puppy eating poo

rockerchick · 12/01/09 - 07:54

i have a puppy and hes 8 weeks and he eats his own poo at every opportunity - obviousley i go and stop him as soon as i see him doing it but last night for instance, i come into the bathroom to see a big poo mark on the floor where his poo has been so he ate a big pile of poo in the night - wouldn't this make him ill? and when hes walking aaround the house in the daytime, he cries(sometimes), but not loudly.

rockerchick · 12/01/09 - 07:56

oh and he loves trying to eat my daughters crayons

[Deleted User] · 12/01/09 - 08:13

I think he's at more risk from the crayons than the poo. Very many dogs do this. My dogs will also eat cat poo if they get the opportunity. Don't scold him because he won't understand why he's being told off. Hopefully other posters might have some good suggestions for you.

davlaur · 12/01/09 - 08:23

The poo will not harm him, but you must discourage it.
All dogs do it at some time. try feeding pineapple chunks in with his dinner, this can put a stop to it.
Don't let him have the run of the house until he is house trained. If you catch him in the act then scold him and point to the offending pile.
Take him outside frequently and persevere !!!!

rockerchick · 12/01/09 - 08:27

davlaur wrote: »

The poo will not harm him, but you must discourage it.
All dogs do it at some time. try feeding pineapple chunks in with his dinner, this can put a stop to it.
Don't let him have the run of the house until he is house trained. If you catch him in the act then scold him and point to the offending pile.
Take him outside frequently and persevere !!!!

sorry forgot to mention he hasn't had any jabs yet so can't take him out everytime i see him weeing or pooing i take him to one of those pads that soaks it up

Xassy · 12/01/09 - 08:28

davlaur wrote: »

If you catch him in the act then scold him and point to the offending pile.

Please don't scold him. He's a baby, a very young one at that. He will learn in time and he's not doing it be naughty, he may not have been able to hold it.

Xassy · 12/01/09 - 08:28

rockerchick wrote: »

sorry forgot to mention he hasn't had any jabs yet so can't take him out everytime i see him weeing or pooing i take him to one of those pads that soaks it up

Do you have a garden? It's fine for them to be in the garden before they have their jabs.

rockerchick · 12/01/09 - 08:30

Xassy wrote: »

Do you have a garden? It's fine for them to be in the garden before they have their jabs.

I have a garden but i thought they could pick stuff up if wild animals have gone through there

davlaur · 12/01/09 - 08:31

He must be told that it is wrong to do it from the outset. He will forget quickly that you told him off, but will remember in his head that it is wrong to do it. You can take him into your garden regularly jabs or not !

davlaur · 12/01/09 - 08:50

He will be absolutely fine in the garden. You must start taking him out there right away, after food, after sleep etc....... Take him out every hour initially and let him sniff about and run about and hopefully he will do his needs and you can then give lots of praise.
Put your coat on you could be out ther for a while !!!!!!!

TWS · 12/01/09 - 09:33

do not tell the puppy off he has no idea what is right or wrong just clean up the mess quietly, all you are teaching a dog by telling him off is that you cannot be trusted and are highly tempermental.

Pups tend to eat their poo to conceal their presence from predators so they normally stop doing this when they stop feeling vulnerable and are more secure in their surroundings.

Take the pup out to the garden after he wakes after he eats after he plays after a drink pretty uch every 30 mins and when he goes praise him.

8 weeks is very young pups are only supposed to leave their mothers at 8 weeks do you will have a few more accidents yet.

[Deleted User] · 12/01/09 - 10:29

rockerchick wrote: »

i have a puppy and hes 8 weeks and he eats his own poo at every opportunity - obviousley i go and stop him as soon as i see him doing it but last night for instance, i come into the bathroom to see a big poo mark on the floor where his poo has been so he ate a big pile of poo in the night - wouldn't this make him ill? and when hes walking aaround the house in the daytime, he cries(sometimes), but not loudly.

Here is an excellent piece all about this:

http://www.petbehaviourcentre.com/us/us_articles/us_poo.htm

Puppy is just doing what comes naturally. Perhaps you should also check his diet to make sure there isnt anything missing. Puppies need a high protein diet.

DONT ever shout at him for doing this.

He will stop just dont stress over it.

Mine loved cat poo.

yosser65 · 12/01/09 - 10:45

a dog or a puppy eating its own poo - or some other animals is quite common - its proper name is coprophagia.

As mentioned they do it to hide their presence from predators but also as a suppliment to their diet - I.E. rich food not being fully digested 1st time around.

You can get specialist tablets for it - that makes the poo unpalatable upon eating - the pinapple juice/chucks will do the same thing. Also vitamen B12 also has the same effect (dont worry about 'overdosing' etc as excess B12 is dumped out of the body without harm). Tehn let your dog try a poo - he wont do it again. Just watch out for the eating of 'other' poo's whilst out on walks etc.

The above method is great if you don't fancy escourting your pup on midnight trips in the freezing garden etc.

Good luck - it's worked on our pup.

System · 12/01/09 - 12:58

purrfect_catlov wrote: »

Here is an excellent piece all about this:

http://www.petbehaviourcentre.com/us/us_articles/us_poo.htm

Puppy is just doing what comes naturally. Perhaps you should also check his diet to make sure there isnt anything missing. Puppies need a high protein diet.

DONT ever shout at him for doing this.

He will stop just dont stress over it.

Mine loved cat poo.

You will see from reading the other threads on DS about the same thing .. that lots of adult dogs still do it .

I personally used a water pistol while young and if I got a older dog who did it I would use a catapult with paper pellets ( as older dogs quite liked the water).

But now you can get stuff to stop it or use the pineapple .

Xassy · 12/01/09 - 14:44

rockerchick wrote: »

I have a garden but i thought they could pick stuff up if wild animals have gone through there

It's fine to take him out there. It might be a good idea to get rid of any plants if you can.

Xassy · 12/01/09 - 14:47

davlaur wrote: »

He must be told that it is wrong to do it from the outset. He will forget quickly that you told him off, but will remember in his head that it is wrong to do it. You can take him into your garden regularly jabs or not !

Instead of telling them off, they should be corrected and be shown the right place to 'go'. They haven't done it to be naughty. You wouldn't tell off a toddler who's just come out of nappies for wetting themselves, would you?

[Deleted User] · 12/01/09 - 17:00

I remember our dog used to do that. It took an awful lot of patience but we got her out of the habit eventually. For us it was a case of always being present when she went to the toilet outside then getting in quick to clear it up, and telling her very firmly NO! and LEAVE IT! if she showed any interest in eating it. And loads of praise when she didn't.:)

Now she just rolls in it when we're out in the fields:eek:, especially the more fragrant fox poo (and that really stinks)!!:(

rockerchick · 12/01/09 - 18:19

My vet said i shouldn't be taking the puppy into my garden untill he had had all his jabs

[Deleted User] · 12/01/09 - 22:34

my westie did it as a puppy,but stopped doing it after a few days.

_ben · 13/01/09 - 01:20

Our puppy was still eating her poo at 6 months, but we got some coprophagia tablets online from Amazon and it seems to have broken the habit. Other advice off the top of my head, try to disrupt the behaviour by distracting him with a sharp noise at the crucial moment (just before he tries to eat it) or picking the poo up quickly, but don't make a big thing of it by for example telling him off. I would say 8 weeks is really too young to be worrying about this though.

StressMonkey · 13/01/09 - 01:29

8 weeks is a good age to teach the 'Leave it' command.

There are some good videos for clicker training if you google 'CLicker training leave command'.

Or use the 'treat in hand' method - sit with a treat in your fist. Dog will sniff and try to get it. As soon as he looks away, say leave it and open your hand and say 'OK' or 'yours' or 'take'. Once they associate 'leave it' with looking away, try using the command rather than waiting for the behaviour. Once they leave your fist on command, treats on the floor. then POOP. Praise and reward with a tasty treat for leaving the poop on command.

But - if I knew about clicker training before teaching my dogs 'leave', that is the route I would have taken even at 8 weeks.

Hey there!

Quick Links

puppy eating poo

Comments