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When dogs eat poop its called Coprophagia . I had a dog that LOVED eating poop. She would hunt for it in the yard. (gross, I know) Her breath was horrid and I never let her lick or kiss me. It actually began to disturb our friendship. My vet said it is common for female dogs especially because of their nature to clean up after giving birth. It can be a result of anxiety from being in a confined space (kennel?) or lack of nutrients in their diet. There are ways to train your dog to stop. You can buy medicine to put in the actual turd that will disgust the dog to remember not to eat it again.
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Dogs have a short gut designed for meat, but also therefore, inefficient. Quite a bit of nutrients are left in the poop. It helps, also to develop the good bacteria in the gut that helps digestion. Also dogs, being predetory distance hunters and trackers, have an instinct to check out/taste/smell fecal matter, as a way of identifiying its source.
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a friend of mine is a small animal veterinarian. I once asked her why my dog would roll in poop and rotting dead things. her response made a lot of sense. she explained that the predator in the wild does not want to alert their prey by the scent of the presence. rolling in a rotting carcas would enable them to smell like the rotten dead thing, thus disguising them by not smelling like a dog. as for eating the poop, one thing for sure is I never have to remove the "tootsie rolls" from the kitty littter box. my darling little dog takes care of that.
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might check with your vet. sometimes dogs do this because of something lacking in thier diet. Not all dog foods are necessarily good or well balanced. regardless of the expense or cute commercials.
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My dog used to delight in rolling in poop.
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My dog used to delight in rolling in poop.
I was convinced to show him my distain for this practice -- probably more domineering and ineffectually at first. It involved watching him on walks and correcting him before it happened. If I was too late (he wandered free a lot in a rural setting) it would involve an un-ceremonious bath (which was like punishment to him), and lots of shows of smelling him and low growl-like hums (perhaps resembling growls but not quite) . . . as if the scent made him an unrecognized stranger by his pack leader.
Sometimes if a bath wasn't instantly available I would use that to continue to remind him that something was amiss, calling him over in typical "glad you're here" tone then switching to the low humming and instant withdrawl from him. Guage this to your dog's reactions. The idea is to communicate and not to beat them down or break them. Stop pushing as soon as you think they get the clear message something is wrong.
I followed that up with lots of praise instantly after the bath and when he continued to smell nice. Used the same on skunks too, which he also had a fascination with. I followed up with reminders if I smelled a skunk or feces on the wind I would do the same low moaning untill I made a show of smelling him and then instantly switch to the praises and perhaps a treat.
It seemed to work. It was very rare in his last number of years of life that he would relapse.
(But really guard against corrections becoming "punishments" motivated by disgust, embarassment or anger. These confuse the hell out of a dog. It's more about something positive that is absent, than something negative showing up -- if that makes sense.)
Use this approach cautiously with the eating poop until you're sure it's not just a disgusting dietary supplement. Shadow used to drink from the area's sewage lagoon, which disgusted the hell out of me until my vet suggested dietary supplements. I cried "yuk" at him a few times (again, like a bark), but I'm glad I didn't pursue definitive correction on something that bascally was just him taking care of himself.
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Mine did as a pup. They usually do it when young. Why? Calcium, it seems.
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Mine did as a pup. They usually do it when young. Why? Calcium, it seems.
Try feeding your dog cheese as treats. Should put a stop to it.
And dont forget to yell "NO" when she/he does.
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Your dog eats poop!?
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Your dog eats poop!?
OMG ....dogs over here don't do that... you guys are just so weird!
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Canids live in a much more olifactory world than we do. Their noses are the equivalent of our eyes but also tell us so very much more than our eyes do. In a wild setting such sign can tell them if an invading stranger is in their territory, their sex, state of health, what they've been eating, how many days ago they happened by. All very vital things to maintaining one's territory, one's heritage, one's very life in the wild.
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