hi im new here....on friday we bought a 5mth old westie puppy..shes been ok weve got a few teething problems but nothing we cant solve but this morning when i let her out of her crate she had a poo then ate it ......why ?

It's a perfectly normal (though disgusting ;-) ) habit. Most puppies will try it at some point in their life. The only real way to stop it is to pick it up straight away, before they get the chance to eat it. It won't do her any harm, just don't let her give you a kiss afterwards :-)

It's possible that in the past she's been scolded for pooing in the wrong place, so she's learned to 'hide the evidence'.

she ate it as soon as shed done it ....... feel a bit happier knowing its normal lol..

Normal for some dogs maybe, but not something you should just allow her to continue to do as it could become a very difficult habit to break. As already suggested, picking up her mess as soon as she does it is the only way to prevent it really, and as a result she will hopefully stop of her own accord.

Our little girl did it too.
We tried to discourage as much as possible if we saw her, by distracting her asap when she had 'performed'.
Putting pineapple with food is supposed to be effective.
Ours does no longer do it, but it is horrible and I sympathise with you.
I think its a bitch thing.....though no doubt some dogs do it too.

Karen

Our pup is 19 weeks old. He was awful for eating his own poo when we were house training him! We feel he was definitely trying to hide the evidence as he never ever ate it when he went outside. We found the only way to stop him was to be extremely vigilant and pick it up straight away. Also, when out on a walk, we don't allow him to sniff other dogs 'doings' - we say ugh! and he turns away. Often now he will even look the other way when he spots one! :)

We did the same with Louis too - he would even ignore tasty take away morsels he came across!

It could be that she is getting too much protein in her diet. This happened with our westie!

You can buy something called 'Deter' which seems to work.  Best of all is if you can get to the poo before she does.

I had it all the time last year when my sheltie was a pup.  She loved it, not only her own but the two cats' poo (yuck!).

Fortunately she seems to have forgotten about it although she still has a good sniff - but no longer (thank God) eats it.  So I am sure it is one of those phases that will pass ....

Snowflake

Two of my girls ate poo, though never their own, always the other dogs.  Fortunately they never ate poo outside the garden either, which was a blessing.  Although not pleasant, at least I knew my lot were wormed.  One grew out of it by 5 months, the other took a little longer, sorry ... 12 months!!  I did put pineapple (tinned in juice) on their food, also pumpkin seeds and grated courgette.  All apparently can help, I used them but don't think any of them worked, think it really was a case of just growing out of the habit.  However, worth trying ... they loved it anyway!

As others have said, pick up as soon as she does it ... can you watch her and instantly call her away from it, so there are no 'issues' over the picking up, ie who can get to it the quickest?!  Don't tell her off though, always distract.  Good luck, hope the poo kisses don't last for too long ;-)

My Lab is 11 months old. She's still eating poo. Not all poo if that makes it any better. She never eats her own. She's also terrible for eating any food on the ground. If she's out of my grab I don't stand a chance. Even shouting leave or trying to distract her. Any advice would be ppreciated

Yep, we have the same problem with our 11 month old Newf. Eats (and rolls in) poo, but not his own. Sheep, cow, rabbit - he's not fussy!

My Mini Schnauzer loves sheep poo......ewwww!!! I hate it when she returns with a green smelly beard!!! I'm sure she'e smiling under all that beard and green poo x

Hi, my Westies often eat pooh as babies and I was told a long time ago to get a vitamin K injection to stop it. I tried and it worked on all except one, who still did it til the day she died. My vet had not heard of it but the advice came from Cambridge. He used it often after that and it worked. The other one I have heard is put pineapple chunks in the dinner but that probably won't work if they don't eat their own.