Halp! Poop Eaters Anonymous

[CuriumosityCf]

My roommate is, well, an irresponsible pet owner. She decided last week to bring home a sulcata that has a massive tumor on his face. I've always wanted one but never got one because of the long commitment involved, she didn't even bother to research what they eat or check to see if putting a male sulcata with a male smaller tortoise of a different breed was even a good idea (so far there doesn't seem to be an issue, the smaller tortoise has places to hide), so that tells you right there the kind of impulsive person I'm dealing with. The previous owners didn't want to take care of the vet bills for the tumor, and my roommate seems to think she can just let it go too. I'm trying to convince her that it needs to be taken care of, whatever, I'm working on that part.
Anyways, we have 2 dogs, mine is a well behaved (until lately) small terrier, and her issue dog is a basset/beagle cross 'puppy' that she brought home 6 months ago and has not trained whatsoever. The dog was very sick, and at the vet for the first 4 months or so of her life, which is where my roommate got her, after the previous owners decided the bills were too much. This is the most annoying and pig headed dog, anyways, that untrained beast is now getting my dog to eat the giant horse-like sulcata poops. I am a student, and not home during the day, she is a home health worker and is in and out all day. She refuses to discipline the dogs at all, in fact she does the opposite and encourages bad behavior. She let the tortoise have free reign over the backyard and often left the back door open so Harry can come inside. After he decided to rearrange the living room, and I explained about the territory patrolling behavior, she has stopped leaving the door open for fear of the tvs and valuables breaking, so there is hope for her changing her behavior, but that hasn't stopped the dogs from going outside and dragging the giant poops in. I have come home to tortoise poop smeared and torn apart all over the living room, couch, carpets, wood floors, in her bed (today, while she was sleeping in her bed, the dogs came in and torn apart poop and she didn't notice until I said something), all over the dogs, rubbed in my dog's fur, just freaking everywhere every single day for the last week. That is 7 baths my dog has had in 7 days, this is getting ridiculous, I don't have time for this.

So, the question is, how can I fix this? Training the dogs not to eat the poop is pretty hard since I am gone all day, and wont have any back up from her to correct the behavior. I don't think there is any safe food we could give the tortoise that would stop the dogs from wanting to eat the poop like I've seen for cats... If we sectioned off the backyard so the dogs couldn't get in part, and make that the tortoise pen, would that be the best option? Any other ideas? Can anyone come up with some good tips or even scare tactics I can use on my roommate to get her to stop this nonsense?

 

[Jodie]

The dogs and tortoises should definitely be in different areas. Each tortoise should have it's own safe enclosure. Good luck.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sounds like you have a room mate problem, not a dog/tortoise problem. Dogs eat (tear apart) tort poop. It's just what they do. In my opinion, the tortoise needs his own space outside. It should be surrounded by a fence the dogs can't jump and it should have a safe shelter where he can go to get warm in winter and cool in summer.

Can we see a picture of the tumor? I'm wondering if it's just an ear abscess, which is very easily fixed.

 

[Alaskamike]

Reminds me of
The scorpion & the frog story ;

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

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Some people you cannot change