To stop dog from eating poop you need to understand why they eat the poop in the first place. I am sure if you own a dog you have always wondered why they do this. This is a behavior that is not only unattractive but disgusting, and is in fact not healthy. Your dog is not the only one that does this! Dogs’ eating their poop is a fairly common behavior known as Coprophagia, a sign of disturbing nutritional issues or deep anxiety.
Dogs eat their poop because they may be feeling hungry or they may simply be cleaning up their resting space. This can be treated by ensuring you give the dog enough food throughout the day and better yet clean up their dog house frequently.
Other health issues also exist that lead to dogs eating their excrement. Worms and parasites that reside in neglected dogs usually suck vital nutrients from the dogs digestive tract making them yearn for the nutrients again if they do not receive enough back from the dog food given during the day.
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Some other dogs eat poop due to anxiety. Since dogs like to mimic your behavior they will at times pick up their poop since they see you do it when cleaning up after them. Some also do it because they see other dogs doing it!
Stop Dog from Eating Poop? You need to know that this issue can be resolved quite easily.
How to Change this Behavior
If you notice your dog eating poop, first check to see if it has any health related problems. This can be an obvious sign if your dog has never exhibited this behavior before and it only started doing this recently. Remember that parasites and worms may lead to a nutritionally deficient and hungry dog. You must take your dog to the vet for immediate treatment in this case.
If the problem persists even after a visit to the vet and the dog has a clean bill of health, explore other possible issues leading to this behavior. You can start by ensuring your house and the dog house is frequently cleaned. Clean up the yard, ensuring any poop under leaves or along paths around the house are disposed off. Understand that if this is not a health problem then it must be behavioral and can be handled by eliminating the cause of the problem.
Adjusting the behavior
There are other ways to stop dog from eating poop. Do you know that you can use cayenne pepper or bitter apple which in fact tastes much worse to the dog than the poop? Also by feeding your dog a spoon of pumpkin puree every day the dog will notice that the poop tastes bad (due to the mixture) and avoid it altogether. If you are near them when they start eating poop gently spray water on them and command them to stop with a sharp “NO!”. Try all these techniques when they start eating poop.
You must realize that if the dog does not find poop then it will not eat any. Also, consider that if you spend your time with them in the park off the dog leash or roaming freely around your yard, then take the above steps to stop dog from eating poop. Coprophagia can be treated by you being consistently with them instilling the right behavior but please don’t forget and let them lick your face!
