how do you stop a dog from eating it's own poop?

Question

ok if i work all day i cant clean it up, duh! so how do i get him to stop, we take very good care of our yard, it's impossible to clean up his poo everytime he goes, im not going to camp outside and wait.

Answer 1

Although most people find it repulsive, it is quite natural for dogs, especially puppies to eat feces. (Feces found in kitty's litter box is an especially favorite treat.) Fresh feces closely resemble the first solid food the puppy ate: warm, semi-solid, semi-digested food that mom regurgitated for her pups to eat.
Often this behavior will just go away when the pup matures. In the mean time, keep the pup's toilet area as clean as possible. Be sure that the puppy is checked for worms and other possible problems such as something lacking in the dog's diet. It is a good idea to have the dog's diet approved by your vet, or switch to a nutritionally complete dog food sold by your vet or pet store.

Many owners have had success in stopping this behavior by supplementing their dog's diet with one spoonful of canned pineapple or a teaspoon of spinach. There are products on the market such as 'Forbid' that can also be added to the dog's food to help stop the problem.

If the dog is still fond of feces, try teaching your dog not to touch it using the command 'Off.' Put your dog on leash and walk him by some feces. If he shows any interest in it, tell him, 'No, off.' If he continues to go for it, then loudly scold him, 'OFF!!!' and pull him away from it with a short, sharp tug on the leash. When he stops, praise him. Continue walking and keep returning to different piles of feces over and over, repeating the off procedure until he gets the idea that you disapprove of his dietary interests. Whenever he shows no interest in the feces, be sure to tell him how happy you are through praise and reward.

It is also possible to make the feces unappetizing by sprinkling them with hot sauce, lemon juice or anything the dog finds distasteful. Some dogs like hot sauce and will consider it a garnish, so find out what your dog does not like before using it.

Be sure to clean up your dog's feces immediately after he defecates so as to prevent the problem in the first place. Do not give him the opportunity to indulge himself.

Answer 2

i went to a training class and the lady there said one of the reasons that puppies and dogs eat their own poop is because of the food you feed it. if you look at the ingredients of the food you feed them and notice that CORN is the first or second item on the list, this is the culprit. get food that has chicken, lamb, or rice as the first or second ingredient.

reason:
corn is a filler and it jst goes through them. have you noticed how much food you feed your pet a day?? the better the food the less you'd have to feed them. Since corn is a filler, it jst passes right through without being digested, and hence its in the poop and it smells like the food and they eat it. have you noticed that when you take your dog for a walk, it doesnt eat all the poop in the path?

Test it out. I give my puppy Nutro Ultra, it's made with chicken, lamb and salmon. It has corn it it, but it's further down the list. he doesnt eat his own poop.

hope that helps you abit.

Answer 3

Main reasons for are vitamin deficiency and clean up.

Eating its own poop usually means clean up. Get the pills that make her poop smell bad (different kind of bad), then do normal training. Keep her on a leash outside and such so that you can stop it immediatly.

Answer 4

We trained our dog with "leave it" (works for just about anything he trys to eat that we don't want him eating)
Also never clean up in front of the dog. If they see you cleaning up, they think they should clean it up also. Their mom cleaned up their puppy poop by eating it. They think you are eating it too if you clean it up in front of them. If you are walking them on a leash, let them be distracted before you quickly clean up.

Answer 5

my puppy used to do this because she would get so upset when she went in the house, knowing wed be mad at her, that she tried to hide it. so everytime she did it we spoke nicer to her so she wouldnt be worried and she grew out of both habits. Your dog however is going out in the yard, so he may be lacking certain salts or minerals that are coming out in his feces. Horses especially do this when they are lacking salt. I would take him to the vet and tell them his behavior and they will test him to see if he is lacking in any of these.

Answer 6

You go outside and pick it up before it does. Get a pooper scooper and clean up your yard.

Answer 7

I'm not trying to sound sarcastic or insensitive, but clean up it's dung.

Answer 8

Just pull his leash! Or if he doesn't have a leash on then you pull his colar and say "no" or somethin! (he should have a leash!)

Answer 9

give him/her vitamins it worked for my dog