How to Stop Your Dog From Eating Feces

Dog eating feces in yard

Eating feces is called coprophagy. In addition to being socially unacceptable, eating feces exposes the dog to parasites and diseases.

It's important to rule out a medical cause by visiting your veterinarian. Sometimes an underlying illness or disease may be the culprit, such as disorders of the intestinal tract, diabetes mellitus, a deficiency in some vital nutrient such as iron, or other causes. However, most often no disease can be found and stool eating is considered a behavioral problem. Eating feces is a problem that is easier to prevent than to cure, so don't allow the opportunity to arise.

Instructions

1. Keep your dog's yard clean by disposing of feces promptly. If he is paper trained, clean up the stool so he isn't tempted to eat it. Try to clean up the feces when your dog is not watching you, because sometimes a dog will imitate what his owner is doing.

2. Upgrade your dog's diet by replacing his grain-based kibble with a high-protein, low-carbohydrate food.

3. If you suspect that anxiety, stress, or frustration is the reason for eating feces, the cause should be identified and the behavior changed by using obedience modification techniques.

4. Sometimes stool eating is an attention-getting behavior. If this is the case, try to startle your dog with a loud noise or clap your hands when you catch him. If possible, avoid letting him know that the startling noise came from you.

5. If your dog knows a command such as "leave it," say that instead. Praise him when he drops it, and give him an acceptable item to chew or play with.

6. If it is a play behavior, keep plenty of toys in the yard for your dog to play with. Make sure your dog has good, tough 'chews' to relieve doggy tensions. Praise your dog when he is playing with his toys outside.

7. Try to set aside time during the day for plenty of attention and exercise. A tired dog is a good dog!

8. Do-it-yourself treatments added to the dog's food include sprinkling monosodium glutamate (MSG, or Accent flavor enhancer), a drop of anise essential oil, or adding garlic, pumpkin, pineapple, or meat tenderizer. These methods work for some dogs but not for all.

9. Commercial products can be added to the dog's food. These are digested by the animal, and results in giving the feces a very bad taste. Some of these products are:
   *** 8 in 1 Deter Coprophagia Treatment for Dogs For-Bid
   *** Potty Mouth Copraphagia Treatment
   *** Prozyme Natural Enzyme Food Supplement
   *** Seacure FOR PETS by Proper Nutrition
   *** Solid Gold S.E.P. (Stop Eating Poop)
   *** Dis-Taste Extra Strength from Drs. Foster and Smith

10. Some owners put Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper (chili powder) on the feces - not the food.

Tips & Warnings

• Many animals learn to refrain from the behavior when their owner is present, but still engage in the problem behavior when their owner is absent. So any reaction from you after the fact is never helpful. Animals don't understand why you are upset for something they did hours, minutes or even seconds before.

• Have your veterinarian do a fecal flotation examination every six to 12 months. This will screen your dog for exposure to intestinal parasites or worms such as hookworms, roundworms, and whipworms.

• Do not use verbal scolding, yelling, or punishment because it may be interpreted by your dog as attention. This approach won't resolve the problem and is likely to produce either fearful or aggressive responses from your dog.