Dog Eating His Own Poo???? What Is This???

[Sunny&Basil]

Hey guys, my sisters dog is like 7 months old, he gets left alone for most of the day but gets good company when owners are home. He's quite a crazy little puppy and he's not really been that disciplined, going through the chewing stage at the moment and tearing everything apart, but he's also eating his own poo...
Is this normal????
What does this mean?
How can you stop it???

Thanks any advice on this topic would be really helpful!!!!

[IcyMist]

Unfortunately I think most people who come here have had a bout with their dogs eating their own feces. I know I saw my dog do it once and have made sure it was picked up after that. Here is an article that may explain a little to you.

Section: A Normal but Unattractive Behavior

Your dog’s behavior can be interesting, complicated, endearing and surprising. It can also be somewhat repugnant – especially the habit of eating feces. Although not the favorite topic of dog owners, stool eating, or coprophagia, is a universal canine behavior.

At some point in a dog’s life he’s likely to sample the feces of cats, hoofed animals, (notably horses and deer), rabbits, and other dogs. He may even indulge in eating his own stool.

Why would your dog be compelled to engage in such a revolting habit? Because he's driven by the forces of nature. Coprophagia happens to be a normal behavior for dogs and has evolutionary underpinnings. Back in the days when our dogs’ ancestors lived in cramped dens the living space quickly became soiled with waste from puppies – an ideal environment for transmission of parasites and other disease carriers. The mother and other adults ingested stool to keep the den clean. From this we know that dogs, in a primitive sense, are “programmed” to seek and eat stool in some situations.

For a different reason, as an omnivore, your dog may also be attracted to the stool of deer, horses, rabbits and other animals for the nutrients and vegetable matter they contain. Of course, these nutrients are adequately supplied by commercial dog foods and are no longer needed from other sources, particularly one so disgusting. But, your dog may not be interested in such nutritional trivia, especially while running through fields in search of bounty.

Evolutionary behavior notwithstanding, however, it’s still upsetting when your own cocker spaniel sweeps the yard in search of “snacks.” Equally annoying is a raid on the cat’s litter box. As many of us who live with both dogs and cats can attest, cat stool seems particularly attractive to dogs for some unknown reason.

Eating feces can develop into a problem when it becomes habitual. The behavior is most commonly observed in puppies and juvenile dogs, and is often associated with the dog spending long periods of time alone with little stimulation. Coprophagia is especially likely in caged puppies (such as those in pet stores), puppies or dogs kept in crates for long periods, and in dogs that spend long days in a fenced yard. The problem is often resolved when dogs are properly supervised.

[barnjess]

Usually they do this for a few reasons, they could not be getting enough from their diet, through bordem, and a case of monkey see monkey do a puppy can see its monther do it and may copy but they usually gorw out of it, do you know what the dogs diet is like?

[IcyMist]

Monkey see, monkey do, mama said go out and eat some poo? Sorry, I'm a baaaaaaad girl.

[Dobified]

Sprinkle sea kelp over the dogs food you only need about a quarter teaspoon a day and this will deter you dog from doing that. It works I had to do it too. The sea kelp is very good for your dog as well.

It is a really vial habit but most dogs at some point will do that.

[Danelover]

When I had the litter of Danes not to long ago they were eating each others poo. And then when they were all to there new homes the one I kept was doing it this his own. But he stopped eating his own poo after a couple of days. I guess he got sick of it! LOL!

[Danelover]

Originally Posted by IcyMist

Monkey see, monkey do, mama said go out and eat some poo? Sorry, I'm a baaaaaaad girl.

LOL!!!

[Becky]

I had a friend whose Golden did it till the day she passed away. After she did it she would run up to you smiling and you could see the poop stuck between her teeth, talk about bad breath eww

[Carrington]

The most common reason for dogs and pups to do this is because there is something missing from their diet, it can be stopped almost immediately by changing the dogs food.

Most dogs will still eat horse and maybe the occassional poo from other animals but will desist from eating dog poo.

Another reason especially that a pup may eat it's own poo, is through fear factor, if it is common for an owner to come in and chastised a pup for going in the home, it may eat the evidence so as to not be chastised.

[daiseyjean76]

[quote=Dobified]Sprinkle sea kelp over the dogs food you only need about a quarter teaspoon a day and this will deter you dog from doing that. It works I had to do it too. The sea kelp is very good for your dog as well.quote]

where can u get sea kelp that u sprinkle over their food.