One of my dog has been eating poop. It's a tad annoying but this is surprisingly normal for their ancestors especially when they are protecting their young ones from being tracked by predator.
According to Maggie Rhines of Raw Dog Food System,
When there’s a newborn litter, the mother exhibits poop-eating, possibly because she is wired to clean the den in order to avoid attracting predators – a biological instinct that has been retained by domesticated dogs. Source
More importantly, there's such a thing as the pecking order. In a pack of male dogs, the submissive one eats the poop of the dominant dog.
I had a dog when I was younger and the creature loved to eat poop. It's disgusting but normal. Although until today I didn't know why, thanks for the explanation
Poor dominated dog
Do you know if we should stop them or let them do?
07-19-2012, 08:54 PM, (This post was last modified: 07-19-2012, 08:57 PM by Ram.)
Well, it is quite common actually. There is the saying of "dogs will never stop eating poop".
Why dogs eat poop?
I have read it somewhere that dogs' digestive systems are depended on a specific mix of enzymes to break down protein, fat, and carbohydrates. They sometimes need to eat poop in order to replenish the special enzymes to help them better digest their food.
Of course, there are other reasons. Some dogs will start eating their own poop when they have parasites, or not getting or absorbing enough nutrients from their regular diet, or when they have issues with their pancreas.
To stop the behavior of dog eating feces, one way to do it is to spray some hot source on their feces. They will not like the taste and they might stop this disgusting behavior after a while.
There are commercial products designed to stop pets eating poop. For-Bid is one of them and proven to be working in many cases but not all.
My dog does this too! I am glad to see this thread, because I thought my dog was the only one. I never really thought of the fact that they could be doing this to protect themselves from predators. It makes sense that they aren't getting enough nutrients and enzymes that their body needs and that could be why they do this. It is really gross nonetheless. I normally stop the process if I am out there watching my dog, but I cannot be out there constantly, so I'm sure she sneaks a few piles of poop anyways.
(07-19-2012, 08:38 AM)Laura Wrote: I had a dog when I was younger and the creature loved to eat poop. It's disgusting but normal. Although until today I didn't know why, thankd for the explanation
Poor dominated dog
Do you know if we should stop them or let them do?
I think Ram has answered that question. As for whether you forbid them or not is a matter of preference.
I don't allow Ginger to eat other animals poop like duck poop but I do ignore her when she does that to clean her puppies. I try not to look because I still find it weird.
I am thankful to have not seen my submissive dogs eating other's poop.
Misha sniffs but never partakes. It doesn't interest her.
My previous dog, a Lab, was a poop eater. She was quite sneaky about it, too. If I didn't pick it up right away, she would wait until I wasn't paying attention. Then, she would snatch it.
I'm not sure if she had a nutritional imbalances or other issues. She was quite healthy most of her life.
There is a product that you put on their food that is supposed to make it taste terrible (as if it doesn't already...LOL). I tried it on her food once, but it made her sick. So, that was the end of that experiment.
Sometimes eating poop is instinct, sometimes it's because they're not getting enough of a certain nutrient, sometimes it's because they're not digesting things properly, but sometimes it's just because they like eating poop.
Get the dog to the vet to see if it's a nutrition or digestion issue, and if it's not, then you can try to get him to stop eating it with one of these types of things http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...Id=4299172
My dog slowed down on eating his poop once he was given new foods that he could digest easier and a multivitamin each day, but still when he's bored or particularly hungry, he'll go back to his old habit.
When my dog was around, she would eat her own poop once in a while. It was gross to see, but I understood - not all humans want to eat poop, but some dogs do. Dogs will be dogs and they will always do the weirdest things. I read once, though, that dogs who are losing their mind start to eat their poo.
I had one dog who did this for awhile, shortly after we got him. He was more or less a stray so I guess it had been a habit for him to do this because at the time he hadn't been being fed regularly. After awhile he did stop doing this. I have to admit it was gross to watch or even know about. It's bad enough when a dog will drink from a toilet but this is really hard to take in. But I guess its not as uncommon as I originally thought.
my dog bear eats poop and he rolls in it to but hes my bearsybear and love him but(ewww) lol
