[Closed] Harry eats poo 💩 How can I stop Harry eating poo?

Stop shitting in his food bowl?

Yes, I'll try that first.

As a non-doggist I think all dogs should be encouraged to eat poo to make the streets cleaner.

I vaguely recollect reading something about a US city having employees spraying dog eggs with peanut butter to encourage other dogs to "clean up" the mess.

Apologies for the uselessness of this post.

Our springer loves poop. She eats the cat poop out of our garden. We live somewhere rural and our walks are through sheep grazing areas. She loves the lamb poop and will often eat so much that she makes herself ill. The vet couldnt really tell us how to stop it, so in poop laden areas its the lead for her....

Ah, Mrs B says there is a sort of mesh muzzle you can get to stop them being able to get it in their mouth.

My Lab used to do it too, sheep poo, cow poo, any sort of poo. I mentioned it to the vet when he was there for his jabs. The response was: "You eat brie cheese, it the same thing"!!

Our dog did this, I think most do. It's called coprophagia and is quite normal, if unpleasant. Make sure you keep his worming up to date as they can get them from the poo.
I told him off with a very gruff voice that he knew meant trouble and would chase him off the poo before he'd eaten too much. Eventually he just stopped as he didn't like being told off. Hasn't eaten any since he was about 12 months old.
Also when he wants to jump up and lick you just turn away from him rather than push him off, the rejection will get the message across.

Gross, I'll stick with cat's that will sh1t on your lawns between the frozen sausages.

Stop shitting in his food bowl?

This

Took months of trial and error before I realised this was the cause

Also, how TF do you spray peanut butter?

Our previous choccy lab did this - eventually came down to keeping her on a lead / avoiding poo-infested areas. Our current black lab doesn't because she's so ball-obsessed she has is in her mouth all the time / can't chow anything - maybe get him to carry a toy / play retrieve with him?

Those Google Pixels take great photos!

ball-obsessed she has is in her mouth all the time / can’t chow anything

That’s the answer, use your ball gag.

Peanut butter can be sprayed through an ultrasonic nozzle with a 200 bar compressed air supply

Another reason to add to my reasons not to buy a dog column. 🤢🤢🤢 Fair play to those who love 'em.

I'd like to know the answer to this.
Our Zara's partial to a lick of fresh stuff.
I've had her out at teatime today, a farmer has been spraying liquid manure, she was licking it up where it had puddled. 🤢

Ours grew out of it at about 2 years old. Horse manure is still pretty irresistible, understandably.

I wonder if it's a nutrition thing - are they getting something from it that's missing from whatever they are being fed?

Horse poo is fairly undigested, that's why it doesn't smell too much and can be dug into your roses 'relatively' fresh. You wouldn't try that with most other poo varieties. I guess dogs can detect some nutrition in there somewhere?

Our cocker pup did this for the first few months. Originally it seemed he was cleaning up around himself or his bed at night, then it progressed to cleaning up after himself in the garden once he'd worked out it was fine to go out there. He just grew out of it. Is still partial to the odd horse or sheep or rabbit nugget, but that doesn't bother me at all. Mrs Lawman may have other views on that particular issue.

Peanut butter can be sprayed through an ultrasonic nozzle with a 200 bar compressed air supply

Pictures or it didn’t happen

With the appropriate guidance, stop, no, etc, and the essential praise when they leave they should grow out of it. Sometimes it can be because they’re growing so fast that they feel hungry. Our dog used to do this but stopped after about 18 months. Interestingly, to dog people, he used to smell like his food through his skin - he grew out of that too, it was disgusting!

Lol, thanks op, this thread and the replies gave me a good chuckle tonight.😂

Great pic too!
👍

My Lab x Collie used to do this. There are tablets you can get from Amazon that are supposed to stop it but they are expensive and I have no idea if they work. We were advised to give her fresh pineapple with her food instead. She no longer eats dog poop, including her own, but is still partial to cat or fox poop.

Even if my dog didn't eat poop I'd never let her lick my face; she cleans her clopper with that tongue!

My Choc lab does it. If he decides not to eat it he’ll roll in it instead. Winds me up big time!! He knows he’s going to get telling off, he skulks over to it thinking I’m not watching, then does a judo roll through it!
He’s also rather partial to the mud from the bottom of my boots!!

How does a dog decide whether to eat it or roll in it, Mine eats sheep shit but seems to roll in fox shit.

My cats tell me to tell you the following:
Piezo-electric lighter up the arse linked to a radio-controlled servo.
WANDP

Handy if you run out of toilet paper.
Rename the pup Andrex.

My dog loved eating it. Searched out the cat poo in the garden. On walks he'd devour any morsel of horse poo, the fresher the better. Cow dung? Bosh, straight down. Sloppy cow poo? The wetter the better.
When he eventually had a drink, you'd end up with bits of pooh in the water as he often left morsels in his chops. The worst is cat poo though, stinks.
We couldn't get him to stop, just had to keep an Eagle eye on him.
He did pick up a bacterial infection once though from his poo munching. His bottom was like a tap and I ended up sleeping down stairs for 3 days with him in order to let him put every two hours.
Sorry OP, just one of the joys of dog ownership I think.

Most will grow out of it to a greater extent, with positive reinforcement. I read it's a behavior learned from their mothers, who will eat their pups poo to remove scent from potential predators, dunno how true that is but makes sense in theory.

Ours will still roll in fox/goose poo on occasion, maybe to mask their scent ?... I'm just making it up now but doesn't seem too wild of an idea. Maybe dogs being hunter/scavengers they will eat horse muck as it may have some sort of nutritional content.

Positive reinforcement as mentioned above. Our old boy did but grew out of it and now our pup does it (annoyingly, eating our other dogs poop if we don't get to it in time in the garden).

The only effective way we've had of getting our pup to stop is have some nice treats in your pocket to entice her away. If what you've got is nicer than what they are doing then they'll leave it and come running, seems to be the whole crux of dog training!

Don't get me started on rolling in poop, she's mad for it.....

I’ve had dogs all my life and I used to work with dogs (still do to a lesser degree) and fairly quickly learnt that they’re all dirty bastards.

I was told that it’s often because of a diet deficiency such as meat based protein. This is why they generally love cat shit - nearly all cat food is meat based. It’s worse if your feed your dog veg based food.

My own Lab used to consider the meadow near us as a buffet table crossed with a perfume counter. Horse, cow, cat, sheep, rabbit and other dog shit we’re all delicacies, whereas fox and badger poop were akin to Chanel No 5. Once you realise they just can’t help it, the look of guilt combined with unbridled pleasure just before noshing down on a pile of crap is pure entertainment.

Also consider that a dog has very limited taste (about a sixth of ours) and incredibly strong stomach acids (about 100 times ours), so what we’d baulk at, is perfectly acceptable food to a dog.

My Lab will occasionally eat his own 🤢 we actively discourage it and have to watch him in the garden and keep on top of clean ups. He will eat fresh horse poo, constant supply near us here, and we are less discouraging as its nutritional and harmless. It’s all gross.