Ewww Gross eating feces

[davnjen]

Please, can someone help me. My dog is eating his feces. It's not like he's hungry, he eats all day. What can I do to stop him

[AngelBunny]

How old is your dog? How long has he been doing this?

What do you mean by "he eats all day"?? Do you mean he has food available to him 24/7??

[RottiMomCT]

First off, what is the dog being fed - aside from feces? If the dog is supervised when out for potty you should be able to stop him from doing this. You take the dog out, watch where he goes, tell him to "LEAVE IT" when he poops and you clean it up and dispose of it where he can't get it - problem solved .

However, iIf he lives outside or goes outside unsupervised it'll be harder to do unless you are super diligent about picking up the poop in the yard every day.

How old is he?? Is he housebroken? Is he eating poop in the house or outside? When you catch him eating it, how do you react (aside from OH MY GOSH THAT'S GROSS!)? Do you tell him "NO" and praise him when he does stop eating it?

That being said, to deter him from eating it, you can use a product called "Deter" and it is available at PetCo. You can also use a meat tenderizer product called "Accent" - and the link provided will give you some info on how to stop the coprophagia (that's what poop eating is called).

Good luck - I know how gross it is to have a dog come give you kisses and their breath smells like poop....YUCK!

[Luvs]

There is nothing more disgusting than a dog who eats its own feces Our boy Keil used to be really bad about that. It was suggested to us to try feeding him canned spinach, which amazingly has worked really well! Of course the best prevention is supervising and picking up after him immediately.

[poohbearsmom]

Clean up the poop, and there won't be any for him to eat...

There are products on the market that you can add to the food, but the spinach might be interesting to try first.

[c andras]

There is also a product called forbid you can get it at your vet.The clinic i worked at use to sell it.I guess it made the feces taste bitter.I personally dont know, i wasn't going to try it..

[Brooke&Ryan]

We have a friend in our training class whose dog used to eat their feces. Like Elisabeth said, cleaning the yard after the dog went to the bathroom was the number one way they got the behavior to stop.

Also---like Carol said, I have heard of people using canned spinach & it working as well.


Brooke

[davnjen]

Originally Posted by AngelBunny

How old is your dog? How long has he been doing this?

What do you mean by "he eats all day"?? Do you mean he has food available to him 24/7??

He's 4 months old. Yes he has food 24/7 available. I just noticed him trying to do it the other day.

[Squeaky2004]

Well first of all I am no expert but will share my experiences with this. We do not leave her food down 24/7 because if we did she would eat ALL day and make herself fat. So i don't agree with leaving food down all day, some people may disagree with me thats my opinion. Secondly Squeak used to like to try and eat her own feces and or the products out of the cat litter. We put the cat litter out of reach, cleaned up her poop immediately and it has not happened since and she is only 4 1/2 months old!! There are sometimes when it has been raining or something and we dont pick it up right away but I think she has gotten the idea that it is a no no.

[davnjen]

Originally Posted by RottiMomCT

First off, what is the dog being fed - aside from feces? If the dog is supervised when out for potty you should be able to stop him from doing this. You take the dog out, watch where he goes, tell him to "LEAVE IT" when he poops and you clean it up and dispose of it where he can't get it - problem solved .

However, iIf he lives outside or goes outside unsupervised it'll be harder to do unless you are super diligent about picking up the poop in the yard every day.

How old is he?? Is he housebroken? Is he eating poop in the house or outside? When you catch him eating it, how do you react (aside from OH MY GOSH THAT'S GROSS!)? Do you tell him "NO" and praise him when he does stop eating it?

That being said, to deter him from eating it, you can use a product called "Deter" and it is available at PetCo. You can also use a meat tenderizer product called "Accent" - and the link provided will give you some info on how to stop the coprophagia (that's what poop eating is called).

Good luck - I know how gross it is to have a dog come give you kisses and their breath smells like poop....YUCK!

He eats puppy chow right now. He didn't actually eat it but he was starting too. Most of the time he smells it and walks away. Sometime I have to put him out unsupervised but most I'm there with him. He is not housebroken yet but he hasn't pooped in the house. He likes to lick alot which is gross when you think about what he eats.

[davnjen]

Originally Posted by poohbearsmom

Clean up the poop, and there won't be any for him to eat...

There are products on the market that you can add to the food, but the spinach might be interesting to try first.

The problem is that as soon as he's done from pooping he turns around and licked it. We always clean up after him.

[Brooke&Ryan]

Originally Posted by davnjen

The problem is that as soon as he's done from pooping he turns around and licked it. We always clean up after him.

Is he on a leash when this happens? If so you can just entice him away with a fun toy or encouragment.... Just don't let him turn around & lick it.

[Patty1231]

SamanthaC provided some pretty thorough information regarding this in another thread:

http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/sho...ating+dog+poop


Rocco does this, too - I have to ever vigilant. He knows he's not supposed to because he either trys to run with it or do the cartoon walk.

[RottiMomCT]

I had a problem with Ben pooping in the house so I made a big deal out of it when he pooped outside. As soon as he squatted to poop I said, loudly, "'YAY! Good boy!!! Good potty!!" and as soon as he was done, I'd call him to 'come!", and he'd run over to me for a treat. Of course, he didn't get the treat for pooping, he got the treat for sitting politely in front of me after I called him.

Heck, make it a game! As soon as he poops, say "good boy! come!!" and raise your hands in the air like your dog pooping outside is the best thing since sliced bread (my neighbors think I'm crazy when I do that!), and I'm betting he'll run over to you because he'll think you're crazy and want to join in on the fun .

As for feeding him 24/7, do you regulate the amount of food hegets all day or just fill the bowl every time it is empty? Free feeding can lead to a picky eater. It is best to feed 2-3 meals a day, taking his daily ration of food and splitting it between the meals. That way you control how much he eats, and can better guess when he'll need to go potty, which can make housebreaking infinitely easier.

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by davnjen

He's 4 months old. Yes he has food 24/7 available. I just noticed him trying to do it the other day.

Your puppy is exploring his world and the way puppies do this is via their mouths. Some things are fine for puppies to explore; other things most certainly are not. You do not want him to get in the habit of coprophagia--the technical term for stool eating.

As the others have suggested, following your puppy around and immediately picking up after him is what you must do.

It isn't a wise idea to leave food down all the time. It's much better to feed at specific times of the day. Put his bowl down and after, say 10 or so minutes, pick it up. The first few times you do this it's likely he won't eat very much--or perhaps not even anything--because he's accustomed to having unlimited access to food. In short order, however, your puppy will smarten up and understand meal times are now at set times and only for a set period of time.

What brand of food are you feeding??