Deer! Scat!

June 13, 2023 11:39 AM

Urban deer are leaving their scat all over the perimeter of the yard when they snack on shrubs etc. at hours where we are not there to see it. The "leavings" are like small piles of black jelly beans and really difficult to clean up. What can we do? Mostly worried about dogs who will eat just about anything.
posted by I_Love_Bananas to Pets & Animals (10 answers total)

Get rid of, or secure, anything they like to eat. Our yard cleaned up considerably when the people across the street got rid of their apple tree.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:01 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

It's probably okay just to let your dogs eat it. There are a lot of low quality articles on the internet that make a variety of unfounded claims about the risks of dogs eating deer poop. Here is one by a vet that looks more carefully at the actual risks and concludes they are low.

Are your dogs super excited about eating deer poop or just mildly interested? If they're just mildly interested, you could try teaching them that leaving the poop alone leads to rewards that are much more desirable than the poop itself. Teach a "leave it" command. (There is lots of information online about how to do this.) Then spend some time with your dog on leash searching out deer poop, waiting for your dog to notice it, saying "leave it" and rewarding with really delicious food treats. If your dogs will also be running around in the yard unsupervised, set up some situations where you know where the poop is but you don't seem to be paying attention to it, wait for a dog to notice it and then (hopefully) turn away from it, at which point you praise and reward liberally.

With my dog, once she seemed to understand what I wanted her to do when she found deer poop, if I noticed her sniffing it with interest or acting like she was thinking of taking a bite, I would give a stern "no!" to clarify that I did not want that behavior. I would expect this to work if she was only slightly interested, but not if it was something she really wanted to do.

You could also try putting something on the poop to make it eating it unpleasant. (Bitter Apple? My dog did not mind the taste at all, but I guess sometimes it works for some dogs. Cayenne pepper?) After trying it a few times and finding it bad, your dogs might lose interest in it.
posted by Redstart at 12:56 PM on June 13, 2023 [7 favorites]

I just spread some cayenne-based granules across my Mom's artificial lawn to keep the neighborhood cats from pooping on it. If it in fact works, it may not be an option if you want your dog to use that law as well, but if not, there you go.
posted by rhizome at 1:38 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

This is probably not a big issue. My dog eats a lot of unsavory stuff, and deer poop is on the slow end of unsavoryness there. For him, it isn't as interesting as the stuff owls throw up, or what the wolf hides for later use. If he eats poop, fox poop is the big treat. In general, though it is disgusting, poop from wild animals is not a health risk for dogs.

The big problem with deer are the ticks, and you can get preventive medication for that for your dog. Mine gets a big pill twice a year. (Why doesn't this exist for humans???)
posted by mumimor at 2:11 PM on June 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Get a coyote decoy.
posted by Toddles at 8:21 PM on June 13, 2023

Response by poster: @rhizome - do the granules hold up in the rain? Interested to know more about those (PM if you like).
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:55 AM on June 14, 2023

My dog occasionally eats deer poop as well as the similar-looking poop for our sheep. I try to correct him. He doesn't do it often. My concern with the deer poop is they do carry parasites -- which is why we actively try to keep them out of our sheep's pasture. I would suggest at least raking the piles out so it is a less enticing meal.
posted by terrapin at 5:56 AM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

The instructions indeed say to reapply if it rains. Maybe look into sour apple or peppermint oil and the rest of those standard smells that may have more permanent forms. I'm just starting on this, but I do hope I find a permanent solution.
posted by rhizome at 6:57 PM on June 14, 2023

Far as I've heard, wild goose poop is much more dangerous than deer.
posted by Goofyy at 12:47 PM on June 15, 2023

I just spread some cayenne-based granules across my Mom's artificial lawn to keep the neighborhood cats from pooping on it. If it in fact works, it may not be an option if you want your dog to use that law as well, but if not, there you go.

This can be especially cruel to animals like cats that wash their face with their feet, and it could cause your dogs problems as well.

If you can get some motion activated sprinklers set up around the perimeter that may scare the deer, and it won't harm other animals.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:31 PM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]