Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Beverly on February 3, 2009 at 9:53am

A multi pronged approach is what might work best. Take a stool sample to your vet and get checked for any parasites, that may keep her from absorbing nutrients from her food. Change her food ( I'm not sure what you are feeding), a few suggestions are Taste of the Wild salmon, or Wolf Cub Bison and salmon. Dogs can be allergic to the protein in the food, most are chicken or beef or the carbs, most are corn, this will give them diarrhea, cause them to not absorb nutrients, all of which can lead to eating stool. Include behavior modification, use a squirt bottle with plain water and when you see her try to eat stool, give her a squirt on the nose.
A word to the wise, a muzzle is going to create more problems, the least of which is having to wash the stool out of the muzzle everytime. If you want more contol, get a Gentle Leader (can buy them at Petsmart, Blue Seal or online), it works like a halter for a horse and allows you to have contol over her head. Most dogs will give you a little grief about it the first time so put it on inside, give her lots of treats, she can still eat and drink with it on, and then take it off. Then put it on give her treats and take her outside.
You never mentioned what kind of dog she is, that also may have some bearing on her behavior. Does she eat other stange things? Is she having any behavior problems? Have you had any changes in the house?
Hope this helps

Permalink Reply by tab on February 3, 2009 at 10:25am

I have 2 Golden's. I have talked to the vet about it and and he has run test on worms/ parasites and they are all ok. I have changed the food twice thinking it was a nutrient thing, then a friend of mine told me that this is a learned behavior. Which makes sense in my case I guess. The first
Golden I had Abbie did this and Duke probably picked it up from her which led to EllieMae getting the idea from Duke.
Casper my little dog also does this. It is so gross. Especially when they want you to love on them when they come inside. I clean my yard up daily in the summer and weather permitting in the winter. I also stand outside and watch her to make sure she doesn't get a hold of any but she usually manages to bring a turd up on the deck now and again. Frozen ones are always better. And yes they ate the cat poop. The cat is no longer with us. She eats everything. She will be 2 in July which could be the reason for some of this so I am hoping that she will outgrow a lot of her outreagous eating habbits by the end of the year. We'll see.

Thanks for the reply and the information.

Permalink Reply by tab on February 3, 2009 at 10:30am

I give my dogs Eukanuba. They get 3 cups a day which is what the vet suggested to keep them from getting heavy. I do believe my female EllieMae thinks it's a game to play with it. She has no clue that it's a no, no. She is a pup and will be 2 in July maybe that will straighten her out who knows. Have you ever heard of the pineapple thing?

Thanks for responding.

Permalink Reply by SMOKEnPipesJim on February 4, 2009 at 9:45am

Another aspect of "the whole Picture" along with dietary,beyond behavioral, that could be part of the problem is"how they eat" I've seen where behavioral anxiety , Ie: trying to eat they're bowl so fast because The other dogs might get they're food... can also cause this problem because theyarehighstrungfood wise, they gooble it down and dont reep the full nutricional benefit, so then try recycling to get the nutricional value.. IF you feed the group
as a group , out of a single bowl,, or in the same area try spliting them up, try to majke feedingas relaxed a time as possible with multiple dogs its never easy...and with dogs that have been doing this for long periods of time even worse to change the behavior.. Another product/additive you can try is called "bitter apple" when the behavior is caught Spary the dogs Mouth with bitter apple.. theydontlike the wash you mouth out with soap mentality.. IT comes down to this. YOU have multiple dogs and because yourhands are full, when can you catch them? or clean up before oppurtunity knocks? YOU have to monitor then as IF they were your children does thatmean walking one at a time? IF need be if that means a collective group walk? IF that works.. so be it, Letting them out in the back yard, isnt doing the right thing, because You can not monitor them..withmultiple dogs your work load to "nip the problem" just quardrupled , now how serious are youabout fixing the problem?

Many pure bred dogs tend to have this issue,I'vebeen told typically they have physical issues or deficiancies that sometimes cause this.. Theproblem is whereYOU arewith your animals, Yes its gross, But also not healthy, especially eating other animals since it usually contains worms or other parasites amd thereby infecting NOtonly the offending dog as well as the others and also you and your family ( indirectlyof course) lets face itNo one likes to get big sloppy kisses from a K -9 that licks back there or piles...........Thankfully < MY dog doesnt and never has done those things

Permalink Reply by anne potter on February 6, 2009 at 1:45pm

Heck my dog wants to eat my cats do do... Does she even knows that its gross...who knows...
We try to steer her clear,but what do you do ??? hid the box can't hide it from outside.....

Permalink Reply by Roy D. Vreeland on April 19, 2009 at 7:40pm

Your problem is quite common,,my second life is a dog handler with a K9 SAR team.
Two options: go to www.leerburg.com and ask your question to the pros or purchase an e-collar, learn to use it CORRECTLY. I had this issue with one of my 8 dogs, nixed it once, problem over.

Permalink Reply by Teri Rose/Firegirl on June 7, 2009 at 9:37pm

I'd take him/her to the vet for a lab work up and you could definately try changing the diet.

Permalink Reply by Rhonda McGuire on October 12, 2009 at 11:21am

On the program on Animal Planet "It's the Dog or Me", the trainer (Victoria) helped a couple solve this problem by using a leave it command. They worked with the animals and used flags to mark the "poo" as soon as an animal did it, then taught the dogs to leave the flags alone which taught them to leave the "gift" alone. Of course there was a reward method, plus she recommended cleaning up as quickly as possible. Sometimes this habit is due to more of a normal behavior where canines want to cover their scent, or if one dog is alpha they may do it to show their dominance, or submissiveness.

Permalink Reply by Lani on February 1, 2010 at 5:01pm

Add canned plain pumpkin to their food, it is not only detours them from poo eating but its also a wonderful dietary addition to any canine diet. You may want to look at switching foods also if this still doesn't help...as Coprophagia can be dietary related due to nutrient void foods (poor quality diets).