I have a new puppy, have had him for 10 days and he's now 9 weeks old.  He is starting to learn to be clean in the house, and mostly poos in the garden, where he gets praised for being a 'busy boy' but I'm finding that if I'm not very quick to move him after he's pooed he will turn round to eat his 'deposit'.  He doesn't yet understand commands like 'leave' (although I am building that into this situation), and I always have a squeaky toy in my pocket for audible and chewable distraction.  In the house, if I don't get to him in time when he cries, I find evidence that he has snacked on his poo. 

I don't want him to establish this as a habit.  Has anyone any advice on how to nip this in the bud?

At 9 weeks, it's a bit soon to think that he understands the leave command.

And a lot of puppies enjoy eating poo!  There is only one answer really.  You mention "if I don't get to him in time", and you need to.  Anticipate his needs.  At 9 weeks it is the the only way.  Go out with him every hour, on the hour.  Continue praise for getting it right, and ignore it if he gets it wrong.  And when he poos, whipping it up before he does is the way forward.  Puppies are hard work aren't they?  :-)

It might be a good idea to offer him a titbit as soon as he's finished his poo, so that he moves away from it. There's a risk that if you pounce on his poo immediately he'll start to think that it's something specially valuable, and be even quicker at grabbing it before you do!

I have found that Distraction & good hygiene is the only way to combat this problem.

I would start to set an alarm on your mobile or set your oven timer to go off every hour and take him outside. At nine weeks you need to take him out as he can't be expected to tell you at this age. It has the added benefit that you will see him doing his business and be able to distract and reward :)

If he's still poohing indoors then increase the time you spend outside with him - try keeping a diary to learn his timings as pups are generally pretty regular with regards to input and output!

Outside, pop him on a lead and move him away from temptation as soon as he's finished.  Then reward, and put him indoors or behind a gate whilst you clean up after him.  A flexi retractable lead  is very good in this instance as you don't have to stand too close and it may help him learn to recall from a little further away...

Do also double check the amounts you are feeding him.  If you are overfeeding him he'll produce a lot of poo and and will pass it through quite quickly.  Also, dry puppy food is very nutritious and, rather revolting, I suspect it tastes just as good the second time around (gotta love pups!!).

I had a poo eater and he simply grew out of it, helped with good garden hygiene, super-vigilance, and training :)

Thank you, JeanSW, yes, I know he doesn't know what "leave" means - it's just one of those odd noises humans make (but when he goes for the poo that's the word I say).  At the moment, he is taken out when he wakes from a nap, after playing (in the middle of playing if he breaks off), before eating, after eating, in the middle of eating if he looks as if he needs it.  If he's awake it's every hour as well.  I set the alarm twice during the night and take him outside.  I praise every outdoor wee and poo, and pick up every poo as soon as possible.  Indoor 'accidents' are ignored, just cleaned up straight away.

I'm also learning his behaviour, with wees it's just sniff 'n' squat (several times as he is easily distracted);  with poos I'm learning that he prepares by playing several types of "silly pup" first - chew-my-lead, bitey plants, swing-on-the-jeans, etc. - when he gets too silly we go indoors again to calm down, then outside a couple of minutes later.  Sometimes he's lost the urge for that moment, and when it comes back (as it must) I may be giving some attention to my older dog (who is not impressed by pup).  I reckon I get about 98% of wees outdoors, but maybe only 90% of poos.  I know I need to get to him every time, but it isn't always possible, sometimes he squeaks after the event, I rush to him, take him out, praise him for anything else he produces, clean up the mistake (mine, not his I know).

My last puppy was in 1974, and I had forgotten what hard work it is.  But not how rewarding it is in the end.

Thank you , Jeangenie, I'll try titbits.  At the moment I offer him his toy, but if he has a snack in mind a titbit might fill the bill.

Tadog, thank you.  When he's finished, I immediately offer him a stuffed toy, and no poo remains unpicked up longer than a few minutes (as Jeangenie mentioned, I don't want him to think that he has to race me to get to that good stuff! :) 

>playing several types of "silly pup" first - chew-my-lead, bitey plants, swing-on-the-jeans, etc

Very graphic!  :-)  Thank you for reminding me how wonderful pups are!  :-)  :-) :-)

Thank you for your advice.  You will see from reply to another contributor that pup is taken out frequently, he goes on-lead so that I can see eliminations and praise them (and hold the umbrella over him when it tips it down), as well as giving him a sound (word) to associate with relieving himself.  It's not the going out with him that's the problem, it's the eating of his own product.

Thank you, dog a babe, a diary is a good idea, so am starting one.  He does go out on-lead (so that I can see and reward, and know where to clean up).  He is getting very good at doing other things when in the garden, and distracting himself mightily.  Sometimes it feels like living the Hokey Cokey as we go out, pup plays a level or two of "Silly Pup" and gets distracted, we go in to calm down, then out again, in again if necessary to calm down, then out again etc.

> Also, dry puppy food is very nutritious and, rather revolting, I suspect it tastes just as good the second time around (gotta love pups!!).

So good, they eat it twice, eh?!

> I had a poo eater and he simply grew out of it, helped with good garden hygiene, super-vigilance, and training :-)

Thank you very much for this observation, it gives me hope.

Ah, yes :) :) :) In spite of it all, he's a real little poppet, and it's so lovely to see him experience all the new and wonderful things the world has to offer him.

My flattie also was an inveterate poo-eater; he was absolutely determined to eat it by whipping round immediately. So it made life hard because although we were super-quick at picking it up, sometimes he was just quicker! We tried absolutely everything to stop him - pineapple/courgette/banana in his food, some supplement which I think might have been called 'Deter', really I've now forgotten all the different things - but in the end the only thing which has worked is a really really strong 'Leave It!' command, which is now 100% perfect. We worked on it inside by putting a treat on the floor or in our hand and, when he went to eat it, cover it up with the command. Then when he left it he was allowed to eat it when we said 'OK'. He learnt very quickly and it is so useful now for all sorts of times; I absolutely recommend teaching this asap - little and often every day.
He did eventually stop eating his poo and we had a blissful period of about a year but he has now, I should warn you, become extremely interested in eating other dogs' poo which is, if anything, even worse. If we see him about to do it when out on a walk the 'Leave It' is still very effective, but he has become very devious and often will lag behind when he has spotted something tasty and hope we are distracted with our other dog. He certainly knows how angry we are when we see him doing it but he just can't seem to stop himself - he is a very greedy dog at all times. I think some dogs just like it - and it is  a question of loving them all the same! He's a super dog in every other respect but it is very frustrating.
I don't mean to be discouraging - I think a lot of dogs do grow out of it (as he did) and just stay that way. Do persevere. By the way, I swapped my dog onto raw as someone said that would stop him and I do think it helped. Both dogs are still fed raw but I know this isn't for everyone. Good luck!

MY 6 month old recue lab used to eat her own poo,I cleaned it up as soon as she had been,she is now out of the habit.Think alot of pups do this and grow out of it.

Sheila

Trishm, thank you.  Mine also was perfecting the "whip round immediately" move, but now I take a bag of cut-up cocktail sausages out with us, he will accept sausage instead.  (Actually, "accept" is a bit tame - he now mugs me for the titbit without necessarily finishing the job in hand :) .)  Apart from praising the action, I ignore the poo, and the sausage helps to lure him away from it, then we go back indoors - he is on-lead - and he is crated while I trot back out to pick up, so he doesn't see what happens to it or get the idea that poo's a prize.

Thanks too for the heads-up about other dogs' poos, I'll keep a watch when he's out and about.  I'm working on a "yuk!" noise combined with a steer-away to deter slug and snail eating :( , so hope it will apply to other yukky situations.   I'll definitely work on the "leave it" command.

Thank you, Sheila, that's cheering;  I'm hoping my little boy will grow out of it too.  Maybe it's just part of exploring the wonders of the big world :) .

The key is teaching the 'leave it' exactly as posted by Trishm, but to give a really high value treat. I mean chicken, liver or cheese. It's no good offering a dog biscuit. My whippet eventually stopped, he was eating my GSD'S, as soon as the GSD deposited he came straight to me for cheese or chicken, which gave me time to clean up double quick! He enjoyed eating the poo, but prefered chicken or cheese!

Thank you.  He has a "lucky dip" bag containing titbits of (smelly) cheese, chicken, and sausage, from which he is rewarded.  Although still interested in his output, he is less eager to eat it, at least until after he has had his titbit which enables me to steer him away from it.

Just updating this - many thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.  I've not logged in for a while, between getting up at night to take pup out and my older dog needing vet visits and medications.  Re-reading my earlier posts, some of them seem a bit abrupt, so I do hope I didn't offend anyone, it wasn't intentional, just lack of sleep.  If anyone was offended, I apologise.

Pup is now 13 weeks old, and no longer eating poo (although it still fascinates him)! and bravely goes out to the garden even in the rain to toilet. 

Dogs a babe made two very useful suggestions - a diary, this has been very helpful, I can even (more or less) predict when he needs to do what.  And also checking quantity I was feeding - new scales were needed (and are in use!).

Trishm and Beardie described the teaching of the "leave" command - a pair of leather gloves later he has got the idea, thank you.

I have a feeling someone suggested I wasn't spending enough time in the garden with him - I must admit I wasn't, he sometimes does not empty bladder or bowel completely at the first "go", so I now wait until the quantity looks right.

I feel a bit bad about having this much problem, I don't remember my last pup being difficult to housetrain, but then she was a different breed and gender.

> I don't remember my last pup being difficult to housetrain

Ah but if we actually remembered how horrible pups can be we'd never have another would we?!!  Selective memory is natures way of perpetuating the human species - and it seems to work with our dog families too :)

Glad things are going better for you.  It's well worth remembering that boys can be little buggers for not going properly - all of mine have been "2p boys" minimum, and usually 3.  Even now as adults 1 go would never be enough...

The "short, sharp, shock" method has the desired effect for me but it involves quite a lot of window watching and curtain twitching for a few weeks/months.
Put the pup outside to do its business, shut the door and go back inside, and hide by a window so it can't see you. If it tries to eat a poop you start knocking on the window as hard as you can, shout an angry "leave it" command, and scare the living daylights out of the pup.
I know, it's probably not as "nice" as the positive reward approach but it brings a quick end to the poop eating issue.

I use positive reward for other things but poop eating is dealt with more strictly because not only can it be detrimental to health, it's also completely disgusting! :)

My youngsters actually run away from their poops after toileting now and only very occasionally do they dare to try and eat one.

>Ah but if we actually remembered how horrible pups can be we'd never have another would we?!!

LOL!  Never was a truer word spoken.  :-)

When I got my second Bearded Collie (she will be 12 next month), I was complaining to the vet about how much hard work she was, and how I was never this worn out with my first girl.

The vet stood there laughing, and told me that I had a very short memory, because he could well remember me moaning about her!

> Ah but if we actually remembered how horrible pups can be we'd never have another would we?!!

True - my last pup was good to housetrain but adolescent recall was awful.  As an adult, though, her recall was brilliant. :-)

> boys can be little buggers for not going properly

I wasn't expecting this behaviour until he is old enough to scent mark - another notch on the learning curve. :-) 

> The "short, sharp, shock" method has the desired effect for me

Thank you for the suggestion.  The smelly treats route is working very well, as he finds them more attractive than his poo.

Even if I wanted to scare him, I would find it difficult to follow your suggestion, as I can't control what may be passing by on the road next to my garden, and don't want him to be scared of motorbikes, buses, or horses which may be passing as I do a scary shout at him.

My beagle poo ate for a long time and still will occasionally now, the method above to scare her off never worked for me - she would just stuff it in faster until I actually recalled her away from it. 

The 'scaring off' would never have worked for my whippet either, he would just have swallowed it quicker! It's 'horses for courses', what works for one, doesn't neccesarily work for another. Glad we have helped a bit though.

>> Ah but if we actually remembered how horrible pups can be we'd never have another would we?!!
> LOL!  Never was a truer word spoken.  :-)

I so agree - my last pup, as an adult and in memory, had wings and a halo :-) after all the naughty stages were over and the horns had fallen off lol.  I'm hoping for something similar with this one (fingers toes and everything crossed!).

> he would just have swallowed it quicker!

I rather think mine would, too :-( - he's a spirited little chap, interested in everything so needs to learn that poo is really very boring but treats are yummy (and are what "good boy!" tastes like).