I'm not sure what's going on with this dog. Kody is about 20 months old. Last spring we noticed that he all of a sudden started losing weight and started eating his own poop every single time he'd go. Turned out he had a bacterial infection. We got that cleared up with antibiotics. I also had alot of trouble getting him on a food he would tolerate. I tried Canidae, Natural Balance, Pinnacle and I think two or three others before I finally got him on Royal Canin made specifically for Boxers and that finally got his weight back up and his poop stabilized. However, he has never stopped eating his poop. Almost every single time he goes, he immediately turns around to eat it. In addition to wondering why he does this, my wife is concerned that him licking us, including our two kids, or anything else for that matter is unsanitary. I know that I probably should take him to the vet again, but we are having major financial issues right now and can't do that. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Kory

My dog started doing this out of the blue when he was a few months old. I searched the net, spoke to the vet, tried the supplements that are supposed to stop it, tried hot pepper, tried Lawrys....any remedy I found I tried. Nothing worked. I just made a point to be right behind him with the scooper as much as I could. I didn't always make it tho and he's be in the house with us and burp and he'd clear a room...it was disgusting! There are tons of reasons they do it and one is learned behavior...maybe your dog did it from the illness and then it became learned.
My dog stopped doing it just as miraculously as he started. He probably did it for 3-5 months.
Good luck, it is gross

 Quote: Kordell Fox

I'm not sure what's going on with this dog. Kody is about 20 months old. Last spring we noticed that he all of a sudden started losing weight and started eating his own poop every single time he'd go. Turned out he had a bacterial infection. We got that cleared up with antibiotics. I also had alot of trouble getting him on a food he would tolerate. I tried Canidae, Natural Balance, Pinnacle and I think two or three others before I finally got him on Royal Canin made specifically for Boxers and that finally got his weight back up and his poop stabilized. However, he has never stopped eating his poop. Almost every single time he goes, he immediately turns around to eat it. In addition to wondering why he does this, my wife is concerned that him licking us, including our two kids, or anything else for that matter is unsanitary. I know that I probably should take him to the vet again, but we are having major financial issues right now and can't do that. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Kory

I think there might be something more than an old bacterial infection going on here, and I'd address this with the vet, but you want ideas for now.

Simple: Leash him, walk him out to go, redirect him and pick it up, no poop to eat.

Combine his schedule with your walks and you won't even be adding walks (nothing wrong with adding walks, though!). Even if you just walk him around the yard when you have determined is his usual schedule (usually tied to feeding time), you will be there to pick it up.



eta
Last time I faced this in an adopted dog, I carried major treats and the minute she pooped I gave a command (any command, like sit) and gave a fabulous treat. Within a week or so she was looking at me for the command and the treat the second the poop hit the ground.

It likely is (or started as) a medical/digestive health issue. I don't believe that poop eating is a natural behavior of a healthy dog.

But after 20 months of doing it, it's also become a learned behavior. It's a bad habit. You'd have to work on this the same as any other unwanted behavior like jumping on the couch or counter surfing. Either control his environment so that he cannot engage in the unwanted behavior (i.e. pick up the poop before he can eat it.)...or train him not do do it. Both will require you to actually go out into the yard with him every time he poops. He cannot fix this by himself.

I had a feeling this would be the response. We are always so busy it's very difficult to always walk him to go to the bathroom. That's why we trained him on an invisible fence on over an acre of our yard, so he'd have free reign to run and play with our other dog. This is not going to be easy to fix, but I'll try. Thanks for the replys.

Kory

Connie, you say you suspect there's something more to this than an old bacterial infection. I assumed that means something health wise. Is there something in particular that this could be?

Kory

How is he doing? How is his weight?

What I meant was: Worms, parasites, malabsorption syndrome, and EPI can all present with weight loss (despite good appetite), and coprophagia as an apparent attempt to make up for lost nutrients (lost to malabsorption or to parasites/worms).


JMO. I'm not a health professional.

His weight is now fine since I finally got him on a food that he tolerates. All the other foods would go right through him. I never really approached that with the vet. I just assumed that he had a food allergy, maybe it's malabsorption, I don't know. But the Royal Canin works. His weight is good. He has been wormed, so I don't think it's that and our other dog has none of these issues. I do not know what EPI is.

http://www.epi4dogs.com/

I'm not a health professional either. But if his weight and poop are now normal, I'd address the coprophagia as a habit that began when he had GI issues and continues now because he always ate poop and dogs like routines. And that's now his routine.

What treat could you offer him that he'd like better than poop?

Could you begin a re-training program wherein you'd give him some command after pooping to get a really good treat? I'd work on that. Start out in the yard with him, right next to him, with a hot dog or something that you know he'll love. Right after he poops, get his attention by using his name and calling him --even though he'll only be coming a few feet. Reward. Then pick up the poop.

Keep moving farther away from him until you are able to stand at the back door and call for the after-poop treat. With enough repetition I think you can create a new habit of pooping then running to you. But remember that this is a 20-month-ingrained habit. I don't think you'll fix it in a week. And it will require you to pick up the poop to eliminate the temptation. You may have to do that for a long time.