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Home > Knowledge & Fun > Pet Health & Education > Pet Health Related Articles > Dogs and Cats - Health > Disgusting Habits

Disgusting Habits

Whether it belongs to a cat, another dog or even puppy himself, eating feces is one of a canine’s most disgusting habits. Many behaviorists don’t always agree on why, but some dogs will exhibit this behavior at some point in their lives. If there is a dog behavioral issue that makes us cringe, it's when dogs eat their own waste. We're talking about when the dog eats his own or another dog's poop.

There are several reasons dogs eat feces. A few of the most common reasons include:

A Nutritional Deficiency: When there are inadequate nutrients in a dog's food, he feels hungry and eats whatever is readily available. Nutrients can be depleted as a result of parasites like tapeworms. Not enough or too much food can cause the nutritional deficiencies that result in coprophagia, the consumption of feces. Too much food, especially for puppies, can cause diarrhea that depletes nutrients. If there is a period of time that dogs are starving and they eat feces to survive, like some feral dogs, they may develop this hard-to-break habit.

A Desire to Clean House: Dogs like to be clean. When confined in dirty crates or small areas, some dogs will eat their feces to clean the area. Dams (mother dogs) will often eat poop to keep their puppies clean. When puppies are newborns, dams lick them to provide stimulation that results in urinating and defecating.

A Need for Self-stimulation: Dogs who are bored will sometimes eat feces simply to have something to do. Confinement combined with neglect can cause maladaptive behaviors like eating feces. Some dogs are copy-cats (or copy-dogs, as the case may be) and they will join in if other dogs in the household are providing waste management services in the backyard. Training is a good tool for managing this behavior. A reliable "come" and "leave it!" will help prevent the problem in instances where the dog finds something before you do.

Give him plenty of exercise and appropriate chew toys. He may do it because he has excess energy or he’s bored, and whether or not we find it appropriate, it’s something to do.Make sure you’re feeding your puppy a good quality puppy food that has been formulated for his age and energy level. Your veterinarian can talk to you about nutrition and the appropriate food for your dog.

Remove the stools or coat them with something that will make an impression on your puppy. Some kind of hot sauce, spicy hot oil, perfume, a bitter flavor—create a negative memory and a bad taste and puppy will likely avoid it in the future. Be sure to provide plenty of fresh, clean drinking water so puppy can get some quick relief. The initial bad experience will do the trick.

Basically, the main reason dogs eat poop is because it's there. If your dogs are eating feces when they're in the backyard, remember, they can't eat it if it's not around. Do some quick patrolling and cleaning of your yard before the dogs go out.