Due to the fact my pup has just started either "Eating" or picking poop up in his mouth and dropping it on my bed with the attempt to eat I've been doing a bit of research on the subject.
Reasons for eating poop:
1) The dog thinks it tastes good...
2) Could be a symptom of anxiety, stress or boredom.
3) Puppies may have a vitamin or mineral deficiency and they eat feces to restore this balance.
4) Could be that your dog is cleaning up his living area. This of course should be the owner's job.
5) Sometimes dogs develop this feces eating habit because they are copying the behavior of other dogs. There is also a theory that some dogs eat their poop because they see their owners cleaning it up, and they just decide to do it for themselves (not sure about this one).
6) Some dogs have been known to develop Coprophagia when put on certain medications or antibiotics.
7) A dog may eat the feces of a sick dog. This behavior is an attempt to conceal or protect the sick dog from predators.
8) Dog owners have noted that when changing their dog's diet the dog has developed coprophagia - especially if the change was to a diet high in fat.
Thats a lot of reasons eh?
Well there were some "Home remedies" listed to help detur the behavior.
Put a table spoon of Pineapple, Pumpkin, Spinach, Pickles or Garlic in their food. (I'd personally avoid garlic) the theory on this one is that it either makes the poop smell or taste bad so the dog won't eat it.
The grossest one was to slice the poop and put tobasco/texas pete on both sides so when the dog attempts to eat it he/she never tries again.
Forbid and Deter pet store suppliments that supposedly make the poop taste bad.
Other than that you kind of need to catch them in the act and even then pulling something a dog thinks tastes good out of their mouths can be rather difficult even if they know "drop it".
Reasons for eating poop:
1) The dog thinks it tastes good...
2) Could be a symptom of anxiety, stress or boredom.
3) Puppies may have a vitamin or mineral deficiency and they eat feces to restore this balance.
4) Could be that your dog is cleaning up his living area. This of course should be the owner's job.
5) Sometimes dogs develop this feces eating habit because they are copying the behavior of other dogs. There is also a theory that some dogs eat their poop because they see their owners cleaning it up, and they just decide to do it for themselves (not sure about this one).
6) Some dogs have been known to develop Coprophagia when put on certain medications or antibiotics.
7) A dog may eat the feces of a sick dog. This behavior is an attempt to conceal or protect the sick dog from predators.
8) Dog owners have noted that when changing their dog's diet the dog has developed coprophagia - especially if the change was to a diet high in fat.
Thats a lot of reasons eh?
Well there were some "Home remedies" listed to help detur the behavior.
Put a table spoon of Pineapple, Pumpkin, Spinach, Pickles or Garlic in their food. (I'd personally avoid garlic) the theory on this one is that it either makes the poop smell or taste bad so the dog won't eat it.
The grossest one was to slice the poop and put tobasco/texas pete on both sides so when the dog attempts to eat it he/she never tries again.
Forbid and Deter pet store suppliments that supposedly make the poop taste bad.
Other than that you kind of need to catch them in the act and even then pulling something a dog thinks tastes good out of their mouths can be rather difficult even if they know "drop it".
This morning he was running around the back yard like a crazy dog looking for it in the snow. He understands "leave it" so I got him to drop it.
