Why Is My Dog Eating Poop?

Why on earth do they do that, when we give them nutritious kibble, yummy table scraps and the occasional delicious meaty bone?
What does dog poop have that their regular diet doesn't? There's no confirmed reason for dog poop eating, although there are many theories.

Some vets believe that a high protein diet results in some nutrients being passed out in the feces, making them very palatable the second time around. Other vets have found a tenuous link between poop eating and the presence of liver disease, but this also hasn't been proven.

With no definite cause for the problem, it makes it hard to prevent it. However, there are a few things you can try, to stop your dog's dinner recycling habits.

Dog Eating Poop - What To Do?

You can try aversives such as Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper placed on his feces to stop the problem of dog eating poop, but frankly, if you're prepared to go to the trouble of walking around your yard sprinkling pepper on his feces, you may as well pick them up and dispose of them. That way, you're 100% confident he won't eat those feces.

Another option is to pre-treat his food with a commercial product that aims to reduce the palatability of his feces. A meat tenderizer can also do the job. The idea is that these products help to pre-digest the nutrients in his food, so there's not as much passed out in the feces.

Unfortunately, these methods aren't very reliable.

Some people have tried a citronella collar with a remote control, so they can spray their dog with citronella when they see him eating poop. The idea is that he associates the unpleasant spray with eating poop, and he stops his distasteful culinary habits. This doesn't work very well either. You have to be watching him all the time so you can catch him in the act, and if you are using a punishment method of training, your timing has to be spot on to have the desired effect.

If you have a dog eating poop, there is really only one consistently effective method of solving the problem. Don't let him have access to poop. This means you need to pick up the poop in your yard regularly.

You can also train your dog to "leave it" on command, so when you see him heading for his favorite delicacy, you can call him off. This needs you to be watching your dog closely whenever he's free in the yard.

At the end of the day, poop eating is really only abhorrent to us, the dogs don't mind it. If you've tried everything to stop it, and your dog is still eating poop, then maybe you just need to ignore it. Make sure you worm him regularly, and give him a bone to freshen his breath, and you're not likely to see too many adverse effects.

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