Can you train a dog to cover it's poop?

My dog kinda tries, but he's not very good at it. I think you can train them to try, but I don't think you can expect them to act like a cat. There's a very strong desire to be clean in cats that dogs seem to lack entirely.

Did you train your dog or is it something he just does? I'd probably be happy if he could just dig a little potty spot before going -- I could cover it. I'm just not looking forward to picking up poop.

mmm....it's not all that strong in some cats either.

Jezzer takes a dump, then stands astride the litter box looking at it with distaste.
Then, she'll paw at the wall for a few seconds, then look down at the poop in amazement..."what? it's not covered up?" She'll paw the wall some more, then realize to be of any effect, she'd have to put her paws in the litter...puh-leeze, perish the thought. Then she walks off like nothing happened.

fortunately, otis has designated himself keep of the litter box and in fact buries stuff TOO deep. he's quite industrious. He's got job security with 3 cats around.

Lulu was the best. She'd unabashedly take a really stinkin' shit, and leave it right out there for everyone to admire.

Sure, if you want to dig 2 or more holes every day. I don't think I'd want to set foot in your yard, though.

I think he's copying the cat, and he only does it on walks. He'll urinate (doesn't poop on walks) and then turn around and kick his back legs for a while.

I tried training him to use the litter box briefly, but gave up quickly when he started eating the crunchy cat poop.

Most dogs do this, though some get more excited about it than others. They're spreading their scent around.

Only frightened dogs want to hide their poop.

Get a smallish dog and train it to use a litter box. That's a sorta in-between option.

They can be trained to go in the house on a paper or a little dog pop garden.
You can buy the latter at a petshop.

If the dog goes outside, it's usually the law that you have to pick up the poop and dispose of it.

The problem with small dogs is their small dog personalities. I'm a little biased in that sense. I'd probably just get a cat instead.

Dog personalities aren't necessarily based on size.

We meet plenty of wimpy big dogs in the dog parks, and plenty of small dogs with giant personalities. It's all about picking the right dog, and doing the right training. A confident small dog is unlikely to have a stereotypical small dog personality.

And cats are in no way substitutes for anything you can get from a dog in terms of personality and activity. Especially if there are kids in a home.

oh, and when I say smallish, I just mean under 50 pounds

I will speak from my own experience with a border collie (one of the brightest and trainable breeds). After my dog pees, he tears up the lawn in the general direction. He's instinct is to try to cover it up. However, he fails miserably. Same with poop. I'd rather teach him to sing. He has a good voice.

I'll look into the poop garden idea. That sounds promising.

I understand. I like cats, have grown up with them, and would probably prefer one in terms of maintenance. But this little doggy just made me want to take him home. He's a mutt but he appears to me to be very intelligent and even tempered. I really alm0st adopted him on the spot but I have to talk myself out of such impulsive commitments.

I've got two rescue dogs. I sometimes say that they were good to train because they wanted to prove to me that I did the right thing bringing them into our pack.

I'm generally a proponent of mutts as they often have the best of each breed, and none of the potential health issues of purebred dogs.

I tend to agree. I've never had dogs, though, so I'm trying to get a good feeling for the responsibility involved and see if I can talk myself out of it. If I get him I'll be on here every day with dog questions, so bear with me.

Re-read some of timber's posts about rescue dogs and you'll run, not walk, back to the mutt you saw.

Some rescue dogs can be a lot of work at the beginning. It sort of depends what brought them into a rescue situation to begin with. Others, like my male dog, are almost self-sufficient. Once I learned that I couldn't put my feet on the floor (from sofa or bed) without warning him, things were downright easy (errr, except for the occasional fit of jealousy he has in regard to Set, which Set's books tend to get the brunt of).

I have trained both of mine to go in the same place - it is out of the way in the corner of the yard. They do pretty well actually - I did it when I crate trained them. It has been great - no dog poop on shoes and I don't have to pick it up. Not a big fan of that either.

My one dog was rescued from a puppy farm. But she was a puppy - so that might have made a difference