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Old November 9th, 2009, 01:56 PM
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dog eating poop

hi there

my 9 month old chihuahua mix has been eating her own poop and my other dog's poop. she just started doing this the past few weeks.. i want to know any tricks on how to stop it, it's gross and annoying. i tell her no and she stops but if i turn around for a second she just goes at it again.

i try my best to clean up the poo whenever there is some but thats not the answer, i need a permanently solution.

any help would b great! thanks
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Old November 9th, 2009, 06:13 PM
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If you can find a permanent solution, you'll get rich. We've tried everything from meat tenderizer sprinkled on the food, to commercial products...nothing works. We've just gotten very good at cleaning up religiously. It's not a bad thing to have to do--keeps the yard cleaner than most dog owners' yards--but it sure would be nice to be able to leave one lie now and then...

The "leave it" command comes in handy if you're half a yard away and need to cross some ground to clean it up. Doesn't work if they're out alone, though.
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Old November 10th, 2009, 07:25 PM
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It can be lack of nutrients in her diet, it can be boredom, it can be a game, it can be gross - its always gross.

Adding crushed pineapple to her food can help to make the poop distasteful to her so it becomes self correcting.

Putting her on a better diet can help.

At 8-10 mo is often when dogs get bored easily and get into mischief. She has discovered that this is entertaining and satisfies her boredom in the moment. So she needs more things to do to keep her mind busy.

She also needs an excellent 'leave it' response. That means that you should be able to have a piece of 'it' on a tissue (preferably) in the middle of the floor all day long and she shouldn't touch it. Which also means that you have to be ready to set her up for success by practicing 'leave it' with lower valued items, and work your way up to the grand prize.
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Old November 10th, 2009, 08:53 PM
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if you find something please tell me , i have tried everthing i have 3 pins that do this, i clean back yard 4 to 5 times a day, they are on super food and they still dont stop, it drives me nuts, brenda and the pins.
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Old November 10th, 2009, 09:08 PM
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Nova does this in the wintertime... for some reason frozen poopsicles are extremely tasty to her

Oh, she also likes to pick it up and run off playing the you can't catch me game with frozen poop... ugh!

Going outside with her and cleaning up is about the only way I can properly prevent her from ingesting it. This is probably the reason she also got hookworms in the summer.. For the most part I can catch her and get her to stop, but there are times when she is sneaky about it on walks or at the park.
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Old November 10th, 2009, 09:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tenderfoot View Post
it can be gross - its always gross.
Especially when they try to kiss you after a shnack .




Funny, I've never experienced this with males, only females. One of ours, if she could, will only eat the poop that belongs to her pack...not to any fosters or any other dogs. I wonder if there's anything else to this behavior other than nutrition or boredom because our dogs are very well exercised and fed an excellent diet .

Nevertheless, we pick up immediately and have taught the leave it command, but, as Hazel said, you have to be present to interrupt the behavior.
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Old November 10th, 2009, 10:41 PM
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We have had the same problem with our Gryphon. More so in the winter with the poopsicle scenario such as Spatx's comment.

So we switch up his diet to a higher protein, less filler food (not to mention more expensive ).

Now we have no poop munching but a much runnier stool!
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Old November 12th, 2009, 02:42 PM
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thanks all for the replys!

i'd like to add that she is on a great diet.. i dont feed her the cheap stuff. shes on nutrience supreme.

i watch her more intensely when shes outside and say no if she goes to put poo in her mouth.. i might try the poo on tissue inside and say leave it anytime she goes to grab it, that might work!
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Old November 22nd, 2009, 12:50 PM
missinmissy missinmissy is offline
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heh.

my dogs eat poop too, and a few months ago i looked up reasons why. it could just be from plain boredom, nutrients, hunger, attention, or even the taste!
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Old November 22nd, 2009, 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by beagle11 View Post
thanks all for the replys!

i'd like to add that she is on a great diet.. i dont feed her the cheap stuff. shes on nutrience supreme.
Nutrience Supreme has corn and alot of fillers in it. It is the grains in dog kibble that are thought to be one of the reasons contributing to the poop eating as they are not completely digested. I would switch your dogs to a grain free kibble and see if that helps.
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Old November 22nd, 2009, 02:46 PM
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The dogfoodanaysis website only gives Nutrience Supreme a two star rating. Here is what they have to say ....

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...duct=398&cat=6
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Old November 27th, 2009, 01:36 PM
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I've had to deal with this with quite a few dogs. Some were on premium diets with supplements so I don't necessarily buy the nutrition argument. I think some dogs just like the taste for what ever reason poseses them to.. might be linked to the reason why some find it necessary to roll and rub themselves on dead and rotting animals. They obviously have a much different appreciation of what smells good. I file this one under a learned behavior.

I've seen dogs that only eat their own, I've seen dogs that only eat others' but not their own, some only do it once in a blue moon, some are completely obsessed and will actually run to a pooping dog and catch their loot mid air, others learn they're not supposed to eat it and get really good and sneaking a bite... all equally gross.

Your best bet is to be very watchful and supervise. If this just started and hasn't become a full blown habit you may be able to nip this but simply not allowing the pattern to continue. Put her on a leash if you must while in the backyard if her "leave it" needs work and always offer a great treat as an alternative and for listening to you.

Another option would be to put on a basket muzzle if you can't commit to watching her like a hawk. This way she won't be able to eat the poop and when she tries you will know as you will definitely see evidence of the failed attempt.
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Old November 28th, 2009, 06:46 PM
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Buster was guilty of poop eating also....especially in winter with the poopsicles. He was on Wellness Fish and Orijen Fish (apparently a very good food???) and once I put him back on just Wellness Fish, he stopped schnacking.

Not sure but I think it is mostly about diet.....
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Old November 29th, 2009, 08:30 AM
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How many times are you feeding your dog? The simple answer here may be to just increase the number of times you feed her through the day, and see if that helps.
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Old November 29th, 2009, 02:14 PM
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beagle11, how is your little girl doing now?
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  #16  
Old November 30th, 2009, 09:49 AM
dorieellwell dorieellwell is offline
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re

didn't imagine dogs do it to get out of "boredom." i, myself, can't imagine any medical explanations about this since i was used to seeing my dogs eats other dogs' poop. not a good sight to see, trust me. but you're question triggered me to find an answer online. luckily i found this site: http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog-Eating-P...og-eating-poop
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Old December 8th, 2009, 12:47 AM
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have you guys tried raw? worked for one of our old dogs. (no longer with us)

He loved frozen, wed call them poopicles.
He would also pee in his own water dish(inside.. and outside.. Grr) lol Yeah we switched him to raw. HE HATED his poop. because it would crumble in his mouth. the peeing thing slowly stopped after that..

it was the only thing that worked for us other then picking up all the time.
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Old December 9th, 2009, 11:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beagle11 View Post
hi there

my 9 month old chihuahua mix has been eating her own poop and my other dog's poop. she just started doing this the past few weeks.. i want to know any tricks on how to stop it, it's gross and annoying. i tell her no and she stops but if i turn around for a second she just goes at it again.

i try my best to clean up the poo whenever there is some but thats not the answer, i need a permanently solution.

any help would b great! thanks
If the problem started just couple weeks ago out of the blue, with everything else being constant, it is most likely a behavioural problem, unless you also noticed something related to her health.

Tricks are not a long term solution, unfortunately Same with mild reprimands (i.e., telling her No), you have to generalize that to "all the time", not only you're present. I agree with Choochi, best way to get around is to not allow her access to poop.

Long term, I'd suggest to teach her to do her business during the daily walks, and keep the backyard clean. This way you do not have to worry about her eating poop anymore, assuming that you also teach her not to pick it up during the walks- although she should be busy there and less prone to that behaviour.

Cos
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Old December 14th, 2009, 04:20 AM
ellysmith34 ellysmith34 is offline
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Lol! had the same problem with my dog... I just think "Coprophagia in dogs" is the term...

According to WIKIPEDIA...

* Dogs might want attention from their caretakers.
* They might have anxiety or stress.
* They had been punished for having defecated in the past, and attempt to clean up out of fear of being punished again.
* Dogs are, by nature, scavengers, and this might be within the range of scavenger behavior.
* They may be trying to prevent the scent from attracting predators.
* The texture and temperature of fresh feces approximates that of regurgitated food, which is how mothers in the wild provide solid food to their pups.
* Feces (particularly cat feces) contain protein; overfeeding can also increase the quantity of undigested matter in the feces.
* The coprophagia may be due to assorted health problems, including:
o Pancreatitis
o Intestinal infections
o Food allergies, leading to malabsorption
* The dogs might be hungry, such as when eating routines are changed, food is withheld, or nutrients are not properly absorbed.
* Carnivores may sometimes eat or roll in the feces of their prey to ingest and exude scents that mask their own.

Another hypothesis is that dogs want to investigate the diet of their opponents and get more acquainted with their smell.

Some veterinarians recommend adding meat tenderizer to dog food, as this makes the feces taste excessively bad to dogs. Several companies produce food additives that can also be added to the animal's food to make feces taste bad. Often, these food additives will contain Capsicum Oleoresin, which gives off a repugnant odor making the fecal matter undesirable to the dog.

It worked for my dog... Hope it helps...
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Old December 18th, 2009, 05:31 PM
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I just found out my dog is eating my dad's border collie's poop. Ranger doesn't eat his own, and he doesn't eat my brother's dog's poop, just the border collie's. The weird thing is both Ranger and bro's dog eat orijen and the border collie eats Go! and today bro's dog was much too interested in border collie's poop, but was ignoring Ranger's. Maybe it's the food?

Though when I told my brother he wasn't surprised at all. He pointed out the fact that my dad spoils his collie something fierce so he's usually getting ice cream and french fries. Brother's point was of course the dogs' are more interested in his poop with all that good stuff!
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