How to stop dog from eating poop

Have you ever caught your dog eating poop and asked yourself, “Ugh, why do dogs eat poop?”

Well, you are definitely not alone. Poop-eating, also called coprophagia in dogs, is not exactly a hobby that you would consider ideal for your furry family member.

Here’s everything you need to know about why dogs eat poop and what you can or should do about it.

Why Dogs Eat Poop

The scientific term for the habit of poop-eating is coprophagia.

Dogs eat poop for a variety of reasons. Some are normal and some are signs of an underlying issue. It’s normal and somewhat common for dogs to eat the poop of another species, but it’s uncommon for adult dogs to eat their own poop or another dog’s poop.  

Normal Reasons Why Dogs Eat Poop

A dog eating poop is normal in the following scenarios:

1. They Are Nursing

Nursing female dogs eat the poop of their young to keep their den clean.

2. The Poop of Other Animals Tastes Good to Them

Dogs sometimes eat the poop of another species. The stool of other animals, such as horses or cats, contains nutrients that can be beneficial (but it can also contain harmful bacteria, so it’s best to discourage this).

Abnormal Reasons Why Dogs Eat Poop

Eating their own poop or another dog’s poop is not a common behavior, and you’ll need to find out what’s causing it. Here are four reasons why an adult dog will do this.

1. They Want to Get Your Attention

Some dogs may have started eating poop when they are young because they feel like it’s a game. For example, when puppies are young, they may explore by grabbing their poop with their mouths. If your dog does this, you will probably run towards them and yell some form of “drop it.”  

When this happens, some puppies may be startled and will drop the poop and never touch it again. Other puppies may interpret the yelling as an excited invitation to play.

As a result, they dart away, and then suddenly, an impromptu game of chase occurs. These puppies have learned another way to get their owners to “play” with them.

Your dog may not even necessarily want to play but might simply want you to engage with them. This is then carried over as your dog becomes an adult as a learned behavior that gets them attention.

It’s really difficult to not pay attention to a dog that’s eating poop.

2. They’re Not Feeling Well

If your dog is eating poop, they may not be feeling well.

When you have a puppy or dog that eats other dogs’ poop or his own poop, you should have your pet examined by your veterinarian. Coprophagia can be associated with diseases of the intestinal tract and sometimes other parts of the body (liver, brain, etc.).

If your adult dog has never been a poop eater and suddenly develops the habit in association with symptoms of disease, like weight loss, lethargy, discomfort, other behavioral changes, vomiting, or diarrhea, make an appointment with your veterinarian.

Your veterinarian will need to perform diagnostic tests to determine if your dog has an underlying medical problem, such intestinal parasites, nutritional deficiencies, or gastrointestinal disease.

3. They Have Anxiety

Other dogs eat poop as a displacement behavior when they are anxious. If an anxious dog is confined, they may defecate and eat their own poop.

Possible sources of anxiety that can cause coprophagia include:

• General anxiety

• Worrying about being confined

• You being away from them (separation anxiety)

• Lack of enrichment activities when confined

4. They’re Scared of Being Punished for an Accident

Some dogs may learn as puppies to eat their poop if they have been repeatedly punished by their owners for defecating in the house.

The dog may eat the evidence because they’re worried about being punished.

How to Stop a Dog From Eating Poop

If your puppy or dog is eating poop, the best way to help them is to put systems in place that prevent them from practicing the habit.

After you’ve determined why your dog eats poop, you can try these solutions based on the reasons behind the behavior.

Dogs That Eat Cat Poop

Even though it’s considered normal, you might not want your dog to be diving into the litter box for a snack.

For dogs that eat cat poop, make sure you put up a pet gate or door that allows the cat access to their litter box while keeping the dog out of that room. You can also place the litter box on a table that is longer than the box to allow a spot for them to jump up onto.

Keep in mind, dogs usually repeatedly eat things that taste good to them. Poop may just appeal to their taste buds.

There are dog chew products that are made to discourage dogs from eating poop that may change the taste of the poop.

Puppies That Start Eating Poop

For puppies that like to eat poop, you will need to control their access to poop. When you are housetraining your puppy, take them out on a consistent schedule.

Once your puppy has finished defecating, praise them and offer them a tasty treat. While they are eating the treat, you can quickly clean up the stool.

This way, you’re not allowing your puppy any access and preventing the problem from occurring. You’re also positively reinforcing their potty training instead of punishing them for accidents.

Dogs That Are Crated or Have Anxiety or Separation Anxiety

For confined dogs that eat their own poop, we need to determine how to change some aspects of their confinement to help reduce their anxiety.

Some dogs need a bigger space or quieter area or simply more puzzle toys to keep them occupied.

For dogs that exhibit anxiety and cannot be left alone, it can help to look into daycare or options for your dog to come to work with you.

These dogs can benefit from seeking the help of a veterinary behaviorist or certified animal behaviorist.

Adult Dogs That Have Learned to Eat Their Poop

If a dog has learned to eat poop because they are scared of being punished for having an accident, the first step is to stop using punishment and then take active measures to prevent them from having access to the poop. It might be the case that the dog was punished by past owners, and in this case, you will still need to restrict access to the poop.

Once the behavior has been established, it's crucial that you remain patient and consistently use positive reinforcement to encourage alternative behaviors for your dog to perform other than eating the poop.

Redirect Your Dog’s Attention

When you have an adult dog that has been eating poop for a long time, then it’s very important that you go out with your dog whenever they need to defecate.

As soon as they are finished, call them over to you for treats and then either put them back in the house or toss a toy for them to chase while you pick up the stool.

If your dog immediately turns around to eat their poop and does not listen to you, then you will need to keep your dog on their leash and lead them away as soon as they have defecated.

To truly discourage your dog from eating poop, you will need to continue to manage your dog and restrict access to the poop to prevent a relapse.

Some people are successful in teaching their dogs a “leave it” cue and then a “come” or automatic “sit” by their owner’s using positive reinforcement.

The real key is to always offer plenty of praise and high-value treats to your dog when they choose not to immediately go for their poop. To help, you should find a super high-value treat that they only get in these scenarios.

Utilize Dog Training Tools

Using a head collar may be helpful to guide your dog’s head away from the fresh poop. Turn them away and then pick up the stool immediately.

Some people have tried placing basket muzzles on their dogs to deter them, but some very determined dogs may simply learn to smush the muzzle on top of the poop to eat it.

Another tool that can stop a dog from eating poop is the use of a foxtail field mask. The fabric mesh has tiny holes and makes it difficult for poop to be pushed through the openings.

Make the Poop Less Appealing

If your dog is eating their own poop because it tastes good to them and they’ve developed the habit, you can also try using dog chews that are made to discourage this behavior.

These chews can be given in conjunction with your efforts to keep your dog away from their poop by distracting them with toys or using training tools.

Featured Image: iStock.com/bang

Adrienne is a certified dog trainer and former veterinarian assistant who partners with some of the best veterinarians worldwide.

Does your dog tend to eat his own poop? Learn how to prevent this behavior.

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Why Do Dogs Eat Their Own Poop?

Looking for the best products to stop your dog from eating poop? Well, when it comes to poop eating in dogs, it's important to first determine what is causing this behavior in the first place.

Doing some troubleshooting is important because you want to get to the root of the problem, as sometimes Rover's behavior is trying to tell us that something is amiss. Just as you wouldn't want to just take pain relievers while ignoring the underlying source of the pain, you don't want to suppress poop-eating behavior without first determining if there's some underlying problem that needs some attention. The following are some possible causes for poop eating behavior in dogs.

Note: This article addresses only dogs who eat their own stool.

Medical Causes

Your first stop when dealing with poop-eating behavior should be the vet's office. As mentioned, you don't want to suppress poop eating without knowing if there's a medical cause first!

Also known as coprophagia, stool eating in dogs can at times be triggered by conditions known for creating decreased absorption of nutrients. Because nutrients aren't properly absorbed, a dog may try to eat his stool as a way to compensate.

The stool-eating habit, therefore, is driven by the nutritional value of the stool and an increased appetite due to lack of proper nutrition, explain Donal McKeown, Andrew Luescher, and Mary Machum in the Canadian Veterinarian Journal. Soon, a vicious cycle is established.

Causes of decreased absorption of nutrients include:

• the presence of parasites (who eat up what the dog should be absorbing),
• digestive enzyme deficiencies, and
• malabsorption or a poorly digestible diet.

Dog foods that aren't very nutritious and are hard to digest can cause stool to come out in an appealing, undigested form that from Rover's perspective almost tastes like food. It's very important, therefore, to have a vet rule out any of these conditions that lead to malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and an increased appetite. Conditions known for causing an increased appetite include thyroid problems, diabetes, and Cushing's disease.

Behavioral Causes

After ruling out medical causes, it's important to consider possible behavioral causes. In several cases, coprophagia stems from early puppyhood. Puppies who were raised in pet stores may have developed a tendency to eat stool so they could clean up their cages and not rest near a pile of poop.

Sometimes, puppies learn to eat poop by watching their mother. When pups are small, mother dogs eat their poop to clean up. On the other hand, puppies may learn to eat poop as a way to gain attention, even if negative. It's also worth mentioning that some puppies learn to eat poop to hide "evidence" and avoid being scolded harshly for pooping in the house.

In adult dogs, poop eating may stem from boredom, loneliness, anxiety, stress (which affects gut-motility, decreasing absorption of nutrients), or a need for attention. Luckily, the great majority of pups outgrow poop eating, but in some cases, poop eating may carry on onto adulthood and become a habit and, in some cases, even a compulsive behavior.

Last but not least, poop eating in canines is, after all, a natural behavior. While we smell poop, dogs are blessed with very sensitive noses, so what smells like poop to us may smell like tasty chicken, beef, and fish to a dog.

Dogs are also attracted to all sorts of things that we can't stand. Rotting carcasses, cow manure, rabbit pellets, and dog poop are a few things dogs may perceive as yummy but that we may find revolting and hard to accept.

Always make sure your poop-eating dog is checked for parasites, at least twice a year. In the next paragraphs, we will look at the best ways to stop a dog from eating his own poop.

What Doesn't Work

• Punishing your dog for eating poop will cause your dog to associate your presence with punishment, which may lead to him feeling compelled to secretly eat poop when you are not around. On top of that, he'll get faster at eating poop and you won't get to the root of the problem.
• Using a muzzle may seem to work, but you'll likely end up dealing with a poop-covered muzzle.
• Covering stools with taste deterrents may seem to work, but the moment the dog finds a stool that is not treated, the behavior of stool eating may come back stronger than before.

The 4 Best Ways to Stop Dog From Eating Poop

Whether your dog is addicted to poop eating or just occasionally enjoys "poopsicles" in the winter, you are probably looking for solutions to this distasteful habit. After dealing with several poop-eating dogs, I felt compelled to compile a list of the best ways to stop a dog from eating poop.

These solutions may leave you disappointed, as there's no single magic cure, but avoiding the options above will prevent you from engaging in false hopes and becoming frustrated. Of course, these tips apply to dogs who have received a clean bill of health from their vets.

1. Always Pick Up After Your Dog

This is the most effective method to stop a dog from eating poop. You can't have a dog eating poop if you clean up right after him! Often, the solution is right in front of our eyes, but we are hoping for some miracle cure.

This management method works because it stops the dog from rehearsing an unwanted behavior over and over. The more the dog rehearses the poop-eating behavior, the more it'll grow roots and the harder it will become to extinguish.

The is a reason why the word I added the word "always." If you pick up poop only sometimes, you will set your dog up to fail. Why? Let's take a look at this from a behavioral standpoint.

You go to the race tracks and bet on the horses. That day, you win $100. The next time you play, you win nothing. The next week, you win $20. After a week of not winning anything, you then win $200. All these ups and down create a mix of emotions including frustration, excitement, disappointment, and exhilaration. After some time, you'll find you get an adrenaline rush when you go bet on the horses, and sooner or later, you'll realize you're getting addicted to that rush, and you'll find yourself wanting to go more and more.

In dog training, there's a reason why trainers tell you to start giving treats every now and then once the dog's behavior starts getting fluent. The fact that the dog doesn't know when a treat is coming builds motivation, anticipation, and an eagerness to work that would not be there if a treat was delivered every single time. This is called a "variable schedule."

In the same way, finding poop one day and none the next builds more motivation to continue looking for poop. The same goes for finding some poop covered in Tabasco sauce and some poop without. Soon, you'll have a dog addicted to poop eating just as people are addicted to gambling.

So, the best thing to do is to keep Rover on a leash when he needs to poop and then redirect his attention to you so you can move away immediately and then keep track of where he pooped so you can pick it up immediately after putting your dog back inside. This solution always works if you follow it meticulously!

2. Change Your Dog's Diet

In some cases, a higher quality diet may help solve the problem. You may want to consult with a nutritionist for this. Generally, you want to feed foods that are rich in high-quality protein and do not contain fillers such as corn, soy, wheat or other grains.

There are several success stories on dogs fed raw food because the stool is actually for the most part waste, and some have noticed an improvement in feeding canned food as it's more readily digested and absorbed. All new diet transitions should be gradually over the course of several days by adding the new dog food to the old in gradual increments.

It's also important to not overfeed the dog, as too much eating at once will cause the meal to be only partially digested. The same goes for dogs who eat too fast, with the end result of their food not being digested well, which means their stools end up being more appealing. If your dog eats very fast, consider investing in a "Brake-Fast bowl."

3. Add Supplements to Your Dog's Diet

Again, these won't work with all dogs, but some have reported success, so they're worth mentioning. The addition of high-quality probiotics and digestive enzymes have helped some owners reduce the poop-eating habit of their dogs. In cases of vitamin B deficiency, the addition of B vitamin supplements may be an option. Always consult with your vet before adding any supplements to your dog's diet.

There are a few owners claiming that adding supplements such as 100% pure canned pumpkin, pineapple juice, or some grated zucchini to the dog's food has helped, but again it seems to work only for a few dogs.

What about products meant to deter dogs from eating poop? At the vet's office, we used to recommend products like Forbid and Deter, but after looking at many disappointed reviews and hearing my clients claiming they don't work, I think this may be a waste of money.

On top of that, several products meant to deter dogs from eating poop contain MSG which is not the healthiest thing for your dog as Karen Becker in the video below refers to it as a toxic ingredient!

There are several other remedies suggested such as feeding breath mints, meat tenderizer (another source of MSG), and covering feces with hot sauces, but these seem to be short-lived, with the poop-eating habit coming right back the moment these remedies are stopped. Also, it's important to consider that adding certain chemicals and supplements can turn out to be harmful to dogs, so always best to consult with a vet before trying anything.

4. Use Behavior-Modification Methods

After ruling out medical disorders and trying dietary changes the vet recommends, behavior modification can turn out helpful as well. Walking the dog on a leash and distracting him with a treat after a bowel movement should divert his attention from the poop to the owner offering the treat. Soon, a new behavior pattern may establish.

Teaching the leave it command may turn out helpful as well to divert the dog from the pile of poop to the owner. Even better, try training the treasure hunt game for coprophagia. Dogs who are bored, lonely, anxious or stressed may benefit from a more active lifestyle and a stress-reduction program.

A Mix of Approaches to Prevent Your Dog From Eating Poop

As seen, solving the poop-eating habit isn't easy.

• The best way remains strict management, as it's a win-win situation. By cleaning up all the yard frequently and keeping Rover on a leash, you prevent poop eating, avoid Rover from rehearsing the unwanted behavior over and over and minimize the chances of him getting infected over and over with parasites and protozoans.
• Fencing off an area in the yard where you take your dog to eliminate will help make the poop easy to find and pick up as it will all be there.

Management, though, doesn't go to the root of the problem if it's triggered by a medical issue or a behavioral one. Therefore there's ultimately no best way to stop a dog from eating his poop, but rather, there are several avenues to take.

For Further Reading

• Dealing with Dog Coprophagia? Train the Treasure Hunt Game
  Dealing with dog coprophagia isn't easy. There are several remedies that do not work. Management is key, but you can try the treasure hunt game, the leave it command with a special twist.
• My Dog Ate Rabbit Poop, Now what?
  Many dogs find eating rabbit poop an irresistible temptation. What happens if dogs eat rabbit poop, and what diseases can they get?
• Dog Health: Understanding Pancreatitis in Dogs
  What is canine pancreatitis? Why does the dog's pancreas get inflamed? What are treatments for pancreatitis in dogs? Learn more about this debilitating condition.
• How to Stop a Dog From Eating Fast
  A dog eating fast is not only a bad habit, but also a cause for concern since it may lead to several health problems. If you own a dog that wolfs down its food as soon as you put it down, be assured there are ways to address this problem.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. It is not meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from a veterinary medical professional. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.

© 2014 Adrienne Farricelli

Comments

Adrienne Farricelli (author) on January 21, 2014:

Yes, that's the advantage, the yard is spotless that way. Also, most poop deterrent products contain MSG, not very healthy.

Adrienne Farricelli (author) on January 21, 2014:

Edward, neither do mine luckily, but they have a sweet spot for rabbit poop.

Adrienne Farricelli (author) on January 21, 2014:

Yes, prompt clean up is the best way to go, less frustration for all. Thanks for the votes up Dzymslizzy!

Dawn Ross on January 20, 2014:

My dog Pierson loves to eat my other dog Maya's poop. He probably developed his bad habit of eating other dogs' poop when he had lived as a stray. The easiest way for me to stop this is to pick up Maya's poop. It can be a hassle in cold weather when I stand outside shivering waiting for her to sniff around and find the right spot. But it is much more convenient for me to pick up after her than it is to give her regular supplements to make her poop taste bad. It's also easier than standing around waiting for Pierson to try to eat Maya's poop so that I can redirect the behavior. Chances are, he'd just learn to eat the poop when I'm not looking. Besides. Picking up both her and Pierson's poop regularly keeps my yard nice and clean.

Ed Palumbo from Tualatin, OR on January 19, 2014:

Neither of my dogs demonstrates this behavior, but I will be attentive to it. Thank you.

Liz Elias from Oakley, CA on January 19, 2014:

Ewww! I never had a dog eat his own poo, but one of them did like to snack from the cat's litter box! Equally disgusting!

As you suggest, the main solution lies in prompt cleanup!

Very well-done article, with important points about vet checkups to rule out an underlying problem.

Voted up and useful.