Tips on How to Stop Your Dog from Eating Poop

Tips on How to Stop Your Dog from Eating Poop

Have you ever had the experience of walking your dog, and to your surprise, after she goes to the bathroom, she turns around and tries to eat her poop? You’re not alone! The technical term for this tricky behavior problem is called copraphagia. There are many theories as to why dogs do this and it is a difficult problem to solve. To help dog owners get through this issue, American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen® Director and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Mary Burch, Ph.D. offers the following strategies that may help dogs stop eating their own feces.

• Vet check. Take your dog to the veterinarian to rule out any possible health problems that could be contributing to the problem.

• Be consistent. Make sure you feed your dog on a consistent schedule with the same amount and type of food at the same time each day.

• Change the diet. Consider changing your dog’s food. There are times when switching to another high quality premium dog food resulted in no more poop eating.

• Keep a clean yard. Be sure to clean up immediately after your dog goes to the bathroom. If there are no feces there, she can’t eat it.

• Teach commands. Work on the “leave it” command. As your dog turns to get what she’s just produced, use the command to have her stop what she’s doing.

Do any of your dogs do this?  How were you able to get them to stop? Share with everyone in the comments!