go before or after we had reached that spot, I would give an emphatic "No!" (I think in the manual, it says you should act like she's about to go poop on white carpeting) and I would make her sit for a minute or so. The urge would pass, and we would continue our walk.

Now Cabana rarely even uses her designated spot to poop. I still stop there and ask her to do her business. Sometimes, she'll pee there, but it has been weeks and weeks since she's needed to poop on our walks.

So I come home with an empty poop bag...and a happy tired pup!