# Eating her poo every time! no longer has that lovely smelling puppy breath! :(



## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

It's been about one week and our 3 month old puppy has been eating her poo whenever I'm not there to pick it up right away. We live in an apartment and so she has an indoor potty. For the past week and a half she has consistently done her potty on the toilet, which is fabulous. But it means that I'm no longer watching her like a hawk because she'll just go to the potty by herself now whenever she needs to. As soon as I hear a vigourous lapping up sound, I'll rush to her to find only a tiny portion left of her poo and her munching away like mad. Should I just ignore this? Will she just grow out of this habit on her own? or do I need to start watching her like a hawk again? What about in the morning before I wake up? Is there a homemade version of For-Bid (I can't get that here in France).

I usually like to add a photo to my posts but ... :biggrin1:


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

I had a poop eater! Mae is trained to go outdoors though so I didn't have the issue or unattended indoor options. She has pretty much outgrown this but I always picked things up after she went (most of the time :redface I have heard that canned pineapple in their food works but I don't know the ration of food to pineapple.


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

I have also heard of using meat tenderizer or that adding pumpkin to the diet makes the poop taste bad. Molly will still eat poop if given the opportunity so it is probably a good thing that she doesn't have an indoor potty option!


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

This is a good discussion. It also has the proportions of pineapple to food, if you are thinking of adding pineapple. http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_PoopEating.php


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## civano (Sep 29, 2014)

Adding pumpkin doesn't seem to stop my poop eater. He still eats it at times if he goes in his expen if we aren't here to pick it up right away.  Not always but sometimes. I add pumpkin to his diet for added fiber as suggested by an email exchange with Dr. Dodds. However, I haven't added anything to his diet specifically for the poop eating.


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## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

thanks everyone! I read the article (yes, interesting) and I think she started to eat her poo to clean up her area after I took too much time to go to her in the middle of the night and now it's a habit. She sleeps in the bathroom right next to our bedroom, with the door open but a baby gate confining her. She has a pee pad in there and does her business without waking us up, which is nice but ... then she eats it. I'll definitely try the pineapple and pumpkin. Thanks again!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

gateau said:


> It's been about one week and our 3 month old puppy has been eating her poo whenever I'm not there to pick it up right away. We live in an apartment and so she has an indoor potty. For the past week and a half she has consistently done her potty on the toilet, which is fabulous. But it means that I'm no longer watching her like a hawk because she'll just go to the potty by herself now whenever she needs to. As soon as I hear a vigourous lapping up sound, I'll rush to her to find only a tiny portion left of her poo and her munching away like mad. Should I just ignore this? Will she just grow out of this habit on her own? or do I need to start watching her like a hawk again? What about in the morning before I wake up? Is there a homemade version of For-Bid (I can't get that here in France).
> 
> I usually like to add a photo to my posts but ... :biggrin1:


I sure wouldn't ignore it if it were MY puppy!!! I HATE poop eating, and went out of my way to make sure Kodi never had a chance to develop the taste. I don't think he ever pooped off leash or without me right next to him for at least a year. Part of that was to be able to praise him, but part of it was so I could keep him from even tasting it. uke:


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## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

Ok, something has to change! She's still eating her poo! The pineapple and spinach seemed to deter her for a day but now she's back at it. With a VENGEANCE. Thankfully, everything else is going really well. She's so lovely, fun, and cuddly and independently does her potty on her pee pads. But! she eats her poo! 

If I'm there with her while she does her BM, she easily lets me pick it up. However, if she does it while alone in her x-pen during the day or during the night, she will eat it. 

We have two theories: 1) she is eating her poo because she's not digesting the small amounts of carrots and apples that we feed her as treats (95% of her diet is dry kibble, the other is apple, banana, and carrot), and the undigested bits of yummy food in her poo tempt her. I saw bits of carrot for the first time yesterday and it seemed that she was aiming for this. or 2) she wants to clean up her space the way her mama did and the way we do for her. This could be it because as a test (on advice from a friend whose puppy responded well to this technique) we left her poo on her pee pad and drenched it with vinegar (she hates vinegar -- this is what I use to clean up her accidents) and pretended to leave her alone in the bathroom with her poo. To our amazement, she still went for the poo! 

... or could it be something else?

I will stop feeding her anything else but kibble to see if that's the cause. and I like that she independently uses her toilet but ... I'm wondering if I shouldn't reset, do crate training and take her outside for her potties or on a leash to her indoor toilet? The problem with that is that she doesn't seem to have learned the pee or poo commands. And she has never ever done potty on command outside. In fact, she's only done about 2% of her business outside. To be clear, "outside" refers not to a backyard but to the dirty dirty streets of Paris. This is a city with one of the highest concentrations of dogs living in apartments and where the residents aren't so keen to clean their dogs poop off the streets. Our puppy seems to prefer a pristine piece of sidewalk to do her business. I'm not sure how to transition her to do outside potty. 

Another thing: she poops about 5 times per day! isn't this a lot?

TIA for any tips or experiences that you can share.


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

I have also heard of people putting a little hot sauce on the poop. If they go to eat it they will get the unpleasant burn and might work to stop the behavior.


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Take it from someone who has gone through this for almost 18 years, nothing works! It almost seems as though it's a genetic thing. My first Hav, Bailey, never, ever would even consider such a thing where, Tyler, is all into it. The only thing that helps is to stand right with him and pick up as soon as he's finished squatting, before he has a chance to turn around and grab it. I've given up on everything else. I also had keep him close when taking walks because if he spotted another dog's or other animal droppings, he would go after those too. Yuck!!!


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

I can see how this is a problem for a dog that is going potty inside. If you are not home while they are going, to clean it up right away, then what is to keep them from eating it?


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

Good luck With this. My sister has two dogs who do this. Other than that they are completely awesome dogs. She carries a spray bottle of listerine with her and when the dogs come up for petting she sprays their mouths first!


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## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

Here's a sentence I never thought would come from me ... thanks everyone, I enjoyed reading about your dogs eating their poo!  especially Sandypaws' dog! 18 years! learning about your dog who lived until the lovely old age of 18 really helped me relax when dealing with Izzy's icky habit. And ... she no longer eats her own poo. At least, we haven't caught her doing so in more than 10 days.


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

gateau said:


> Here's a sentence I never thought would come from me ... thanks everyone, I enjoyed reading about your dogs eating their poo!  especially Sandypaws' dog! 18 years! learning about your dog who lived until the lovely old age of 18 really helped me relax when dealing with Izzy's icky habit. And ... she no longer eats her own poo. At least, we haven't caught her doing so in more than 10 days.


Glad Tyler's story helped you. And, btw, he is still with us and is 17 yr and 9 mo. Won't be 18 until July 6th.


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## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

Oh, that's wonderful that's he's still with you! Give him a big pre-birthday hug from me and Izzy.


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## DaisyMommy (Feb 28, 2015)

Daisy had that habit for a while too and honestly, she's growing out of it. What we did was every time we were watching her while she pooped we told her to sit or come and gave her a treat afterwards, then cleaned it up. I think this helped her get over the habit. Now she goes on her pad in her ex-pen and leaves it alone for me to clean up when I wake up or she waits until her walk altogether. Although she has developed a habit of digging at her pad to cover it up. I'd rather have her mess with her pad than clean it up though.  Good luck! I know it's such a gross habit! I was mortified when she first did it.


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

Well, it's gross, but they have to do something so we don't forget that they're dogs!


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## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

I thought I'd give an update for anyone searching this problem and finding this post. It's been a full 8 months since Izzy ate her last bit of poo! Yay! 

We made it clear (thanks again for all of the tips) that if she ate her poo we weren't too happy (a simple "oh no Izzy" was enough) and she didn't get a yummy treat, and being very food-motivated she soon learned. As well, she stopped eating garbage from off the streets. This may sound a bit crazy but I think she also learned a little bit at a time that food should taste yummy (she always gets something delicious on top of her bowl of food like lentils, chunks of apples or broccoli, coconut sprinkles, and/or peanut butter). 

This is how far she's come: when her poo sometimes gets stuck to the hairs on her backside, she will turn around and bite it off and then spit it right out! And then she'll sit down with a sweet little smile, waiting for her treat, of course!

Thanks again to everyone who gave advice! It all helped to reinforce the message.


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## 31818 (Oct 29, 2014)

gateau said:


> Thanks again to everyone who gave advice! It all helped to reinforce the message.


This is such a great on-line community! So many people have helped me so much with learning how to care for Ricky. Well, it is like family!

Ricky's Popi


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## Jackie from Concrete WA (Mar 23, 2015)

I'm glad Izzy is "cured"! Willow will every once in awhile try to grab a piece of poo. For some reason, it's morning poo she prefers.


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## kicker0927 (Oct 15, 2013)

My mom has an older yellow lab and a ****-zu. Every time her lab is about to poo, the two little ones are about an inch from her behind just waiting like its a chocolate fondue fountain. Her yellow lab enjoys the poo, but only during the winter months. We make ourselves feel better about it by referring to the doody as poopsicles.


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## gateau (Jan 1, 2015)

Hilarious!!! My 7 year old would love this thread. I'm debating showing it to her.


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## kicker0927 (Oct 15, 2013)

How ironic is it that the forum blocks the breed name ****-zu on here....


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

kicker0927 said:


> How ironic is it that the forum blocks the breed name ****-zu on here....


I don't know that the forum is blocking the "naughty" word or whether people are doing that. But that's not how you spell the breed name anyway. It's Shih-tzu, which I'm SURE the forum wouldn't block.

And we often talk about bitches, and that word doesn't get blocked, so I'm not at all sure the forum has anything to do with it!


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## kicker0927 (Oct 15, 2013)

LOL. Good catch. Haha. My spelling is horrible!


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