Dog Eating Poop?

Coprophagia is just a more tasteful word for poop eating. So if your canine pet tends to gulp down his own, other dogs’, and other species’ manure, you can mention his behavior in a fancier manner than just saying that he loves poop.

There are many theories for why a dog indulges in such a repulsive habit. It helps to remember that the repulsiveness is strictly one-sided—yours. Dogs find manure fascinating, whether they eat it or not. It’s full of interesting information for them, telling them who, what, when, and possibly why.

Although there are numerous potential causes for coprophagia, basically it seems to be habit, although it can stem from a lack of nutrients, hunger, poor digestion, and/or poor food quality. It can result in hookworms, roundworms, fecal streptococcus, fecal coliforms, E. risticii (from horse manure) and other health problems. All that without the added disgusting poop-breath that results from the indulgence.

Despite the possible health problems, poop eating is not considered to be a major problem in dogs. The best thing to do is to see that they never develop the habit to begin with. Nowadays, pets are often confined to a small area (such as a backyard) to do their duty in.

 Keeping the yard picked up is the first step in stopping the habit from ever getting started. This is always a good idea, anyway, simply because of the smell and bug problems the feces can produce. The only drawback is the rare case of the dog learning to eat his feces, thinking he’s doing what his master does, picking up after himself.

Walking dogs also requires vigilance.

The minute your dog shows the first sign of interest in other dogs’ manure is the time to keep him away. A short jerk on the leash and a command to leave it alone should suffice for training. The sooner the training begins, the better. Don’t show excitement. Act as though eating manure is merely unacceptable, not something repulsive. Dogs like excitement, and they love repulsive things. They eat, roll in, and thoroughly examine the smell of disgusting objects.

A dog might roll in manure to camouflage his own odor, making him less identifiable as a hunter. He might devour it to try and remove any sign of another dog in his territory. He could simply be getting an alternative food source. Wolves, who rarely eat vegetation (although they do seem to occasionally enjoy some fruits and berries), will often gobble up their vegetation-eating prey’s intestines first, and those will be full of partially-digested vegetation.

Mother dogs eat their puppies’ feces, probably not only to keep them clean, but also to hide any odors that might attract predators. Puppies might imitate that as they grow older, but it seems more likely that they imitate the licking and cleaning of their own (and their pack mates’) sores—then carry the habit a bit too far. Sticking a puppy’s nose in its stools (an outdated method of potty-training) might actually encourage them to see the feces as a food source.

Exercise might help with a dog that eats its feces out of boredom. Puppies, like toddlers, will eat anything. Making sure that the puppy’s play area is kept clean of manure, and giving him plenty of acceptable toys to play with, will aid in making sure he doesn’t develop bad habits.

While some people recommend sprinkling repulsive things (such as Tabasco sauce or sour apple extract) on the feces, dogs find few things repulsive, and who wants to be fooling around with dog poop? Or any poop? It’s better to clean up the mess to begin with, combining that with training the dog to leave it alone.

Always clean up after your dog. There isn’t room in most of today’s world for excessive amounts of dog manure. You don’t want to step in it, do you? Nor would you want a child to slip on it. As with anything, there are tricks to a clean sweep. First, make sure that your plastic bag is large enough to handle your dog’s poop. There are worse things than having too much poop and too little between it and your hand, but it still isn’t pleasant. Using the bag as a glove, turn it inside out, pulling it over your hand. Now your hand is entirely encased in plastic. Pick up the poop. With your free hand, take the edge of the plastic bag and pull it back over the poop. Voila! Clean hands and the poop safely tucked into the bag.

Dispose of the bag in a trash container, or bring it home to dispose of it. Carrying a bag of poop might not be your idea of a good time, but anybody seeing you in action will react in a positive manner. It’s an excellent, albeit subtle, way to make friends and influence people.