Over the last few weeks I have caught my dog eating her poop a few times. She is a 9 month old Akita, almost to the day and weighs about 63 lbs. I feed her twice a day two to three cups of Pro Plan dog food each time, although she is a very picky eater and usually only actually eats half of that. I'm not sure if she doesnt like her food or if she is unhappy or what. But this really freaks me out and disgusts me. Let me know if you need any more information, I gave what I could think of. If someone can give me advice I'd sure appreciate it.
Thanks,
Mike

I had that problem with my dog, but the food was Science Diet.
Apparently there is something in the food that is not being digested by the dog. Once I changed foods the problem went away.
I would recommend a food that is more veg and chicken, turkey or lamb and less grain in it.

 Quote: Mike Quill

Over the last few weeks I have caught my dog eating her poop a few times. She is a 9 month old Akita, almost to the day and weighs about 63 lbs. I feed her twice a day two to three cups of Pro Plan dog food each time, although she is a very picky eater and usually only actually eats half of that. I'm not sure if she doesnt like her food or if she is unhappy or what. But this really freaks me out and disgusts me. Let me know if you need any more information, I gave what I could think of. If someone can give me advice I'd sure appreciate it.
Thanks,
Mike

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=118798&Searchpage=1&Main=13107&Words=coprophagia&topic=0&Search=true#Post118798

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=100306&Searchpage=1&Main=10989&Words=coprophagia&topic=0&Search=true#Post100306

Although there are other possible reasons for coprophagia, in this case I'd start a better food as soon as possible -- that one is way up there with Science Diet for being inappropriate for dogs.

I am certain you just didn't realize it yet, but you've come to the right place to learn that the commercial foods with the biggest advertising budgets are made from the cheapest ingredients, such as grain where meat should be.

You might want to check out this section:
http://www.leerburg.com/feedingdogs.htm

It includes a list of the better kibbles.

Here are the first few ingredients of the chicken Pro Plan:

Chicken, brewers rice, whole grain wheat, poultry
by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn

Brewers rice is a waste product from making alcoholic beverages, and wheat, corn gluten meal, and whole grain corn are all protein grains, with the protein in them included in the label's protein declaration, but dogs do not have digestive systems designed to process grains. They need meat protein. In addition, the stress on the system to produce the unnatural amounts of grain-digesting enzymes in its attempts to process daily grain in these amounts is, I believe, a factor in long-term organ derangement (particularly the pancreas).

All JMO, but I'm in a big crowd.

I do not intend to be an alarmst, so please take this suggestion with a grain of salt. There are a number of problems associated with eating fecal material. Make sure that you check the dogs stool to see if it is normal, or has it changed in consistency or coloring. Also keep a close eye on the dogs weight if he begins to lose weight you might want to see a Vet. I had a 15 mos old GSD that started eating his poop. I took him to the Vet. The vet siad he was skinny but otherwise healthy and I should try to put some weight on him. I gave him all the food he wanted and even started putting peanut butter on dog biscuits trying to pack on the calories. A month later we were back to see the vet and my guy (Koach) had LOST 16 lbs.
Long story short he had a condition called EPI and had to be put down. I honestly do NOT think that is the case with your dog simply because 70% of all cases of EPI affect GSD's. You also stated that he was not eating all of his food and I understood that that was normal. Please understand that I am not trying to scare you. I do not want your dog to suffer needlessly due to lack of information. Keep a closer eye on him and if need be see a Vet.
Good Luck I hope it all works out for the best.

i'm not the great diplomat that connie is , so i'll put it less delicately:

pro plan, science diet, and plenty of other commercial dog foods are POISON. they do not provide the nutrition dogs need.

in all likelihood, your dog is eating feces because he's not getting the nutrition he needs from his food. please change his diet immediately. there's plenty of good information on this site about species appropriate diets for dogs.

and good on you for being concerned enough to write. i hope you'll now take action. if, after changing his diet according to the guidelines you find here at leerburg, you find this problem persists, then i'd take the dog to the vet and get a complete work up to find out what else could be wrong.

I have the same poop eating problem with my 24 month old female shepherd. I feed my dogs chicken soup for the dog lovers soul which was what the breeder recommended. My female maintains her weight and has a huge appetite. She also chases her tail and catches it. Through more in house time and walks on the treadmill she is easing up on the tail chasing but I was wondering if the two could be connected? Maybe the result of a nervous "tick". Any insight I could get would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the advice. I went and bought some Innova dog food. It was on the list and it was the only one I could find locally. She didn't seem so picky and gullped it down. I let everyone know how it goes from here.

My puppy will pick up her poop just to irritate me into chasing her...but I don't think this is the same behavior described here.

She got yelled at (negative attention) so now when she thinks I'm not giving her enough attention she promptly runs out in the backyard and finds a yard trophy.

rolling eyes...