Yuck! My Dog Eats Poop!
Dogs can do some pretty disgusting things, and poop eating - also known as coprophagia - probably tops that list. You may have noticed that your dog has a taste for cat feces (either found outside or fresh out of the litterbox). Some dogs even eat their own stool, right after eliminating. While this isn’t necessarily bad for them, it can be harmful if they ingest cat litter or the stool of another animal that contains harmful parasites. Aside from that, it’s just plain disgusting and not becoming of our canine friends.
Why Does My Dog Eat Poop?
There are several factors that can result in coprophagia. It can be seen in dogs who are hyper and immature in nature, simply because they are bored, and are driven to keep themselves busy. Dogs raised in filthy environments (pet stores, unscrupulous breeders or previous owners) are likely to eat their own feces simply because they have a need to be rid of it, and it becomes a learned behavior. Some believe that particularly dominant dogs will eat the stool of other dogs in order to remove their scent from the territory. Coprophagia seems to be most common in hunting, working and herding breeds.
Don’t Rub His Nose In It!
Coprophagia might be a learned behavior. Rubbing your dog’s nose in a pile of his own feces as a method of housetraining can teach him that the presence of feces is bad, and he’ll develop a habit of eating it in order to avoid punishment.
How do I get my dog to stop eating his own poop (or random dog poop he finds outside)?
The best way to prevent a dog from eating his or other dogs’ feces is to clean it up as soon as possible, without making a fuss or otherwise calling attention to the act of cleaning. If you’re walking your dog, clean up after him immediately (you should be doing that anyway!). If your dog has free reign of the backyard throughout the day, be sure to pick up poop on a daily basis.
If you have an indoor dog, be sure you are taking him outside on a frequent, regular basis. Dogs have an instinctive drive to keep their environment free of any smells that will attract predators - and if they have to poop inside due to your forgetting to take them out, they will sometimes eat their own poop as a way of acting on this instinct.
There is a product on the market called “Forbid”. When mixed in a dog’s food, Forbid is tasteless. However, once it is digested and excreted in the stool it is exceptionally foul tasting! This of course only works for dogs who eat their own stool. Talk to your veterinarian about this product.
How do I get my dog to stop raiding the litter box?
Dogs seem to especially love cat excrement. Unfortunately, this can be more dangerous since they will most likely eat some of the cat litter along with the stool. Cat litter can be toxic to dogs as well as wreak havoc on their digestive tracks - especially the clumping variety.
It’s a good idea to keep the litter box in an area accessible to your cat, but not your dog. This can be accomplished by putting it in a room or corner blocked off with a gate (make sure your dog can’t jump over the gate!), with a small area of the gate cut out just big enough for your cat to fit through, or even propped up in such a way that your cat can squeeze through but your dog can’t.
Some litter boxes are designed to prevent easy access by a dog, such as those with a top entrance instead of a side entrance - the dog’s neck isn’t long enough to reach all the way to the litter at the bottom through the small opening at the top. This might be a good solution for you.
As a final note, keep in mind that this behavior - like most behaviors - isn’t going to disappear overnight. Be patient, consistent and loving with your dog, and with enough diligence he can be trained to stop eating feces. Keep in mind that dogs are creatures of habit and if your dog has gotten used to eating his or other animals’ stool, it might take some time to break this habit. Diligence is the key!
Daniel Collinsworth
More dog training articles can be found here: Dog Training Basics