Why does my puppy eat his poo? how can I stop him?

Answer 1

its normal and hes gettin nutrients...dont stop him

Answer 2

This is a common problem of puppies. There are 2 reasons why it may be eatting its poo. The first one is becuase dogs are naturally really clean; you will notice that sometimes they also eat their vomit. The other reason could be that it has been disciplined the wrong way. if after it pottys where it isnt supposed too, and someone takes it back and puts its face close to the poo,for it, it means that to fix the problem it should eat it.
The best way to potty train is postive reinforcement. I know that there is a special stuff that you put in their food that makes their poo taste really bad so that it will stop doing it.
Good luck

Answer 3

Often a dog or puppy will consume their feces to avoid punishment. There are other reasons, but this is the most common, particularly during house breaking. Behavior modification by way of close supervision and immediate removal of defecation will be your best long term solution. Give lots of praise as soon as your pup does his business, then remove it immediately. After a few days of this try giving him a moment to resort to his old behavior...if he does so, get his attention right away. The instant his attention is averted give tons of praise and clean up. Continue with this process until you can leave pup longer and longer. This is going to take some time and work on your part but it will be worth it in the future. For the times you are unable to supervise your pup I would suggest crating him. If this is not an option for you there are products you can feed your pup that also help curb this behavior. Here is a link to such a product. http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product1.asp?pf_id=2057702&affiliateCode=PF012803&cm_ven=Performics&cm_cat=Yahoo%20Search%20Submit%20(SMX)&cm_ite=DDI%20Link There are also holistic methods you can try, such as a spoon of canned pineapple or spinach daily in puppy's food. Best of luck!

Answer 4

Dogs sometimes eat their own feces. Others eat feces from other animals. The reasons range from a vitamin deficiency to boredom or anxiety. I have known of two Labs (my own and my sister's) who have enjoyed the frozen variety--'poopsicles'! The scientific name for this behavior is coprophagy. If your dog eats feces, be sure to report this to your vet. Even though it's very common, it's one of the behaviors associated with rabies, and there are health risks for stool-eating dogs. They can infect themselves with parasites. If the feces are around for two to three weeks or more, there could be roundworms and whipworms present.

Here are some suggestions:

Use that pooper-scooper! Pick up all fecal matter before your pet can get to it.

One explanation might be that your dog is hungry. Try increasing the number of feedings. If you usually give a meal once a day, try splitting the portion and give food twice each day for about a week and see if that stops the behavior.

Normally dogs don't like to sleep or live too close to where they defecate. If they're being kept in an area that's too small, they may eat their feces just to keep their space clean. If your puppy or dog is exhibiting this behavior and you keep him in a small area, you may be able to put an end to it by giving him a little more living space.

If your dog eats his feces while on leash while you're out walking, take some doggy treats with you and after your dog does his duty, and before he can turn around and eat it, distract with a treat. While the dog is busy eating the treat, clean up the mess. It is surprising what good obedience classes early in a pup's life will do--commands such as 'leave it' and the stern NO learned early, can help.

There are commercial products, that when put on a dog's food, supposedly produces a stool with an unpleasant taste. Other products used are MSG (monosodium glutamate), Bitter Apple, hot sauce or cayenne pepper. These are not always successful in getting rid of the problem. Always check with your vet about using these.

Once we found our Lab grabbing a tasty snack from the litter box--YUCK! That was because cat food, and therefore cat feces, is very rich. We learned to clean out the litter box regularly and make sure that the dog did not have access to it.

Spend more time playing with and exercising your dog. Provide a variety of chewing objects. As difficult as it may be, ignore your dog if you catch him or her in the act and don't scold. Instead, concentrate on preventing it next time.
Many dogs will wait until they are alone to show this behaviour. Punishment after the fact is NEVER helpful. Animals do not understand they are being punished for something they did hours, minutes or even seconds before. In addition to consulting your vet, you may want to consult with a behavioral specialist who can teach you a variety of behavior modification techniques that might help resolve the problem.
In Canada, on the Life Network (T.V.), there is a programme called 'Good Dog' where psychologist, Dr. Staley Coren, helps people with various problems--he has a number of published books about dog behviour, too. On the National Geographic Channel, Cesar Millan 'The Dog Whisperer' also helps with various dog behaviours--perhaps checking programme listings you could come upon something that would help with your problem.

Answer 5

Dogs do this as a sign of boredom it is called Coprophagy - if you look it up on the net you should be able to get some tips. Some suggestions are 1. Picking it up but also you want to use positive and negative conditioning like after he poops praise him by saying good dog, pet him etc, And when he goes to eat it you give him negeative conditioning like a firm stern No. Rubbing his nose in it will NOT DO ANYTHING its cruel. Its a behavioual problems often found to be associated with boredom. A trick we tell people @ my work is to put something bad tasting on it right after he does it and turns his head like cyenne pepper, garlic etc. That way when he goes back to wanting to eat it and tastes bad and he'll learn from that. I havent heard of anything products in stores that help so your best is to train him but positive and negative conditioning ... Good luck

Answer 6

One way is to pick up his poo the minute it hits the ground.

Another way is to buy a product that makes his poo tast nasty. There are a few on the market, just ask your friendly neighborhood petshop owner.

Answer 7

Dogs often eat poo. Either their own or other types of poo. My friend has a dog that will eat cow poo. To stop him, punish him each time the dog does it.

Answer 8

Poop eating with pups is something that almost all pups will do. There are products on the market that you put on their food that will stop this. One product that I have found to be effective is called "Repel" it is available at your local vet. It's a powder that you put on their food that makes their poop taste bad to them and they don't want to eat it. After using this product for a short time it will break him from the habit. It's pretty inexpensive stuff and the vet will tell you how much to use.

Answer 9

my puppy was just the same. when you see ur puppy doing this u must tell him to stop in a deep voice. if u do this all the time he will learn to leave it.

like wot the other person said he will get ill.

i hope this helps u

Answer 10

Usually puppies do this when they are not getting certain nutrients or enough fiber in thier daily diet. You may want to switch his food and see if that works.

If that doesn't help, take him to the vet and they should be able to help you.

Answer 11

Dogs eat poo to help their digestive system. It may look horrible, but it's actually very good for them!!