Help! My pup eats his poop!

In My Humble Opinion
1

We have a 9-week-old Golden Retriever puppy who we’ve had for 2 weeks. He’s great except for one big problem: every time he poops he gobbles it up like it’s a friggin’ filet mignon. He’s been consistent with this ever since we’ve received him. It’s not good for him, and it’s revolting, so I need him to stop.

I’ve read several sites documenting possible causes and cures, but nothing is helping so far.

Relevant facts:
-He does it both before and after meals, so it’s not a hunger issue.
-We’ve tried 3 different foods, most recently a highly-rated well-balanced food (Blue brand large-breed puppy food).
-He’s up-to-date on deworming and has checked out health-wise.
-We’re only using positive reinforcement for housetraining, so it’s not a ‘fear of a mess’ issue.
-I’m home with him almost all the time, he gets lots of play, walks, etc., so not a boredom issue.

Solutions I’ve tried:

  1. Scolding him as he’s doing it – he doesn’t seem affected in the least by this.
  2. Putting a vinegar-chile sauce on the poop after he’s done (done this for the last week or so) – keeps him from eating that particular poop, but no change in his level of interest, and if he manages to poop while I’m turning my head he’s on that thing with as much enthusiasm as ever.

Any ideas of what else to try? Do you think he’ll grow out of this?

2

How are you scolding him? Just telling him he’s bad or are you putting the Fear of God into him with a sharp, loud and shrill yell? I find you really need to scare the bejeezus out of a dog sometimes to get your point across. If nothing else, they break out of whatever trance they’re in (like “oooh, squirrel!” or “oooh, poop!”) and pay attention. If he is scared shitless every time he goes for his poop, he might actually stop.

My brother’s dog took off after a squirrel the other day, and I yelled so loud that I hurt my throat. But she came RIGHT back - didn’t even make it to the neighbor’s yard. When the squirrel came back I said “nooo…” and she was so afraid I was going to yell again that she just came and sat at my feet. People just don’t yell loud enough at their dogs sometimes…you figure loud is good enough, but SCARY and SURPRISING is the key.

You might also want to work on the “leave it” command. I think it’s an important command that a lot of people don’t teach their dog. The way we learned it in doggie school is to put a piece of hot dog on the floor, then walk the dog by it while on leash. When the dog goes in for a sniff of the hot dog, you pop him back and say “LEAVE IT!” This takes a while, because it’s HOT DOG. But, it’s effective.

When you’re done with your training session, don’t just let doggie pick up the hot dog by himself. Pick it up and hand it to him (make sure he takes it nicely).

Then, once they’ve learned what “leave it” means, you move on to having a dog “leave it” while they’re lying down. Have the dog lie down and put a treat within reach. Use your finger to keep doggie’s nose away from the treat and tell them to LEAVE IT. This takes a while too. It’s helpful for them if they watch you instead of the treat.

You can move on to standing up and not touching the dog while he leaves the treat (feel free to keep saying LEAVE IT). Eventually, you can put the treat on the dog’s paw while he is lying down, and you can stand up, and he will leave it (you still gotta say LEAVE IT, tho…)

Once again, never let doggie pick up the treat himself when the training is over. Always give it to him yourself.

Sounds crazy but it totally works. I have an excitable and whiny Golden and she can Leave It like a champ. It’s very very very handy and it’s basically a safety tool for your dog.

Anyway, this doesn’t work when you’re not looking, obviously. But, it’s something you can work on to keep him from his poop when you ARE looking. Also, like I said, very good thing for doggies to learn.

3

This is why I find it amusing that the dog food companies go on and on about a ‘dog’s natural diet’, and make special formulas with duck and kangaroo. Really, these are animals that just adore cat shit, and yet you don’t see that in the formulation of Orijen.

Ms. Attack adds that ‘The Other End of the Leash’ is the most helpful puppy book she’s read - and she’s read a lot.

4

Once at a pet store, either in person or online, I saw something to add to the food to make the poop taste awful to dogs. You use it for a while until he grows out of the poop eating phase.

We had a puppy do that for a while and she stopped when she got older. Our current dog just loves the cat poop.

5

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Only-Natural-Pet-Stool-Eating-Deterrent/999171.aspx

6

Oh yeah, I remember reading about this. It seems improbable on the surface (tastes fine going in but terrible coming out??), but I’m willing to try – anyone have experience with this kind of thing?

7

I have heard that some vets recommend feeding the dog pineapple. For some reason they don’t like it the second time around.

8

This worked today with our 3-month-old retriever. She was in her it’s-evening-so-it’s-time-to-go-crazy mode. When I turned my back on her (the “ignore” tactic), she bit me. I yelped and indeed scared the bejeezus out of her, calmed her right down. For a minute. :slight_smile:

The “Leave It!” command is good too. I just watched an episode of It’s Me or the Dog where they used it on a dog who was attacking the family cat and it worked great.

Amazing how trainable dogs are. This is our first puppy – we’ve only had older dogs – and Sadie amazes me every day with what she learns. She’s also a poop-eater, but she only eats cat poop. We’re keeping her away from it while trying different varieties of puppy food.

9

I was coming in to say that Victoria Stilwell on It’s Me Or The Dog recommended this. It’s certainly a cheap and easy suggestion to try.

10

Why is this a problem? I thought it was normal for dogs.

Just don’t let him lick your face afterwards.

11

Number one, it’s disgusting.

Number two (ha ha), they can pick up parasites this way.

I’ve heard meat tenderizer works. Drs. Foster and Smith sells coprophagia treatments, too.

12

We had a dog that used to eat cat shit.

Basically, I was told that dogs do this (eat their own shit, that is), by instinct – it’s to hide it from predators, or something like that. Yes, I’d still discourage it.

13

Pictures!!!

14

I’m not spazurek, but here’s some cuteness – our Sadie at 3 months. She’s a retriever mix and she’s changed our lives. She’s really a joy (when she’s not being a little terror).

15

We use the Leave it command as well and it works fantastically. It’s a really versatile command. Dog poop? Leave it. Garbage that looks tasty? Leave it. Cat is tempting? Leave it. I drop an entire bag of dog food on the floor? Leave it. Bunny rabbit across the street? Leave it.

16

My old dog used to eat his crap, and Tabasco got him to stop. In fact, he eventually came to recognize the bottle of Tabasco that my stepdad would take outside and sprinkle on his turds and grew to hate and fear it. My stepdad eventually decided to buy a giant economy-sized bottle of Tabasco from Sam’s Club, and when he wanted to aggravate the dog he’d grab the bottle and chase him with it. The dog would bellow angrily at it before turning tail and fleeing.

God I miss that dog.

17

Scold him and give a sharp jerk on the leash. That should curtail it after awhile. He will probably not ever completely stop eating poop however, it’s what dogs do.

18

Not all dogs eat poop – it’s common, but not universal.

19

Well, we have more, but here’s a few for ya (the first few pics don’t include Charlie; the kid is my son Andrew).

20

Young children + golden retriever puppy = Win^2