How to Stop Your Dog Eating
Poo
Let's face it, dogs can be pretty disgusting. But, there is one particular behaviour that goes above and beyond
the rest - the eating of feces.
For whatever reason, dogs will chow down on poo in all its many forms, especially as puppies.
This behaviour, called coprophagy, is thankfully relatively easy to change with the right nutritional
supplements and modifications to behaviour before it becomes a compulsive disorders behaviour in dogs .
Why Dogs Eat Poo
To start with, you should understand why your furry friend is doing this in the first place. It's a good idea to
take your dog to the vet if this is a common, persistent behaviour as it is often a sign of a deficiency in their
diet.
There are actually quite a few deficiencies a dog might have that can lead to eating poo - a quick
blood test or stool test can often identify if it is anything significant. Many times, supplementing whatever
they're missing from their diet can help with this problem.
Getting Your Dog to Stop Poop
Eating
Now that you've identified if there is a physical problem, you can work toward fixing it. If your dog has a
deficiency, that should be your first target. However, if it is simply a behaviour they have learned somehow, you
can use behaviour modification to remove the desire to eat poo at all.
* Reduce the Opportunity - Start by cutting out how many opportunities a dog actually
has to eat the poop. You do this by collecting any poop and getting rid of it immediately. Especially if you let
your dog out into the yard to poop, clean it up daily.
When you walk your dog, make sure you personally take him to wherever he normally defecates and keep him away
from any other poop that may be on the walk.
* Supervise Outings - You should personally oversee any walks by your dog. This includes
going to the dog park, where the dog can often get away and get into messes. The more time you spend watching and
correcting behaviour, the quicker he will learn.
* Negative Stimuli - To effectively reduce the behaviour, you'll need to connect
unpleasantness with it. You can use a spray bottle or a noisemaker that will upset the dog when he tries to eat the
poop.
The important thing here is to remember that immediate action is needed, not delayed or verbal actions. Dogs
will only get confused in those cases.
* Deterrents - Specific deterrents include spraying various things like bitter apple or
cayenne pepper on the poop. You can also feed your dog pumpkin with their food. The pumpkin makes the poop
unpleasant to reingest, effectively deterring your dog.
There are some commercial deterrents as well, but beware of any chemicals or things with unknown ingredients.
There are enough natural ways to deter your dog from eating poop that you don't need to use these types of
products.
* Vitamin Supplements - If there is a vitamin deficiency, supplement it with a good
multivitamin. Your vet can recommend a good one that contains all of the necessary missing nutrients. You can also
feed your dog more fresh foods and less dry food as this helps a lot.
A dog that eats their poop can be easily trained to stop doing so. The important thing is to make sure your dog
understands exactly what behaviour is being challenged. This requires consistency on your part, and that of your
family if more than one person walks your dog.
If you can maintain control over how your dog is walked, what they do on that walk and what they eat, the poop
eating behaviour should be eradicated with good dog behaviour training in
a few short days.
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