Why does my dog eat poo?
By Scotty Valadao – Canine Behaviour Consultant (ABC o f SA): TTouch Practitioner
As revolting as we humans may find the behaviour of consuming faeces, and as terrible as it can make our dogs breathe smell, to a dog this is simply normal instinctive behaviour. We need to bear in mind that a dog is essentially a scavenger, and will take advantage of virtually any food sources it can find, although not all dogs consume faeces, or on a regular basis. Many wild animals engage in this behaviour, especially when food resources may be scarce. The faeces may then become a source of missing nutrients and proteins which can help it to sustain life. There is a term which is used for this behaviour which is Coprophagia – sounds better than eating poo!
Coprophagia can be classified as follows:-
All dogs engaging in this behaviour should first and foremost be examined by your local vet to ascertain that there are no medical reasons for the behaviour. If there is a medical reason, little or nothing you do from a behavioural point of view will have any effect.
The majority of dogs do not seem to be affected by this habit from a health point of view, but there can be health concerns. The dog could end up contracting worms, especially roundworms and even parvovirus is a possibility. Faeces that is not fresh is a higher health hazard. If your dog does engage in this behaviour, make sure that the dog is dewormed every 3 months and all the vaccinations are up to date. This can be discussed with your vet and would apply to any other dogs living in the home and bring in the measures to correct the behaviour.
Some of the reasons why a dog may engage in this behaviour on a regular basis are:-
Medical Aspects
If your dog only engages in this behaviour when you are out, there could be an element of separation anxiety creeping in. Separation anxiety in dogs takes a lot of work to change and the normal indications of this behaviour being present are that the dog will become destructive only when the owner is absent – however, I have known dogs that in addition to destructive behaviour started eating faces during the owner’s absence as well.
What to do about this:-
The guidelines on the back of a packet of dog food are exactly that – guidelines. Some dogs, depending on their activity levels may need more or less food than other dogs, and you may (inadvertently of course), be feeding your dog less, or more, than it requires.
If you are changing the dog food, do this slowly, over a week or so, gradually adding in the new food a bit at a time and look for any changes in both the dog, its elimination patterns and behaviour.
Finally, if your vet has given your dog a clean bill of health, you have followed the guidelines to change the behaviour and no improvement has occurred, do call in a professional to assist you. We have links to several organizations on our Favourite Links section of the website that you can use.
This article is copyrighted and remains the property of the author. Individuals are welcome to print or copy same for their own use in furthering their knowledge of dogs. However, no reproductions or alterations/variations are allowed without the express written consent of the author.
Coprophagia can be classified as follows:-
- Acute Coprophagia - This often occurs in pups whereby the pup will eat the faeces for around a 3 weeks period of time and then stop.
- Intermediate Coprophagia can occur in dogs between 3-5 years of age and the condition may persist for between 1 – 3 months.
- ·Chronic Coprophagia – any dog that persist in eating faeces for more than a year. This often occurs in dogs between the ages of 5 – 8 years of age and may indicate that a change in diet needs to be considered due to the changing needs of the senior years.
All dogs engaging in this behaviour should first and foremost be examined by your local vet to ascertain that there are no medical reasons for the behaviour. If there is a medical reason, little or nothing you do from a behavioural point of view will have any effect.
The majority of dogs do not seem to be affected by this habit from a health point of view, but there can be health concerns. The dog could end up contracting worms, especially roundworms and even parvovirus is a possibility. Faeces that is not fresh is a higher health hazard. If your dog does engage in this behaviour, make sure that the dog is dewormed every 3 months and all the vaccinations are up to date. This can be discussed with your vet and would apply to any other dogs living in the home and bring in the measures to correct the behaviour.
Some of the reasons why a dog may engage in this behaviour on a regular basis are:-
Medical Aspects
- If the dog eats very fast, even though you are feeding a good quality food, this may lead to digestive problems whereby the dog is receiving the correct nutrients but is unable to digest what it needs and then looks to eating faeces to replace same.
- Boredom – the dog is not receiving enough physical and mental stimulation and has found something else to occupy itself, especially when added attention when owners are home, such as above, is an additional factor. Lack of attention from the owners could be an element here.
- Stress Related – have there been any changes in the home lately i.e. new addition (either human or animal), have you been away from home lately, have there been any major changes i.e. illness, divorce, arguing etc, have there been any new neighbours etc. We don’t realize it but often events such as these really impact on our dogs and can cause changes in behaviour.
If your dog only engages in this behaviour when you are out, there could be an element of separation anxiety creeping in. Separation anxiety in dogs takes a lot of work to change and the normal indications of this behaviour being present are that the dog will become destructive only when the owner is absent – however, I have known dogs that in addition to destructive behaviour started eating faces during the owner’s absence as well.
- Learned Behaviour – it has really become a habit.
What to do about this:-
- Feed your dog a well balanced, good quality dog food. Feed twice daily (morning and night) and do try to keep meal times at the same time.
- Don’t add components such as table scraps to the dog’s food. Feed the same product and same amount daily. Don’t chop and change dog foods.
The guidelines on the back of a packet of dog food are exactly that – guidelines. Some dogs, depending on their activity levels may need more or less food than other dogs, and you may (inadvertently of course), be feeding your dog less, or more, than it requires.
If you are changing the dog food, do this slowly, over a week or so, gradually adding in the new food a bit at a time and look for any changes in both the dog, its elimination patterns and behaviour.
- Management – keep the dog in an area where it cannot have access to faeces and clean up any faeces as soon as possible, without getting into competition with your dog for this resource – put the dog in another area while you do this.
- Try to split the daily rations into at least 3 meals. If you are not home during the day, you can stuff the inside of a Kong with the midday ration.
- Additives – additives such as grated pineapple and enzyme products purchased from the vet can be added to the food which results in the faeces being unpalatable to the dog although personally I cannot imagine anything as unpalatable as dog poo! This is not always successful and in addition to this, stimulation, exercise and the other guidelines need to be brought in.
- Fast Eating – raise the food bowl a little off the floor and allow the dog to eat by itself, with no other dogs around.
- Stimulation - in the way of toys and chew toys. There is an article in the Puppy section on Toys that will give you ideas on what to use. Additionally make sure that the dog is receiving adequate human interaction – when we take dogs into our homes we are creating a human/canine pack and as a dog is a social animal it has needs that we need to meet.
- Give the dog plenty of physical exercise. We need to be aware that dogs live by their noses and their sense of smell is over 45 times stronger than our own, and their need to scent different types of smells is a necessity, not just a luxury. Simply walking the dog on a regular basis can do away with many common behaviour concerns with little other in the way of behaviour modification being added in.
- Leave Command – teach the dog a reliable leave command. There is an article in the Puppy section that will help you to achieve this. Remember that if a dog is told to ‘leave’ something, it never, ever gets the object it has been told to leave - an alternative reward (of equal or higher value) is supplied instead.
- ·Distraction - If you see the dog sniffing and heading in the direction of some faeces, call the dog in a happy, high pitched tone of voice and provide distraction such as throwing the ball, interacting with the dog etc.
- Recall - I would also suggest that you teach the dog a really good recall so that if you see it heading to munch some lovely faeces (to the dog at least), you can instantly call it back and give a good reward for coming to you. See the article on Real Reliable Recall in the Dog Stuff section – this is excellent and if done properly and practised on a regular basis, seldom fails.
Finally, if your vet has given your dog a clean bill of health, you have followed the guidelines to change the behaviour and no improvement has occurred, do call in a professional to assist you. We have links to several organizations on our Favourite Links section of the website that you can use.
This article is copyrighted and remains the property of the author. Individuals are welcome to print or copy same for their own use in furthering their knowledge of dogs. However, no reproductions or alterations/variations are allowed without the express written consent of the author.