The term “Coprophagia” refers to dogs eating either their own feces, or snacking away on another dog’s or other animal’s droppings.
Why do dogs eat feces?
This behavior is rooted in the early mother-puppy bond, when a nursing mother dog licks her puppies’ behinds to entice them to eliminate (she does this within the first 3 weeks).
Besides triggering elimination, she would also ensure that no trace or smell would reveal her fragile litter’s presence to the outside world (obviously, this would apply to her raising her young in the wild).
Some dogs may “supplement” their menu if they aren’t fed a healthy, nutritious diet, or if they simply aren’t fed enough and are consequently hungry.
If a dog is fed a poor diet and hence not able to digest the majority of his food, he will likely be attracted to partial remainders left in the poop.
He may be attracted to the feces left behind by herbivores as they contain nutrients. Some dogs may develop this habit due to boredom and being under-exercised.
Remember, bored and mentally unchallenged dogs will find a way to keep themselves busy, while the likelihood of their humans approving of their outlet is slim to none…
If your dog fits into this category, make some time in your schedule for playtime with him. Engage his braincells by teaching him a few tricks, and take him for daily walks!
If your pup is confined to his backyard only, he may want to clean his personal space. Remember, a dog who never gets to leave his backyard views it as nothing more than a very large crate.
A dog needs to explore different places and migrate; this need is engraved in his genes and that’s why the daily walk is so important!!!
How to stop your dog from eating poop:
1) Adding Pumpkin Puree to the dog’s diet can help stop this nasty habit, but only works with some dogs.
Check out my post on how to make your dog’s own pumpkin puree below:
How to make pumpkin purée for your dog and pumpkin pancakes for yourself
2) If you caught your dog eating your cat’s poop out of the litter box, invest in a closed cat litter box he won’t be able to access, or simply place it out of your pup’s reach.
3) You can also try topping Fido’s leftovers with anything spicy such as really hot sauce or pepper…
4) … but quite frankly it would be much easier to monitor your dog’s potty routine and to just pick up the poop right away instead of having to go through all this trouble!
Positive side effect: You won’t step into piles of poop in your backyard.
If your dog has coprophagia, do take him to the vet for a health checkup, in order to rule out any medical issues first.
Bottom Line
As with so many other things, prevention is key. Invest in a healthy, nutritious diet, pick up immediately after your dog has pooped, and pay attention when he’s on leash next to you.
I recommend feeding species-appropriate, raw dog food. One of its many benefits is reduced stool volume. That’s because dogs who eat raw dog food are able to absorb a lot more of the food they eat than when they eat kibble and/or wet dog food. The latter contain a lot of empty fillers like grains and carbs that aren’t meant to be absorbed by a dog’s digestive system.
That’s why dogs who eat a highly processed diet have much larger poops than dogs who eat less processed food like raw or dehydrated/freeze-dried dog food.
Dehydrated or freeze-dried dog food is a good alternative to offering fresher dog food if you’re not ready to make the switch to a raw dog food diet quite yet. I made the switch from kibble to raw via a little detour of dehydrated & freeze-dried dog food.
But whatever the reason may be for your dog eating his own or another animal’s feces: Don’t punish him for it, and NEVER hit him or rub his face into it.
This method is extremely counter-effective, as it only teaches him that you can not be trusted.
Have you had to deal with a case of coprophagia in your dog? How did you handle it? As always, we’d love to hear from you in our comment section!
Belle did this one time, but never again! And Maddie? Yeah she doesn’t eat poo lol. She’s like no way mommy!
Good girl, Maddie :-)) Sounds like Belle had to try it once and then made the smart decision to leave it alone! Our pups tried eating poop a few times when they were puppies, but thankfully that phase is behind us 🙂
Ha, so gross but seems like a common problem!
My family has a golden retriever that used to do this. She would eat our other dog’s poop, but not her own. She finally just seemed to grow out of the habit, thankfully.
I like the idea of putting something that tastes bad (to them) on it, like hot sauce. But like you said, the easiest solution is just to pick up the poop right away and avoid the problem to begin with. I realize that’s not an option for everyone, though.
It really is gross 😉 My mother in law had that problem for a while with her Shih-Tzus, and ended up adding pumpkin to their diets, which was supposed to cure the pups of eating their feces. It seemed to work at first, but then the poop munching started again. Now the poop gets picked up fairly quickly 😉
Luckily, Haley has never been a poop eater, except for rabbit poop occasionally. The few people I knew that had this problem resolved it by changing to a better quality food and of course picking up after the dog helps.
Aah, the rabbit poop…our pups seem to think of it as a delicacy…us humans don’t share their enthusiasm for it, of course, and keep them away from it as much as we can.
Isn’t it amazing on how many different levels (quality) nutrition plays an important role?
I had this problem with my puppy, but thankfully she’s grown out of it. For a while everything she found lying in the yard went into her mouth. You’d be surprised at all of the nasty treats she found.
I have a slight idea of what those “treats” might have been…when our pups were puppies, Buzz had an earthworm phase…he would pick up every single one he found when we were out on walks around the neighborhood! Thankfully, he grew out of it fairly quickly!