It's more as Amber said, several reasons, one reason, or as I like to think sometimes, NO reason.

Two of my dogs ate it, four never did and never were any of them ever punished for going inside. The dog I have now was never punished in any way for peeing or pooing in the house and it only took two weeks or so to get him to not go inside at all. It was an incredibly easy transition for him and for me. It was as natural as could be, no stress at any time. He also never soiled his crate at any time.

My point is that if eating poo is based on poor or punishing or stressful housetraining methods, he would never have done it.

I'm thinking however, that in some dogs it may be true that punishment or stress in housetraining may have something to do with it, but that reason itself is not the only reason a dog may do it.

I figure if a dog can eat stinky horrible smelling stuff (green tripe comes to mind), or rotten carcasses, then is it REALLY such a stretch to understand why dogs eat poo? I think it can be a good reminder, just when we begin to think the opposite, that a dog really isn't human after all

Edited to add: I would not use rat traps - risky.

The only reason I even got involved was Nicolas's original suggestion. The idea of putting rat traps in your dog's feces is ridiculous to me when there are so many other options that involve physically harming the dog. Pumpkin, pineapple juice, deter, even bitter apple, vinegar, or tobasco on the feces.

Ben. First off it would be Nicholas' Proper English is nice

I suggested the correction method because the pumpkin, pineapple juice, deter, even bitter apple, is what we call band aid training.

What happens when the dog goes and smells another pile of feces that doesn't have these products? Or what if the products don't work period???

While the bitter apple will help with chewing and some other areas it is my OPINION that it will not apply in this situation. As it is very natural for a dog to want and smell other animals markings and waste products. I.E. urine and feces.

The dog will learn that smelling it is OK, however when I (the dog) try and eat it, I (the dog) get a correction.

My method doesn't harm the dog contrary to what you think. It is a simple correction same as a prong or choke. Now if you do not agree with corrections, and are only purely positive then I can understand your concern. And there is nothing wrong with the purely positive method. To each is his own.

Let me also say that yes the above methods that you mentioned would be nice to try first off, but for THIS dog in THIS case it would seem that the owner has tried other correctional methods or just other methods in General. I think i recall him/her saying that the dog does it "behind his back." The traps have no behind the back. And yes the owner could just pick up the feces each time the dog poops, but I know I for one don't always have the time, nor do I want to clean it up when its raining or -32 out You might.

If you google "pica, dogs" it comes up with quite a bit of stuff.

I found this one:

Why Dogs Eat Poop

Some are interesting outlooks (like the parasites one) and some I just plain do not really agree with.

Hey, thats nice. Thanks for posting that Carol.