Why do dogs eat poop?
Dogs eat poop for a variety of reasons including –
- Nutritional imbalance – When a dog eats his own poop, it may be because the stool still has undigested minerals and nutrients.
- Stress – A dog may poop because of extreme anxiety (e.g. when left alone), and then eat up his own feces as a displacement behavior.
- Boredom – Lack of activity and interaction may cause a dog to start playing with his stool and sometimes eat it.
- Enjoyment – Many dogs like the taste of leavings from cats or other animals. My dogs also like smelling the stuff and scenting it with their tongue.
- Clean-up – Some dogs may eat poop inside the house to keep their living space clean. Dogs that are physically punished for potty training mistakes, may learn to eat their own poop to avoid our anger or strong discipline.
- Any combination of the above.
Whether eating feces is harmful to our dog will depend on whether it is contaminated with worms, fleas, or other parasites that may carry bacteria and viruses. The consequences of eating contaminated feces will also depend on the immune system and general health of our dog. Young puppies, for example, have developing immune systems, and may be more susceptible to bad stool; especially if they have not been fully vaccinated. To be safe, I only take my puppy out on hikes and neighborhood walks, after he has received all of his vaccination shots.
The most effective method to stop our dog from eating poop, will depend on the reason for his behavior, his temperament, as well as our own preferences.
1. Feed our dog a healthy and balanced diet.
The easiest balanced food to give our dog is dry kibble. Dry kibble is nutritionally balanced and results in less teeth tartar.
Make sure to get a high quality kibble, with good protein sources, and no unhealthy fillers.
Some well reviewed kibble brands include Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and Orijen.
2. Fixed feeding schedule and on-leash supervision.
If we keep our dog on a fixed eating schedule, it will help keep his poop schedule regular and predictable as well.
A fixed schedule makes it easier for us to supervise our dog, and prevent him from eating his own feces or those from our other dogs.
During poop time –
- I put the problem dog on a leash, and walk him out on-leash to do his business first.
- If he tries to eat his own feces, I no-mark him (Ack-ack) and lead him away from it. I get him to do some obedience commands, and then try again. If he does not try to pull towards the bad stuff, I praise him and reward him well.
- I keep sessions short, and end on a positive note.
- I make sure to clean up after him.
- If we have other dogs, only let them out after cleaning up.
- Make sure to keep the problem dog on-leash, so that we may supervise and prevent poop eating when our other dogs are out.
3. Keep our dogs busy and well-exercised.
Bored dogs will frequently develop behavioral issues and cause property damage.
It is important to walk our dog regularly (preferably every day), and to provide structured, interesting activities, to keep his mind sharp and engaged.
My dogs work for all of their food, either by performing dog obedience commands, or through interactive food toys. If we provide a lot of alternative activities for our dog, he will be less likely to find unacceptable entertainment on his own, including eating his own feces.
If we are busy in the short-term, and do not have the time to give our dog the attention that he needs, consider sending him to dog daycare or hiring a pet sitter.
4. Keep our dog’s environment clean.
Scoop up after our dog, as soon as he is done with his business. If we keep things clean, there will be less chance for him to engage in opportunistic poop eating.
During retraining, it is also important to supervise our dog closely, so that he does not practice any bad behavior on his own. We may have to go back to dog potty training basics, to fully stop him from eating his own poop.
5. Help our dog reduce stress.
Identify situations that cause extreme stress in our dog, and try to reduce the number of stressful encounters. In the meantime, practice managed desensitization exercises, to help reduce his stress response.
To desensitize my dog-
- I make sure that I am in control of the training environment. Then, I start by exposing him to very low levels of the stressful stimulus. Low enough that he is able to stay calm and learn.
- I treat and praise him for staying calm.
- I do some simple obedience commands (e.g. Sit), so that he is focused on me, and looks to me for direction while under stress.
- When my dog is comfortable with the low-level stimulus, I very slowly increase its intensity, and repeat the focus and training exercises.
If our dog starts to react badly, then we have moved forward too quickly. I move a few steps back, help my dog to calm down, and then do some simple focus exercises so that I can end on a positive note.
While conducting desensitization exercises, it is important to keep sessions short, fun, and rewarding for our dog. In this way, he will begin to re-associate the bad stimulus with positive experiences.
6. Teach our dog the ‘Leave-it’ command.
- First, I get some yummy treats that my dog likes.
- I put one treat in my hand, and make sure my dog knows it is there.
- I close my hand into a fist, and hold it still.
- My dog will naturally nose all over my hand, while trying to get to the treat. I say Leave-it, and wait for him to briefly stop nosing my hand.
- As soon as he stops, I mark the behavior (Yes), and treat him from my other hand.
As our dog learns the command, we can slowly lengthen the time he has to leave our hand alone, before we mark and treat him.
Once we are comfortable with this exercise, we can practice the Leave-it command with a treat on the floor. Make sure that we are fast, or have our dog on a lead. In this way, we may stop him if he decides to lunge for the treat. If necessary, we can also cover the treat with our hand.
As soon as our dog leaves the treat alone, mark and treat him from our other hand. It is important NOT to give him the treat that is on the floor. This may inadvertently teach him that he gets rewarded with whatever is on the ground, which is often not the case in real-world situations.
Keep practicing this until we have a really solid Leave-it command. Now, we can use it when our dog gets tempted by animal leavings during walks.
Note that independent minded dogs may choose to eat the feces anyway, if they decide that our reward is of lesser value. If this happens, I try upgrading my rewards, and make sure that my dog does not get within striking distance of the bad stuff. In addition, I quickly march my dog home and end the walk, if he manages to sneak in some poop eating. This teaches him that if he eats the stuff, the nice and interesting walk ends. That is usually enough of a deterrent to stop any roadside temptations.
7. Make the dog poop taste bad.
Adding meat tenderizer containing papain, in small quantities to our dog’s food, will sometimes prevent poop eating. Make sure it does not contain other additives such as MSG or salt. Some people also suggest adding pumpkin, pineapple, or stool deterrent supplements as alternatives. Our vet can also give our dog medicine, that will make his stool taste extremely bitter.
Only use one additive at a time, so that our dog’s digestive system does not become overly unbalanced.
Remember to consult with our vet, before using any of these additives. Adding too much, may give our dog digestive issues. Some dogs may also be allergic to the added ingredients.
Instead of adding to our dog’s food, we may also coat our dog’s poop with taste deterrents such as Bitter Apple.
Note that taste deterrents are added to the feces, and *not* to the food.
However, stool deterrents only work when our dog is eating his own feces, or those from other dogs in the house. Results are usually much better and longer lasting, when we correct the source of the poop eating behavior, through the other methods listed above.
I have a chihuahua coming 4 months old and she is a poop eater (this is like “poopolick” anonymous)
My chihuahua is not fully vaccinated yet so she is doing her business in her big play pen with poopy tray and bed. Whatever chance she has, either i go fetch a glass of water or go to the toilet, she would simply use this chance to poo and eat it!!! Since I am a home maker and can actually monitor her the whole time, I watched her like a hawk now and take down her poopoo schedule. There has been less accidents during the day but when it comes to bedtime, I have no control over the situation and it becomes a morning mess the next day seeing her pad with only poo stains behind.
I feed her quality food and have her vitamins and check up covered. I also tried making her poo before bed and even waking up several times to check on her (I’m so sleepy even as I write this) ! I even tried using a deterrent (aint helping)! Its disgusting not only aesthetically but hygienically. She licks and bites a lot! I love her kisses but not pooped flavoured please!
This is my second dog (I never had any major problems with the first) This is like a nightmare/daymare!! Anyone has any clue how to go about this especially in the night?
Thanks
Hmmm, is she currently being potty trained? Is she trained to only potty on her pads?
With my dogs, it helps to get them to do their potty in the backyard. In this way, the stuff it far-away from their living area. I use puppy pads as a backup, and clean it up as soon as they go potty on it.
At night, I put my puppy in her crate in my bedroom. Dogs don’t general like soiling where they sleep, so my puppy will alert me when she needs to go at night. I take her out on-leash, reward her well for doing potty outside, and then she goes back into her crate to sleep.
What is her feeding schedule like? Has she been eating the same food since the start? What deterrent did you try?
What do you do when you catch her trying to eat poop? Sometimes, a dog does not understand that eating poop is undesirable to us. I usually teach my dogs the “Leave-It” command. When they look like they are trying to eat poop, I no-mark and then give them Leave-It command. Then I reward them very very well for leaving it.
Did she start eating the stuff as soon as you got her?
Hi,
Recently I adopted a shiba pup (she’s 4 months old now). Overall our bond is there and she’s a hyper type, the problem is she never allows us to cuddle her. She keeps her head up or keep a distance from us when we are trying to do it. I had tried to keep cuddle while she’s having her meal so that she will get used to it but seems this way wasn’t effective.
Yeah, Sephy is not the cuddly type either. Here are some of the things I did with him to get him more comfortable with touching and handling-
http://shibashake.com/dog/hug-dog-teach-your-dog-to-enjoy-hugging
Hi- we adopted a young basset hound and when we got him he was malnourished. He was 20 pounds when he was supposed to be 40. We’ve had him for a few months now and he’s about 40 pounds, and healthy. but he won’t stop eating my other dog’s poop! It’s only hers though. He doesn’t eat his or any on walks. It’s really embarrassing on walks when I’m in public sometimes I just fake pick it up because once my dog poops I don’t have time to get the bag. By that time, the poop is gone. I’m only one person so it’s hard for me to separate him from the poop. When I try he jumps and flips over and falls on his back and I’m scared he’s going to hurt himself. I don’t know how to stop him on walks.
Hmmm, are both dogs on the same food? Does he eat the other dog’s poop while they are at home?
One possibility is to walk them separately. Then, train him not to eat poop while they are at home and in a more controlled environment.
I have a major problem which I cannot supervise. My 10year old Japanese Akita has been pooping inside the house for about 10months. I have tried to train her out of this. Two weeks ago I told her off firmly but kindly. Now she has started to eat it to hide it I guess, very upsetting. The reason I cannot supervise it is because she waits until nighttime when everyone is in bed and poops in her sleep. I can’t keep an eye on her throughout the small hours and she does it every night. She has four walks a day but chooses to poop in the house. Her routine was changed about a year ago, when I moved house and this is when the problem started. She is never left alone (family home) so it’s not an attention problem. Any suggestions greatly appreciated, I just don’t know what to do next. Oh and it’s sticking to her fur so I have to wash her bum everyday…nice!
Hello Rosie,
What I have observed with my dogs is that they do not easily generalize what they learn. For example, I usually use my right-hand to give hand signals. When I give the same hand-signals using my left-hand, they do not initially understand that it is the same command. I have to retrain them with the left-hand.
It could be the same thing with potty training and houses. They may learn that they are not supposed to poop in a particular house, but not know that the same rule applies in a different house. Another possibility, is that moving is stressful, especially for an older dog. There could be changes in behavior as a result of stress. Finally, it could also be a health issue.
Coming up with the best solution would depend to some degree on the cause of the behavior. If it is only a training-generalization problem, then repeating potty training lessons could help, as you are doing. If she is crate-trained, re-introducing the crate temporarily could help with night-time pooping. Otherwise, a long-term enclosure could also be helpful.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-potty-training-facts-and-myths#long-term
Rosie, long time in seeing this, but because I just began researching shy my almost 13 year male Akita has begun not only eating his poop, but usually pooping(apparently) in his sleep. He’s walked at least twice daily and spends fair amount of time in our large yard where he has always taken care of his business. And, he is so finicky about keeping clean, I just can’t imagine he would do anything so nasty. He’s precious to me, just an adorable, loving and obedient pup since birth, but I’m baffled. Did you ever find a solution to your “poop eating” issue with your Akita?
Hello Bob,
I really should have emphasized this more in my reply to Rosie, but when a dog poops in his sleep, it is an involuntary behavior that may be the result of some physical issue.
http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=32482
http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/senior-labrador-health/7349197-any-hope-involuntary-pooping.html
http://www.dogforum.com/dog-health/dog-pooping-sleep-21668/
I would consult with a vet.
Doug likes cat poop right out of the litter box…Is it that he just likes the smell of the litter? Does he like the “surprise” when he sniffs deep enough? The litter box is cleaned once a day and new litter is put in often…?
Hello Amy,
My Sibes like cat poop as well. There are some free roaming cats in my neighborhood, so when we go out on walks there is sometimes cat poop on the hiking trails. I think my dogs just like the smell of cat. There may also be something in a cat’s diet that dogs like.
It would be interesting to do some tests, e.g.
1. bring out some new litter and see if the dog shows any interest,
2. bring out some old litter with cat smell but no poop and see if the dog shows any interest.
My guess is that it is the cat poop itself that Doug likes.
My husband and I rescued a 3 year old Shiba mix. He’s definitely more Shiba than what ever he’s mixed with. I’ve been able to stop him from eating his own poo, however deer poo. Not so much. If he goes for another dog’s poo during walks I can tell him to drop it and he will. Again, when it comes to deer poo he won’t drop it. If I try to get it out of his mouth he gets a little aggressive. Any suggestions?
Hello B Hsu,
What has worked best with Sephy is to prevent him from getting the stuff in his mouth. When he was young, he would try eating pretty much everything. At first, I went into his mouth and removed the stuff but after doing this a while, I noticed that Sephy started protecting his resources from me (also called food aggression or resource guarding).
After this, I started watching him like a hawk and stopped him before he got anything bad in his mouth. If I miss a few things, I would only go into his mouth if it is something dangerous.
As for eating poop, Sephy was never really into that. Both my Sibes were big on eating deer, goat, and cat poop though. What seemed to work best with them was to end the walk. They would usually start by just sniffing the poop. When they do that I give them a warning not to eat it and watch them very very closely. If they try to eat the poop, I non-mark them (No or Ack-Ack) and then I march them home right away. I am very strict with this – so there are no second chances. I also withdraw all of my attention during the walk home, and they do not get to stop to smell the roses. I only needed to do this a few times with my new Sibe puppy and she quickly learned that trying to eat poop does not bring very good results.
I recently rescued a 9 year old long haired dachshund bitch. I love her to bits already but the major problem is she insists eating poop. Not just her own either anyone elses will do. I keep her environment clean but even when I have bagged and binned poop she will raid the bin, it’s like she think it’s been specially packed for her. Like a packed lunch! There have also been a couple of occassions where when one of my other Dachshunds is having a poop she is eating it as it comes out. Also she is not fussy if it’s fresh or old poop we pass on the street. She is on a well balanced diet (previous owner fed her rubbish though), and I have tried numerous shop remedys and contacted many people to try and find out something new but the poop eating continues. I have 3 other dachshunds and none of them do it, and I am home 24/7, seriously I am at a loss as to what to do Has anyone got any suggestions!!!!
LOL!
What worked well for my dogs is to train them that not eating poop gets them some great rewards but trying to eat poop gets them nothing – not even poop.
Here is what I tried –
1. Put my dogs on a fixed eating schedule. This also keeps their pooping schedule a lot more fixed.
2. During poop time, let all the dogs out but keep poop eater on a leash. Hold the leash.
3. When other dogs poop, the on-leash dog will likely want to move towards the poop. Non-mark that behavior – Ack, Ack! and use the lead to move the dog away in the opposite direction. Later on this can also be integrated with the Leave-It command.
4. As soon as the dog stops pulling towards the poop, mark the behavior – Yes!. Then reward the dog with a fun game.
5. Walk the dog around and repeat steps 3 and 4.
After a short session move everyone inside and clean up all the poop outside. Make sure to keep sessions short and fun so that everyone will see this as a positive experience.
In this way the on-leash dog will learn that
>> move towards poop = get nothing but
>> move away from poop = get a fun game/treat rewards, etc.
She eats her own poop! She turns around and IMMEDIATELY eats her poop. I have tried pineapple juice…have to give ALOT then she gets gas that is terrible.
I give her tablets now but my fiance forgets and so she starts again. If I miss 1 freaking tablet she goes for it.
We live on 5acres so it is freaking hard. We don’t have poop laying around because she literally eats it the moment it hits the ground. We yell..we try startling her.
Does NO dog food company make just the food to avoid this????? UGHHHHHHHHH…disgusting.
We are starting a family and I don’t want her doing this.
our 3 yr ol Maltese we think pooped in the house and then ate it. we think he was trying to eat it so we didn’t see he had an accident. we saw a bit left on rug. One time my husband saw it went to get napkin and it was gone when he got back…
He never eats it when he poos outside. we are there and won’t let him but he doesn’t really try outside.
Hello Terri,
It may be easiest to go back to some potty training rules. I just got a new puppy so I am going through a potty training refresher course.
We were doing well the first couple of days then as soon as I loosened up on the supervision, we got a whole bunch of mistakes. Having a very fixed eating, sleeping, and activity schedule helps a lot. I also set up an enclosure with a blanket, some toys, and puppy pads and puppy goes in there whenever I cannot supervise.
Let us know how it goes with your Maltese.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-potty-training-facts-and-myths
What a great article! I have two labs and one is a poop eater. Not good when he wants to give kisses! Thanks for the ideas to make the poop taste bad, I am going to try that. I think I need to be better about cleaning the yard too-which will get easier now that winter is over. Cute pictures by the way.
Thanks. Let us know how it goes with your labs.