# Puppy eating his poop



## KatiBear (Mar 4, 2010)

Heya

My puppy has been eating his poop for a while, he is so fast to catch it, and sometimes I'm unable to stop him in time. He doesn't always eat it, but sometimes he does. He's not fully house trained yet either, and I noticed when we first brought him home (he was farm reared) he would poop outside everytime, but I think as he got accustomed to our home, he started pooping inside (I know a bit backwards!) But we are working on him. Anyway, I noticed at first, he was only eating his poop when he pooped inside...

I hear that some puppies do this because they would see their mothers do it to the puppies poop, to clean up around where she has given birth, do you think this could be the case?

He was originally on Beta, but about 10 days ago we switched him to Burns, so I think he is getting a healthy diet. Couple of weeks ago, we started feeding him pineapple, which stopped him from eating his poop...for a while atleast! Then he must have braved the smell and ate it.

We have never shouted at him or anything for pooping, so it's not like he sees it as a naughty thing and wants to hide it.

A friend told me, that puppies only start eating their poop at a certain age, and he isn't at that age yet or something?

Thanks for any future suggestions/help 
And like I said, no one shout at me for not being around the pup when he poops, I am - he is just so very fast at catching it!



Edit: Thanks to the mod whoever moved my post in the correct category :thumbup:


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Hi,firstly dont give yourself a hard time,alot of dogs do this...honest!
how old he is?,and how long you have had him? what breed is he?
Did he do it on the beta food?(which flavour beta food and what flavour is the burns food?)Is he crate trained? what are his poos like?
Sorry lots of questions,but it does help build a picture!


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## KatiBear (Mar 4, 2010)

Hey, thanks for your reply!
No problem about the questions, it's understandable!

He's 3 months and 3 weeks old, but he's been doing it since we had him _(well about a week or so after)_ Which was 5 weeks old _(The breeder lied, we'd have never had gotten him had we realised)_. He's a Border Collie _(with a possible x husky, we aren't sure)_

He did it on the Beta too yeah, and now on the Burns... The beta was just normal puppy Beta and the Burns is the puppy mini bites

He's not fully crate trained, our neighbours complain about the barking when we put him in it - and we are in rented property, we've had complaints for our letting agency.

He will go in his crate willingfully to sleep, or play with his toys, he just can't stand the door being shut.

His poops differ, A LOT. When he was on Beta, they were black! And very solid. Since switching him to Burns they really change very often, from dark, to a bit lighter and slightly wet. (Sorry about the detailed description!)

He has been farting a lot lately too, and they smell like a farty roast dinner (gross I know! haha), could this be the Burns? He is pooing a lot more lately too, since switching to Burns - I don't know if this is a good or bad thing?

I do hear that there are a few reasons for them eating their poop;
1. Because they learnt it from their mother / keeping things tidy & clean
2. Because he generally just likes the smell of it because it smells of his food
3. Because he is missing something in his diet

Could it be any of these, or maybe something else?
I'd be baffled if it were his diet, since I hear Burns is very good


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Thankyou for answering more questions.I had this with my young lab,but she had it really bad and we had alot of issues with her,thankfully she doesnt do it now!
It can be from learnt behaviour ,as you say.It can also be because they have been told off for pooing indoors and try to hide the fact by eating up the evidence.It can also be dietry.
Did you choose the same flavour in both beta and burns? ie chicken and rice flavour?
If your pup is now having more poos(bit looser) and wind,it may well be the food isnt helping.Some dogs dont tolerate chicken that well.

Some basic things you can try are; the pineapple,courgette grated into the food ,some people buy a commmercial poo eating deterent.You need to learn signs of when your pup needs to poo.With mine she does a 'poo tail',sounds odd but her tail hangs different when she needs a poo!!(took along time of watching to notice this lol) Take pup outside and try and distract pup from the poo instantly with a treat or praise and quickly whip the poo away (easier said than done sometimes!),if your pup beats you to it and goes indoors,pop pup outside while you clear it up quickly,but dont tell him off (whats done is done).If you catch him doing it,pick him up and pop him outside.
I also found that giving raw marrow bones really helped.Some dogs dont get the required amino acids from their food(some breeds require more or less than others),and the raw bones help provide this.It helps make their poo slightly harder too,and they dont seem so keen to eat it!
Sorry i could go on forever,lol,( we had to take drastic measures with my girl and hopefully yours will get over this soon)so will stop there.


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## Terr (Mar 2, 2010)

My puppy has also been eating his own poop for the past 3 weeks or so. I hear that there are LOTS of reasons for puppies eating their poos. When Dante first started doing it I immediately wormed him even though he wasn't due for a worming until a month later and it didn't help so I thought that maybe I was overfeeding him and he couldn't digest his food properly, so what came out still smelled/tasted like his meals. It wasn't until about 11weeks that he started to eat his own poop. At the time I think I was overfeeding him as his poos were very soft and fairly wet, a very light colour, almost like chewed up cornflakes. I've started to weigh out his food every night before I go to bed and put it into a tupperwear box for the next day. What I do is just take ALL of his meals and training treats from the box. This way I can monitor how much he eats everyday without having to sacrifice the amount he gets for his main meals because of an extensive training session during the day. (I should mention that I just use his kibble as training treats, but if you use something else be sure to subtract the weight from the overall food for that day)

I think it's working (only been doing it for a week or so). His poos are a much better consistency although they've become a very dark colour. I caught him trying to eat it the other day but got to him before he managed . I think what's most important is just constant vigilance on our part. Dante is doing very well with his crate training, we live in a flat so I was very on the ball about him liking his crate. I can't go as far as to say that he 'likes' it but he'll go in there when it's late at night and he knows it's time for bed. I found that what really helps crate training is to feed him his meals in the crate for a few days (all of them) but don't close the door and then slowly begin to give him a command. Dante got the idea in a day or so and would rush into his crate every mealtime before I even gave him the command. 

Also I've noticed since he's started to eat his poo that when he goes to the bathroom, he will squat and turn in a big circle so that he can literally sniff/nibble at it at the same time as he's going!  I get the lovely job of cleaning up a big circle of puppy poo. Luck me!


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## KatiBear (Mar 4, 2010)

@*Bearpaw* Call me a bad dog owner, but I'm not sure what flavour the Beta was 
We only purchased it because our pet store owner recommended it, ever since I signed up to this forum
and read about Beta, I realised that I shouldn't have been so naive as to listen to the shop owner!

It didn't come in a packet, it was all loose.

The Burns we have now is in a packet and it contains brown rice and chicken, amoung other things.

I think he is okay on chicken though (as in, his poos will be solid), because when we first got him the people
who farm reared him were feeding him weebox (absolutely shocking ) And although I should have fed him what they
were feeding him, I really didn't agree with feeding him that as a meal, so we fed him Beta - (I didn't realise so much
about weaning - again I guess I'm bad) So his poops were very runny at the time, and we took him to the vets
and she told us to stick him on a plain diet of chicken and pasta, and he was absolutely fine on it, with solid poops and I 
don't believe he actually ate his poop whilst he was on his plain diet for 3 days.

We bought some more pineapple today, we took a break from it because he got used to it and ate his poop after a while,
but I haven't heard of the courgette suggestion, thank you for that.

I do know the signs of him pooping mostly, except for some reason if I go up to him whilst he's pooping, he runs off!
And he doesn't sometimes completley finish his poop , either he thinks he will be told off (which we have never done)
or he thinks we're going to disturb him? I'm not sure.

Whenever he's pooping or weeing in this house, I try to grab him to take him outside, but he runs away -
I'm not sure why he does this.

Although today he did wee on his puppy training pad which i'm extatic about =D

And thanks a lot for your suggestion on the raw marror bones, I told my partner about it and he's popping up the shop 
shortly to see if they have any !

What drastic measures did you have to take with your girl? I'm curious.

@*Terr* You may be right on the over feeding, it's really quite possible. We don't own a pair of weighing scales unforunatley,
although it's something on my list that i've been dying to save up for! I can't bake without them hehe,
but fortunatley our pet store gave us a special Burns measuring jug yesterday, specifically for the particular
food we are feeding our pup now, so I'm hoping that now we can measure his food, rather than guess the size
of his stomach.

I usually also use kibble as training treats too, because training treats seem to go far too fast,
for example we bought some doggie chocs yesterday, and they are all gone now - kibble seems to be more
appropriate as it's smaller.

I think it's quite a good idea to weigh out and prepare in the evenings, damn I need to get some scales 

Thank you both for your help, I will try the raw marrow bones as you suggested Bearpaw, and see
how it goes with now measuring his food.

Will report back in a couple of days =]
Thanks again!


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Hi Katibear,sorry iv not got back sooner,lovely college interview with grumpy teen...oh joy!
My girl came to us on a good food,lovely temperment,easy to train,took to the crate and got along with my other dogs straight away.Toilet training began well,going outside lots of praise etc.Slowly i began to notice little bits of poo,didnt think much of it to begin with.Then it became obvious what was happening.We tried the pineapple thing(sadly she loved pineapple,grr),it got better for a short while but then got worse very quickly.I began to ask around,get advise etc and tried doing all the usual...pick up soon as done etc tonns of praise when going outside,ignoring any mishaps etc.She went outside no problem,in fact along with my other dogs began to toilet on command,i was impressed!
Anyway,over a period of time,the poo problem just escalated,to the point where she was pooing just to eat it,many many times a day,everytime my back was turned.I thought about whether it was a pack thing,whether she was trying to be dominant over my other dogs etc.
I got so down about it,i decided to contact the food company my daughter used when she needed dietry advice about her GSD.They were brilliant,and their help was what saved me (and the dog).
Firstly we had to put her on rice and chicken for a good few days,along with a suppliment that balanced the stomach lining.We also had to muzzle her when she wasnt being watched.(not something i would normally do,but this was our only option to break the cycle)When her poo was solid for a good 24hrs (her poo had become so runny due to being redigested continuously) we had to begin adding her food back in.During the time on just rice and chicken she didnt eat her poo!!! Sadly after adding about 8kibble peices she began to eat the poo again.We did this a few times and with alot of backup used some very good foods,but non of them suited.I eventually tried this companies own food,cheaper than i usually had used ,but highly reccommended even so,and eventually found that she could eat their food and NOT EAT HER POO!!!!
This whole proccess was over a period of about 6-9mths.During which i also spoke to dog behaviourists and dietitians.Both gave me lots of pointers.I didnt know that some dog foods lack some amino acids,and also that some breeds require different amounts etc.They taught me so much about dog food ingredients etc.But also most importantly,that not every dog suits every food,just because its expensive doesnt mean it will suit your dog.
I now have all three of my dogs on the CSJ food and they are thriving on it.
I did have to change her quite young to an adult food,as she didnt tolerate the protein that well,but since doing that she is so much happier in herself.
Raw bones really have helped her too,not just for the health benefits but for the distraction!
I really hope your little pup gets over this quickly,and as i said my dog was a bit extreme! Dont make the problem into a big one,just ignore what you can,praise whats good and dont get too worried,its more common than you think!


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## Terr (Mar 2, 2010)

You will be fine with the measuring cup provided by Burns. Just follow the instructions about weight on the packet and the corresponding measurement on the cup. I only weigh out his food once every week so I can make up for his growth for that particular week. I don't have a special cup, I literally just have a mug that sits inside his bag of kibble behind my living room door (tiny flat). He gets 1 1/2 for each meal so I just fill the tupperwear box with 4 1/2 cups of kibble and that's him sorted for an entire day!


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## channyy1x (Mar 24, 2010)

Hi, I kind of have the same problem, slightly different.As far as I know she doesn't eat her own poo, but my cats use a litter tray as we have just moved house and she keeps stealing poo from the litter tray and eating it or carrying it to her bed and lying with it!


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## Terr (Mar 2, 2010)

channyy1x said:


> Hi, I kind of have the same problem, slightly different.As far as I know she doesn't eat her own poo, but my cats use a litter tray as we have just moved house and she keeps stealing poo from the litter tray and eating it or carrying it to her bed and lying with it!


I hate to tell you this and I'm hoping this won't be the case for you but my pup began his nasty habit in a similar fashion.

I don't have any other animals in the house but the first time I caught Dante 'playing' with his own poo I had been in the shower and had left him out in the living room thinking he'd be okay alone for 10 minutes. When i came out he had used the bathroom in the hallway and apparently carried bits of his poo into the living room and was happily playing with it with his paw. Now he's full blown into eating his own poo if I'm not there to clean up IMMEDIATELY. Just today I was on the phone and suddenly realised I couldn't hear him playing anymore, I ran to my bathroom to see stains but no trace of actual poo because he'd made a hearty meal out of it.

The only advice I can give you is to be extra extra vigilant. I'm quickly learning that 'watching' a puppy means hovering over them every moment they're not in the crate.


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## juliemom (Feb 11, 2010)

oh dear me it seems i got a poop eating puppy too so can i join the pooper eating club.
i have just rang cjs and they too think she may be on too much protein and adviesd me to change her to a lower protein food even though its a little early as molly is only 4.5 months old but he asked if she had gone leggy whiach she has and apparently this is another sign of too much protein in food so i am going to give it a try and see how we go i haveng given her a raw bone as yet im frightened to as i dont know whaich one to give her

julie


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Hi Julie,theyre really helpful at CSJ arent they,they really did save my life!!
I hope your dog gets settled.Are you going to try CSJ food,or just changing to the adult in the one you are using now?
I just think some dogs dont do well on a high protein diet,even though its reccommended for early growth.
Ask your butcher for a marrow bone to start with,so it wont have much meat on it,Itll keep pup quiet for hours!!


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## KatiBear (Mar 4, 2010)

@juliemom

What do you mean by 'leggy'?


@bearpaw What brand is CSJ? As in, what does it stand for - I wasn't sure  I'm going to take a look in my local pet store, but I'm worried about changing him so soon since we've only just switched him from Beta to Burns! Do you think aslong as we wean him, he will be okay?


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Katibear this is CSJ website;
Dog Food for gundogs, sheepdogs, agility dogs, and show dogs.
Not sure what it stands for!!They have a list of stockists on their site,but its also worth asking if anyone near you buys it,so you can save on postage costs.Im lucky as a breeder near me uses and sells it.
Iv used this,adult natural champ,from about 4mths and theyve been just fine,i think as long as you change slowly it should be ok.


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## KatiBear (Mar 4, 2010)

Thanks so much again bearpaw, you're a great help - and it's not as expensive as i'd imagine it at all - infact it's a lot cheaper than what we pay for his Burns! But as you say, shipping would be expensive - I might just see if my local pet store will consider stocking it.

Thanks again


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Yeah the postage is alot,but you can get two bags for the 6.95 postage,so that doesnt work out so bad.check the stockists too though,may be one near you. They will send you samples too,if you ask they will even send a few days worth!


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## juliemom (Feb 11, 2010)

Hi, thank you for the advice,
molly the pup is on the cjs puppy champ and gracie the 8yr old boxer is on cjs old timers food.
they are brilliant at cjs and advised i mixed the puppy food with the senior to bring down the protein content and so far so good fingers crossed lol no poo breath for a couple of days.
still having problems with the toileting she still goes out to play in the garden and comes in and wees and occasionally poos but just no telling her off and i hope we will win

julie


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## dagny0823 (Oct 20, 2009)

I caught Ragnar eating his poo today for the first time. He just turned 16 weeks and, after having raw food for 2 days, had his first really solid poos. He also hasn't pooed in the house for a good 5 days--housebreaking is finally seeming to get through his head. Today, I took him out, he made 3 wees and a good sized poo, and since it was raining, I guess he'd had enough. Came inside and while my back was turned, pooped again and I came back in the room to find him chowing down on one. 

I'm not sure if it was because it was the raw food, so extra delicious smelling to him (it made me want to faint, but then again I'm not a dog) or because he was ashamed he pooped inside. 

Either way, it's such an awful little bad habit. It made his breath reek for a while. I feel your pain, all of you, and hope we all get the problem resolved quickly


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Yes,i found giving raw bones really helped ,so the raw diet may well have done the trick!!(something to do with the amino acids in raw meat/bones that isnt in dog foods that some dogs require).
Unfortuneatley once a poo eater,always a poo eater.All we can do is keep vigilant,find what works and hope they grow out of it.Some dogs never grow out of it sadly.


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## Doglistener1 (Mar 25, 2010)

I don't know if this is any help, I wrote it some time ago.

Coprophagia​*animals eating faeces*

Coprophagia is the medical term for when a dog eats either its own faeces or that of another animal. There are three types of Coprophagia…

1.	Autocoprophagia eating its own faeces…

2.	Intraspecific Coprophagia eating faeces from within its own species
ie another dog.

3.	Interspecific Coprophagia eating faeces from another species (ie
cat, deer, rabbit, horse, etc)

*Interspecific Coprophagia* is the most common version of this trait. The cause of this behaviour is not fully understood, these are some suggestions and theories

*Attention-seeking behaviour:* The owner reprimands the dog despite being a negative reaction it is attention, which is what the dog may crave.

*Allelomimetic behaviour:* The dog observes the owner picking up the faeces and learns from them to do so as well. Monkey see monkey do.
Genetic: the dog dates back to the Mesolithic period some 15000 years ago and fed off our middens and latrines therefore this was a staple diet.
Taste: taste may be a factor. It likes the taste, this is the likely mechanism in interspecific coprophagia such as eating cat faeces.

*Maternal behaviour:* A bitch with puppies has to stimulate the pups to toilet in the first 3 or 4 weeks. She then eats and drinks the resulting faeces/urine, therefore keeping the den clean and preventing the scent of the faeces from attracting predators. The pups see this and copy. Monkey see monkey do again.

*Food or Medical:*
Some people recommend changing to a food with less protein if they are Autocoprophagic, the richer the food the more chance that the dog may find it palatable.

Medical issues especially in older dogs such as pancreatitis or intestinal problems could stimulate Coprapgagia. Even overfeeding especially food with a high fat content can sometimes spark this behaviour.

It has been suggested that eating faeces could be an aid in food digestion, in other words a probiotic which encourages healthy flora in the gut. 
Some treatments:

Forbid (TM)(R): A powder added to a dog's food. It is supposed to make the faeces taste bad (veterinary prescription only).

Deter (TM)(R): This is a pill given to a dog with its food. Like "Forbid", "Deter" is supposed to make the faeces distasteful. You can buy it over the counter.

Some people put chilli sauce or mustard on the faeces in the hope that it will deter the dog. One of the best treatments is to simply pick up the faeces. Lack of access can sometimes break the cycle. This is obviously more difficult in cases of Inter/Intraspecific behaviour as you will be unaware of where the faeces are going to be.

Positive Reinforcement: This is the process of reinforcing another behaviour Instead When the dog is about to begin eating the faeces, the owner can then use a number of techniques and commands. "Leave it", "Off ", "No", etc.

Simple aversion therapy can be done by letting the dog approach the stool on a long lead. If he starts sniffing it, give a leash check with something like a Jingler (see my website) or a noise aversion device such as training discs or a plastic bottle with pebbles can be rattled, these devises should be pre- programmed. If he passes by, then simply praise him to the heavens.

Another technique that I have found can work extremely well is get one of the dogs's or cats faeces; allow it to dry a little. Go to your local joke shop and purchase a cap banger; this is a spring-loaded device that makes a bang when something is moved or lifted.

Place the slightly dried faeces on the cap banger and await results. It works after about three bangs. Also great for counter surfing/food stealing which can be very dangerous to a dog if it eats the wrong things, or knocks things off the cooker.

If as in the previous cure the dog is "Autocoprophagic" i.e. eating own faeces then a method that sometimes works is to feed your dog pineapple slices or pumpkin seeds in its food or give it iron tablets. These all apparently make their faeces foul tasting. Not something even in the depth of scientific analysis do I intend to test for myself.

There are some health implications to coprophagia. It is not merely a habit, which we see as vile and disgusting; in most cases it causes no real problems. However there is a risk of ingesting internal parasites. This can happen if your dog eats the faeces of unfamiliar, infested dogs or cats or the faeces of wild life such as rabbit deer etc. If you worm the dogs regularly then the risk lessens slightly.

Though I have had to treat a number of dogs that are severely Intraspecific Coprophagic. These dogs eat very old faeces or faeces from dogs that are ill from intestinal problems or with very loose stools. This was making the dogs that were ingesting them very ill and emaciated. Unless you are successful in treating this level of compulsive coprophagia then it could be fatal.

The fecal-oral route can also transmit some rather nasty canine viral diseases. Hepatitis and canine parvovirus are just two of these serious diseases. Fortunately, vaccinated dogs should be covered for these potentially fatal viruses.

We now have a further concern regarding Coprophagia, H5N1 Bird Flu. A cat has died in Germany from eating an infected bird; therefore this virus has shown it can cross the species. It is also known that HN51 can be transmitted through faeces, so perhaps we should be looking at this problem with renewed urgency.

I would also strongly recommend keeping the dog away from cat faeces because of the risk of organisms such as Toxoplasma gondii which can cause serious and sometimes fatal consequences, including hepatitis, pneumonia, blindness, and severe neurological disorders. The intestinal phase of this nasty disease occurs only in cats (wild as well as domesticated) therefore transmission to dogs is by ingestion of oocysts (in cat faeces) or bradyzoites in some raw or undercooked meat that has not been pre-frozen. Freezing kills off the organisms and makes it safe allowing you to raw feed.

Stan Rawlinson
2003


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## Beardy (Jun 4, 2008)

My whippet puppy started eating my other 2 dogs poo at around 4 months old. I tried chilli sauce, I tried shouting, neither worked. I taught him leave it, by holding out a titbit on my hand & closing my hand with the command leave it, every time he went to get it. When he looked away I gave him the treat with my other hand. Once your dog knows what leave it means, practice when he/she goes to eat poo. Use something tasty like cheese & as soon as he/she looks away from the poo, throw the cheese onto the floor. Pick up the poo quickly. My Stanley is like lightening, but we are getting there, if I can do it, anyone can. Just make sure the titbit is more tastier than poo!


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## juliemom (Feb 11, 2010)

What fantastic repiles we have had thank you all for your help.
update on molly so far so good since we have changed her to a lower protein food it seems to have done the trick and us being very vigaliant and getting rid of any poos as soon as they materilise but on the odd occasion we have not been quick she has left it so fingers crossed.


thanks for all your help

julie


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