My 4 month old flattie is still keen on scoffing his own poo, although he rarely gets the chance as we pick it up immediately. But with better weather, he can play in our large garden and we can't always be right behind him. I have already tried pineapple and 'Deter' but they don't seem to work - he just loves the stuff!
A lot of people on the internet seem to suggest that changing food may be a good idea - at the moment he is on Eukanuba large breed puppy and it seems to suit him, though frankly he would eat anything, I suspect. He does do a lot of large poos (sorry for so much detail) and I wonder if this means he is not fully digesting the food and therefore it is still yummy when it comes out the other end.
Can anyone recommend a good, highly digestible food which might help? Is Orijen good? Anyone have any experience with Eukanuba? Is Nature Diet likely to help - I sometimes add some to his dried food adn wonder if a bigger proportion might be better for him. There is so much choice it is a bit bewildering and I don't feel I want to be chopping and changing all the time.
Many thanks.

i have exactly the same prob with my gsd, he's 18 months and i have spent a LONG time trying to stop him do it! good luck cause you may need it!!

Hi I have same problem with some of my lot. I dont think it makes much difference what food you feed them or what you add to the food to make it unpalettable, the horrible dogs will still eat it given half a chance!! Mine only do it at home,out on a walk they dont bother and just trot off while I bag it. At home I follow them round shovel at the ready. If you do find out how to stop em PLEASE let me know! lol

A change of food is unlikely to help. The belief held by some is that too much food is not digested and therefore the dog is going for a "second helping."  :-(   In my experience with dogs, even with the most digestible foods (e.g.; pure meat, etc.) does not make a difference in tems of poo eating.

Your flattie may grow out of it (or at least cut down substantially) as he gets older.   In the meantime, try to discourage it with distraction and reward for ignoring it.

Wait till he starts rolling in fox poo, etc. .... and then what he's doing now will seem less of an issue. LOL

my pagan is a fcr as well she was trouble when she was a puppy for this eating her and other poo.
she on the same food as your boy which suit her,

but she has grown out out it she 20months old now i do think it a puppy thing,9DID NOTICE WHEN IT WAS COLD AND FROST SHE DID AGAIN}

but i will say all the dogs love horse poo

I found this in an article about snownoses:
A new herbal remedy for animals is called Chorela. It is supposed to stimulate the immune system and has proven helpful in treating dogs that lose pigment from their nose, and also dogs that have the nasty habit of eating their own droppings. Seek advice on this product from your vet or a naturopath. 
Anyone tried it?

Hi Boston,

Your article has it slightly wrong ;)
not chorela but chlorella :) It's a single protein algea. You can get human and animal use.
   Mainly used (from memory..) For blood pressure/hypertension,weight loss, and or immune system imbalance.
The research on its effectiveness in wounds was always conflicting (unless there is something newer I don't know) <- Im going from memory haven't looked it up in a while.

would be interested to hear of any anecdotal evidence....

Thanks everyone; looks like I would be best to wait and see if he grows out of it - though the signs aren't promising as he is a really dreadful scavenger and will eat just about anything. At the moment he is licking the mud off the wheels of our car! Two days ago we discovered that he had found and eaten a face flannel (a small one!) when it appeared, like a long snake, at the other end - a bit of a shock!
I have looked up chlorella and can't find anything that suggests it might help this particular problem, though there's obviously a lot of goodness in it. Perhaps it works along the same lines of adding spinach to food - maybe has a similar taste - as this is another 'remedy' (hah!) that I've come across.
He's such an angelic looking dog ................!! I have managed to teach him 'leave' already and he will happily come away from his poo to get his praise and treat, but he's a cunning / clever little devil and will run out of sight if he can when the 'urge' takes him. Overall he's a lovely dog, wanting to be with us and please us and learning very quickly so maybe we just have to put up with this problem - and keep paying his pet insurance!
I'd still be grateful for any comments on different foods before we settle on one.

with a fcr you got at lease another 14 to 18 months of joy before turn in the corner into an adult then they never grow up that why they are named the peter pan of the dog world.

Hi,

Have you googled Coprophagia, there are lots of articles on it so that may be worth a try. Also, have you discussed it with your Vet?

My first GSD was fanatical about it and despite several changes of diet (in the days before I fed BARF) my Vet and I came to the conclusion that it was habitual, not dietary/health and therefore the only course of action I had left to me was extreme vigilance. Sorry, not what you want to hear I know. But I do think that it can become a very unpalatable habit. I have not had it with my current breed but then they are on a different diet by comparison to what I used to feed many yrs ago but that just maybe co-incidence.

I hope you find an answer :-)

I think I have read every article in the universe on coprophagia, but they can't add more than the pineapple, Deter, pick up immediately and train 'leave' or 'off' options - all of which I've done. I did talk to our vet when he first did it and his opinion was that it is simply a 'depraved appetite' which many dogs have, as he is clearly in really good health. He gave us a bitter apple spray to use on the poo after he had done it and to put him off eating it again - you can guess what happened; poo eaten regardless, lips licked, if there could have been a bubble coming from his head it would have said, 'lovely, poo with seasoning, more please'.
We're back at the vets soon, for worming treatment, so will have another chat about it.

I know how frustrating it can be and it really is a disgusting habit and a 'learned behaviour' that we can all do without ;-)

I hope that you can find a solution soon.

Hi HuskyGal,

Heres the complete article - have never used the stuff but would be interested to hear from anyone who has as it has been mentioned in a few threads now.

http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/grooming/snownose.htm

B

I switched my dogs dry to Pero Organic & my two male BC's have stopped their poo dining over nite

Moonmaiden, although I'm not having the problem of poo-eating from mine, this food sounded so great I've just ordered some. Retailers must love when their products get a mention on CD!

Hi I have two flatties (2 and 7) both on Eukanuba, who don't eat their poo, but have a great fondness for other animals poos! Sheep and horse are particular favourites! :-)
My previous flattie never grew out of eating her own poo though :-( and was still poo eating at 12.
Not sure if any of that has helped, but didn't want you to change his food and find he still was a poo eater.

I dont think it makes much difference what food you feed them or what you add to the food to make it unpalettable

I disagree. Whilst I was looking for a palatable food for my ACS, I did find that different foods make a difference on his appetite on dog poo. On some, he was virtually not interested at all, on others, he is extremely keen to get to it. I also know of a situation where a few people on a forum changed their dogs all to the same food as it was recommended. A majority reported that the dogs suddenly started eating other dogs' poos, eventhough they didn't before! As soon as the dogs were changed back to their original food, it stopped!
So yes, I would suggest to look at the diet first and foremost.

If different diets make no difference, then it's extremely hard to stop it! A solid "leave" will help, but it not easy to enforce all the time.

I think I agree that a change of food might help so I've just ordered a trial bag of the Pero Organic. Will let you all know if it makes a difference, though I am reluctant to let him have the chance to eat his poo just to find out! I still feel that prevention and vigilance will, long term, be our best bet, and hope it peters out as he gets older.

i have a few who love poo too i have tried everything
so when someone suggested tabasco sauce i thought omg that is awful but tbh i did try it they didn't like the smell of the sauce and it did put them of poo eating for a while
this is did by lifting nearly all poos but one which i put tabasco sauce on and they stayed away from it but once i stopped putting this sauce on the poo it started again it was only a quick fix but it did work

but i bet i looked quite strange if anyone looked out there windows and seen me doing this LOL

but i would try anything too stop poo eating the only thing i have found is cleaning up after every poo (which is why i got the garden paved a few mths ago so much easier now)

> poo eaten regardless, lips licked, if there could have been a bubble coming from his head it would have said, 'lovely, poo with seasoning, more please'.
>

I'm sat here laughing at all your comments!  :-p

Only true dog people could have such an in depth conversation about such a disgusting habit.  :-)

Years ago I sold a little puppy to a home with multiple cats.   The owners came back to me and asked if it was normal for puppies to eat from the litter tray! 

At least from this thread newcomers can be pretty certain that it's not unusual!

Feeding them pumpkin is supposed to produce poo that is definitely not a doggy favourite!   But unless you can get tinned pumpkin over here, that's it until Halloween!

My GWP pup was dreadful for eating her own poo while on Eukanuba large breed. I changed her at 7 months onto Challenge food and she has mostly stopped the horrid habit, she has also stopped pumping anywhere near as badly as she did! She still wolfs down the horse and sheep poo when we go in the field though!!

I know of a recent episode with a friend who's lab has been eating poo of any variety, dead birds, anything it can get its teeth into basically.  The worst thing with it tho, is its sick everyday after eating it and has frequent bouts of diarrhea.  After a vet check it was determined to be habitual so she contacted a behaviourist who used a remote spray collar on her whilst out n about.  After 2 sessions she has stopped. Worth a try with yours maybe?

Unfortunatly the only way you will stop this is by cleaning up straight away.  If your pup  is only eating its own poo that good,its when they eat others that it get more difficult.  I know your pup will poo  lots and because its recyclying it is a sloppy type poo?  So if you manage to pick up there will be less going ing so less coming out.  Perhaps teaching you pup more stimulating tasks to keep it busy will help a bit.  also if when he/she goes and sniffs at the poo he then get a treat when you call him might just reinforce poo contact means treat.  I once owned a rescue dog that knew when my other dog was going to have a poo even before the other dog prob knew! he would be up behind him ready to catch it before it dropped. Arent they lovely!!

We do pick up straight away + reward and lure away with treats - this is all fine while we are right behind him, but as I said, the problem is when he is running round the garden - we have an acre, so it is just not possible to be with him every second, and he is clever at running into an out of the way place. He actually eats very little because we are so vigilant but it can't go on like this - we have gardening to do and a life to lead beside peering at our dog's bottom every second we are outside! Also he will shortly be old enough to take out for longer walks off lead - we live in a very rural spot so I really don't want to have him on the lead all the time just to stop him eating his poo.
I am interested to see the recommendation of a spray collar - we had thought of this but dismissed it as being unkind. Are they OK to use? Has anyone else tried this?
I am also looking at the Challenge food and reading up about a raw food diet as I still have a feeling that this might be the answer if we can hit on the right food for him.

There was a Dog Borstal programme a while ago.  One of the inmates was a lab who was "sent down" because he was a compulsive poo eater.   I believe they used the spray collar very effectively and when the followed up with his owners it really had cured his habit.  However, you do have to dedicate every second there is an opportunity for him to "indulge" in order to break the habit.

My dog Boris likes eating tramp's poo

Must be the booze in it !

Our Barney eats his own.  It's a habit he picked up from his mum.  We think it's because he wanted to keep our garden clean when he was young - carrying on the example she gave him.  But within 8 months, he stopped pooing in the garden entirely and only does it on his walks.  He doesn't attempt to eat it when it's 'outside his home'.  When we got our other dog, she poos in the garden and on her walks, and Barney has not once attempted to eat hers.  I think he is of the opinion that she should clean her own up (she doesn't eat hers luckily).  What he will do, though, is to run in and find me (the clearer upper) and then 'lead' me to the mess as if to say 'she's left it again'. 

However, they will both eat cat poo and I find it a real chore having to quickly scour the garden each day to remove it.

my little crestie eats my staffs poo. He doesnt eat his own or anybody elses and they all eat the same food. He adores Kizzi and obviously her poo tastes different to anybody elses lol

Deter worked with our boy who was eating the other dogs poo but we had to give the maximum dose. He grew out of it at about a year old or so. His litter mates also did it so was probably just a bad habit. We did consult our vet as he was always ravenous. He suggested checking a stool sample and we found he had giardia which may have been partly to blame.