HELP!  MY DOG EATS POOP!

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If you're reading this article it's probably because you're horrified at what your dog is doing.  I don't blame you.  It's disgusting.  Nobody wants to cuddle with a dog that has just ingested excrement.  Some people that call me are so horrified when their dog does this that they can't even imagine having a good relationship anymore...their world has been so rocked by this nastiness, they can't even look at their dog the same way.  I can totally relate, as I own a dog who will occasionally eat poop.  She also also happens to be a dog that loves to give kisses. 

Before you continue to think that your dog is mentally ill for eating poop, let me assure you...MANY dogs eat their own or the feces of other dogs. MOST dogs will eat cat poop.  MOST dogs will eat horse, cow, sheep, goat, duck, chicken or pig poop.  Poop-eating is a pretty normal occurrence.  You haven't heard about it before because it's not a topic most folks will discuss...it's been my experience that people WHISPER their problem to me on the phone. 

Let's go through some facts about this total gross-out of a subject, and then let's talk about how to prevent it and/or fix it. 

Poop eating has a scientific name--coprophaegia; the eating of feces.  Believe it or not, poop eating is an extremely common occurrence in the animal world.  Rabbits and other rodents routinely eat their own feces and MUST do so in order to properly digest and absorb nutrients from their food.  Mother animals nearly always eat the feces of their young until after the young are weaned.  Predators quite routinely eat and roll in the dung of prey animals (horses, cows, zebras, buffalo, etc). 

Dogs who eat the feces of dogs, other animals, and humans (yes, human feces) is a concern in regards to disease and the transmission of parasites.  A dog that eats the feces of another animal (or even his own) can contract an illness or pick up worms and other bacterial stuff.  He can even re-infect himself with worms, if he has been recently de-wormed and is shedding worms and eggs into his own feces.  A dog that has eaten feces, and then has contact with humans, can transmit parasites and other stuff.  PREVENT. 

When it comes to dogs, there are many ways a dog can eat feces.  I told you this was a gross-out of a subject.  But it's my job, I gotta do it, here's a list of the possibilities. 

Dog eats his own feces or the feces of other dogs:  Approximately 50% of the dogs I encounter have this habit, so don't feel like you're the only one!  Very common in Labradors and other retriever breeds but can and does occur in every breed.  Usually starts in wintertime when feces is "crunchy," and often continues after that.  Some dogs will only ever eat frozen poop.  There are vast amounts of theories about why dogs do this. The most common assumption is that the dog is lacking something in his diet.  This theory has been proven false, supposedly, in clinical trials.  The other common theory is that dogs have mixed-up instincts about poop-eating that are related to the instinct of a mother dog to eat the feces of her pups.  That one hasn't been proven.   

My theory?  Today's commercial dog food is preserved and prepared in such a way that it is difficult for a dog to digest.  Although dogs are omnivores, and not strictly predators, they have a relatively short digestive tract and food passes through pretty quickly.  I think that a dog who eats commercially prepared dog food excretes a greal deal of still-nutritious matter in his feces.  The dog realizes this with his sensitive nose and doesn't mind recycled food!  The reason that I think this theory is a sound one is because canines in the wild have not been seen to be coprophaegic except in relation to the feces of their own young during the nursing and weaning phases. 

But you probably don't care why...you probably just want it to stop, right?  Here are some methods.

• Sprinkle meat tenderizer on the food of the dog whose feces is being eaten.  This method is not all that successful, but some dogs do respond to it.  The MSG in meat tenderizer apparently makes the feces smell like not-food.  Of course, if your dog is eating feces in dog parks, not a useful method, as you can't feed meat tenderizer to every dog who comes to the dog park.  If you have a multiple-dog household the tenderizer needs to be added to the food of each dog of course.

• There are two commercially prepared food additives that I know of that are made specifically for poop-eating dogs.  One is called FORBID and the other DETER.  They are products that can be bought at the pet store or vet, and applied in the same way as the meat tenderizer.  It has been my experience that, like the meat tenderizer, success is about 50/50.

• You can get success with really reliably punishing the dog each time he looks at or sniffs poop, but your timing has to be so good that it's nearly impossible to do it.  Also, you can only tell your dog NOT to eat poop if you are present.  The dog will quickly learn when it's "safe" to eat poop (owner not around) and when it's "dangerous" (owner nearby).  This is again a 50/50 method and your punishment of the dog can offer unwanted side effects, like not wanting to go to the bathroom while you are nearby.  Use caution if you choose to try this.

• The only really reliable fix for this problem is prevention through active supervision and keeping the backyard clean.  If you have a dog that will immediately turn and eat the feces as he is in the poop position, you will have to toilet him on-lead.

• I got some hilarious advice from one dog owner about how to handle poop-eating.  She said that she just doesn’t watch her dog in the backyard and then pretends she doesn’t know why the backyard is always so clean.  She doesn’t allow kissing.

Dog eats cat feces:  If your dog is hungry and cat poop is available, he will eat it.  Cats excrete poop filled with protein and all the other stuff in modern-day cat food that has nutritious value to dogs.  Cat poop is basically a slightly distilled version of the stuff that is in the cat food bag and very attractive to dogs.  If your dog is eating cat poop, there is no point to trying to train him not to do it.  You will not be successful.  My suggestions?

• Move the litterbox to the top of your washer/dryer.

• Buy a large Rubbermaid bin with a lid.  Place your litterbox inside it.  Cut a hole in either the lid or the side that is large enough for your cat to enter, but small enough so the dog can't get his head into the crunchies.

• Move the litterbox to the basement or to a room that has a door that can be kept shut.  Install a cat door in the closed door, so that your cat can get through but your dog can't.

• Total prevention is the only way to go with cat poop.  A dog that likes to eat cat poop will not usually respond to training attempts.  The cat poop is just as nice to him as any treat you might offer, and if you try to punish him, he'll just wait until you aren't around to eat it.

Dog eats feces of horses/cows:  The feces of farm animals like horses, cows and pigs is naturally attractive to dogs. Some really love it, some aren't attracted to it.  Most dogs enjoy eating and/or rolling in the feces of large animals.  It is the least dangerous health-wise of all the coprophaegic habits a dog can have in regards to disease transmission and parasites.  If your dog does this, you have a few of options. 

• You can put up with it once in a while.  Horse and cow poop actually contains many natural probiotics that are extremely beneficial to a dog's digestive system.  The occasional ingestion of feces from a horse or a cow is actually GOOD for your dog.  (I would avoid deep kissing him for a few hours afterwards).

• You can teach your dog the "off" command, and supervise him when he's around the feces.  Then tell him "off" when you see him going for it.

• You can keep your dog on-leash to totally prevent him getting into it.

Dog eats human feces:  I told you this was a gross-out of a topic, and it truly is!  Dogs find human feces irresistable.  They will dig diapers out of the trash, raid the bottoms of outhouses, and find your "private toilet" in the woods on a hiking trip.  Please totally and completely prevent all of this from happening.  Predict these occurrences and prevent them.   

The bottom line is (no pun intended!) that dogs eat a lot of stuff that we don't want them to eat...bugs, dead animals, remote controls, used tampons, rocks, and yes, even poop of all sorts.  You can't stop them from wanting to eat it...but you CAN stop them from doing it. 

An anecdote...do not read if you have a weak stomach... 

Since all the boundaries of good taste have already been crossed with this article, let me tell you the worst case of coprophaegia that I ever saw.  It was a yellow Labrador bitch and I won't name names!  She was on the Puppywalking program when I worked for Guide Dogs.  She would "turn and surf" while pooping...actually let one turd drop, then immediately turn and eat it while letting another one drop.  If she saw another dog "in the position" she would run over and eat it as it was coming out.  Her caretakers were completely preventing the poop-eating by toileting her and their pet dog on leash and immediately scooping the results into a large plastic bin with a lockable cover. 

I had to board her overnight at one point.  When I arrived to pick her up, the puppywalker informed me that she had unlocked the bin lid somehow and had eaten approximately 1/4 of the contents of the bin. 

Later that evening while inside her crate, she projectile-vomited the contents of her stomach all over the crate, herself, and my living room. 

I have a strong stomach, but the clean-up process for that particular mess caused me to have to run outside several times and vomit in the backyard.  To this day I can hardly even think about it without becoming nauseous...I had to take several breaks from even writing this down to take some deep breaths.  I could never look at that dog in quite the same way again.