We have a 3 month old GSD who tries to eat his poop after going outside. I know many people have posted about this, but please, read on. We tried forbid in his food and spraying our own concoction directly on the feces and it helped some, but now we just scoop the poop right away to not give him the opprtunity. He is crated at night for about 7 hours and has never had an accident in the crate. We crate during the day while we are at work and we let him out around lunch for a break - again, no accidents. We thought our dog was house trained and things were going great, UNITL.... the past few days he has been pooping in the house and eating it! We either find smudges on the kitchen floor or catch him in the act. In the evening we keep him in gated in the kitchen, but occasionlly we must breifly leave the room. This is when he "goes" - even if he just "went" outside 20 minutes before. We do not briefly leave him if he is acting like he needs to go. How can he can hold it for hours in the crate, but not when we are briefly out of the room? Up until the past few days he has been able to hold it when he is not in the crate and we knew his "schedule" of needing to go. In the morning and evenings when we are home we take him out to do his business constantly. Could he be trying to "cover-up" his mistake by eating it, or could he be doing it purposefully when we're not around so he can eat it (I don't want to believe)? He knows we don't like the poop eating because we tell him "NO!" when we see him try. We are feeing him Eagle Pack Large Breed Puppy Food. We are feeling like we are making giant leaps backwards. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should we put him in the crate even if we have to leave the room for 20 minutes? Should we try meat tenderizer, yogurt, pinapple, etc., or may there be a serious physical / behavioral problem going on? We are desperate and we really want to do the right thing.

Thanks,
Kristin

Hi Kristin,

We just got a two month old APBT. She is doing exctly the same thing. I just read another post on this topic where it mentions using seasoning, but I don't know whether this'll work with mine since she's pretty fussy about what she eats. I will be watching this post with interest. In addition, I would appreciate it if our moderators could let this one ride a while until we have a variety of solutions to work with.

My apbt pup had the same problem. I would feed him a tablespoon of crushed pineapple every meal for about a month or so and it went away.

i have read, i dont' have the material here infront of me now, that it sometimes has to do with the diet. has something to do with lack of some kind of vitimans, i will look into it, i think ed has an article with advise on here plus you could try looking it up on the net.

Kristin,
Based upon what you have posted, it does sound to me like he is trying to do this when you aren't able to catch him. I would suggest a three-pronged approach.
One, clean up promptly so that he doesn't have the opportunity.
Two, instead of saying "NO" when he tries to do this (this may be what is making him try to sneak), get his attention and offer him something better to redirect him, and clean it up promptly with no fuss.
Three, unless he is "empty", don't leave him unspervised where he can do this.

This could be diet but also may not....it is common for alot of dogs to do this. I have seen it in alot of working line GSD's...

Lisa covered everything with "Clean up promptly" and "Don't leave the dog unsupervised".

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I know this is a common problem.

Lisa, I suspect you are right about the sneaking (lil' devil!). We have been cleaning up right away and always keep a close eye on him outside. I will redirect him with a goodie and my husband and I will have to work better as a team to watch him if one leaves the room for a moment. We were mistaken in thinking it would be OK to leave him alone for 10 minutes or so at this stage.

Will keep you posted on his progress!

Thanks again,
Kristin

The only problem I see with Lisa's suggested method is that the dog will never be able to take a crap without supervision. And if you focus too much on it, then some dogs can get obsessive about eating their poop. How bout if they'd rather eat shit then play with you? LOL <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'd at least try the pineapple in the diet. My pup is 6 months old now and hasn't had a problem since 3 months of age.

Chris,
Remember that we're talking about a 3 month old (12-16 week old) puppy here. Keeping him under supervision to prevent unwanted behaviors is certainly not going to create an adult dog that can't poop without supervision.
You're right that focusing on the poop eating too much can exascerbate the problem, which is why I said to redirect and reward, then clean up the mess with no fuss (I probably should have added that it would be a good idea to clean it up without the puppy watching).
I have heard that the pineapple works. I've also heard that Forbid works, but obviously it has not worked in this case. I certainly see no harm in trying it; but if it is not effective, then what? Keep trying dietary additives, all the while the pup's behavior is being reinforced through repetition? I'd rather be more proactive than that, if it were me. Glad the pineapple worked for you. Coprophagia is an extremely disgusting habit.