Coprophagia- poop eating help :(

edited January 2013 in Behavior & Training
So, here's my dilemma: My 6 month old puppy eats poo, regardless if it's his or not. We would be walking and if I am not paying attention, he would put poop in his mouth. It's really gross, especially when I have to remove it and food rewards are not working to "drop it" so I have to use my fingers :(

Yesterday, I went to the park and he pooped in front of a picnic table full of people and dogs. I did not have a bag so I went to get the shovel to throw the waste out. When I turned around and started walking towards him, he already ate the big part. People were laughing and saying, "ewww." Which really made me sad and not want to go to the park anymore. It was really embarrassing. :-(

I'm working on "leave it" where he'll stop sniffing interesting things and sit right in front of me.

I feed him Orijen kibble and bits of liver twice a day and always pick up after him post elimination. I'm not sure what he ate but he used to have a piece of string stuck where I had to pull it out. After, I noticed he watches it come out and sometimes licks it while going. I try to keep him looking straight (like my other dogs) but it sometimes doesn't work. He always turns around to make sure it's on the floor after.

I read Victoria Stilwell's blog on coprophagia and she states a reason may be his previous environment. He saw it as a "toy" or the owners scolded him for eliminating in the house that he ate the evidence. He might have learned this from other dogs as well.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Comments

  • Feed him pineapple ... make his poop taste horrible.
  • but he eats other dogs' poop too O.o I'll try the pineapple idea.

    On a side note: Bill Engvall does a joke about making poop taste bad. It's really funny.
  • Seco eats poo too. I hate it. It makes me hate her, actually. I've tried everything to stop it and nothing has worked. So if you find something that works please let me know.
  • Dunno if it's feasible, but can you switch to a raw diet so there's less waste for him to eat at home? Maybe if you break the cycle at home, it'll help elsewhere?
  • Ugh poo eating is the worst. :\

    I never had to deal with dog eating other dog's poop, but my past three dogs loved cat, deer, and rabbit poop..

    Bella loves all those two luckily we have no cats anymore and she has gotten better with leave it she is like why bother try to eat the rabbit poop I hear leave it each time..

    Though if she is off leash it's harder to control. She'll hear me say leave it she eats a bit then comes to me like hah I ate some anyways.. D:

    Her grossest act is rolling in coyotes poo I had her off leash first time she did it I was like what are you doing? She then flops to the ground and she has it all over her and her harness. OMG Bella she must love baths.

    I agree try pineapple there are products out there..

    Would putting hot sauce on poop then the dog eats it would that cause the dog to want to leave it? Might be a bit too extreme though and bad if the dog decides to eat the hot sauce poop..

    Saya did pick up a deer poo when I had her off leash. I told her to drop it she did, but still had some in her mouth I had get out. She also gotten horse poo luckily we don't go by that often.

    I hope you get it fixed soon. :( Dogs are so nuts.
  • edited January 2013
    I just realized: he likes to eat the poo from the cat litter boxes too. My parents' cats' litter boxes are in a small wooden structure and he goes in to dig for it. Really, really gross. He doesn't play with my cat's waste because it's harder to get into.

    @ayk I'm working on switching him over to RAW. I found a few places at the University that sells meat for cheap. We're working on switching him little by little and starting with liver then chicken.

    With potty training, I leave him in the crate for a max of 3 hours. I thought he was doing well, but I'm not sure anymore... he may be eating his accidents! I never scolded him when he had an accident too.

    I've heard it was because his food was of low quality, but Orijen is a five star kibble blend.

    That may be why his breath smells so bad... then he licks me... ewww.


  • If the defecation frequency and consistency is normal, I wouldn't fret. This is usually a behavioral issue - not a diet or nutritional problem. Puppies learn it from other dogs (in some instances, their mothers who of course eat a lot of poo when they have brand new pups to stimulate eliminations). Poo eating is actually pretty normal for dogs. And if they don't eat it, they might roll in it! (Just speaking from experience here...the Laikas find it pretty hard to resist cat poop or horse poop!) I think higher protein diets actually make poop more attractive, hence the extra deliciousness of cat poo.

    Just be scrupulous about picking up, and work on 'leave-it'. Have him on a leash for potty breaks and call him to you for a special treat immediately after he's done his business. Be cautious about being overzealous in redirecting or scolding him about poo eating, because he may then be reluctant to poo in front of you. Better to teach him to poo on command, and then come to you for a treat and you can just pick up the pile and then turn him loose.

    Make sure you have a fecal sample assessed for intestinal parasites at the minimum. If your pup's poos appear poorly digested, the consistency is always soft, or if there is diarrhea/steatorrhea, then additional tests might be in order.
  • I've read somewhere that it could be due to a potassium deficiency and that feeding bananas can help.... ?? Never had to try it myself so I can't say for sure - might be worth a chance though?
  • edited January 2013
    @brada1878 could you feed all of your dogs a bit of pineapple to sour their stool so seco breaks the habit?
  • No wonder I haven't heard if the Proden Plaque Off helped w/ the bad breath, you have identified the source of the stink!
    ...I think higher protein diets actually make poop more attractive, hence the extra deliciousness of cat poo.
    I heard about this too from a JA owner! She told me that b/c her dog was eating poop when fed kibble, she thought dog food was too rich and switched her dog to human foods instead. I don't advocate feeding human food but might be worth getting Mochi off Orijin and onto something lower in protein so the poop is less appealing. We like the grain-free versions of California Natural, Fromm & First Mate

  • edited January 2013
    Orijen has a lot of protein, like cat shit. It still smells like food to them and there is a lot undigested nutrition still in the waste. Try going down on the protein. Most dogs don't need that much, and the poo shouldn't be as appealing.
  • So I haven't tried pineapple yet... I forgot at the grocery store :( I did give him chicken and beef livers with his kibble though.

    I'll start the transition to a lower protein food and get crushed pineapple to try it.

    So he did something gross today (if you care to be grossed out.)

    I was letting him potty on leash and the first drop fell. I then tried to get my bag but he was about to do the second drop. Mochi then ate the second drop before it went to the floor.... SSOOOOO GROOOSSSSS.

    Do you think he's just hungry?
  • I think he's very flexible....
  • I see "gross" you say, "Impressive" lol!
  • trying to look on the bright side! ;) it IS gross. and I bet frustrating...I wish I had a helpful suggestion to offer, but I don't. I have read the stuff about cat poop/protein attraction as well, so I will second that, but I think theres some anxiety around poopage too that complicates it. It cant taste THAT good...

    Here's a thought...what if while its coming out, you show him a smelly treat, like a piece of chicken or cheese- right in front of his nose, will he focus on that? Then - even if he only gets one nugget out- you lure him forward, away from the turd, feed cheese and walk...this may entail asking someone else to come with and pick up the poop OR- step away form the turd, throw some more cheese on the ground (forward) so he can graze for that while you scoop the poop....eventually he gets a cheese after each poop, but at first you may need to be ridiculously liberal with the rewards.
  • This was not the right thread to read while eating spaghetti and home made meat sauce... :|
  • Moja used to do this as well and thankfully it stopped soon after. She was never interested in other dog's poop. I heard the potassium thing as well, and I tried bananas with Moja. It didn't help.

    Her stomach never really adjusted 100% to the puppy food I had been feeding her, so I think that feeling of an upset belly might have contributed to her anxiety about her poop, which might make her want to hide it.

    Maybe might have to do something with him being really food driven or hungry. Also, I take Moja out for her poop walks right after I feed her, so maybe that helped too. The theory being you can't be *that* into if you're full. Right? But dogs do surprise me sometimes..
  • Raw won't help with the poop eating. My best friend's GSD was raw fed and was a poop eater and it killed him (not the poop, but he was eating lava rocks that he pooped on in her yard--the lava rocks killed him).

    I don't know what to suggest other than what people have suggested....Try the pineapple, or some of the commericial mixes to stop it. Sucks, anyway, so I hope you find a solution!
  • @brada1878 don't hate Mika. She was a poo eater. Cat poop and other dog poop. It was soooooo nasty. It grossed me out. I walked with poop bags on my hands just in case I had to do a swipe of the mouth.

    She stopped though when I changed her diet. My vet had me take her off puppy food and poof nasty behavior gone.
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