could anyone out there adise me what to do about my 10 week old puppy eating poo

Hi guest!  Its quite natural and normal for a pup to eat its own poo so dont panic!  There may be an obvious dietry issue, for instance, I once knew of someone who reared their dog to be a vegetarian and had problems with her dog eating its own poo - so I would first assess the diet that your pup is on and ask yourself if it is suitable enough!? 
My pup used to do this also and it is quite a disturbing habit - however she gave up at about 4 months old.  I used to keep an eye on her in the garden and discourage her from munching on it!  I also cleaned up all poo from the garden before she had a chance to feast!  Some people reccommend courgettes or pineapple chunks in the dog's food - Hey, might be worth a try - Didn't work with mine though!  It is known as copraphagy so it may be worth doing a search here on champdog's as I know this has come up many times before!
Sarah :)

I have one dog that does that and all four of my dogs find deer poo the greatest delicacy ever! They really go to town on it. Gross all right! But no harm so far. I suppose they could get some parasite or something, but they've been sampling it for a very long time and no noticable ill effects.

I read in some raw food diet book that they NEED to eat poo if they're not eating the raw food diet. Hmmmmm. Don't think so, as long as they're getting the proper protein. It could be some left over instinct to cover their tracks, don't really know. My other dogs don't eat dog poo, just the one dog. And I think the little bit of deer is just an appetizer.

Carrie

My puppy doesn't eat his own poo, but he will eat one of my other dog's if he gets the chance.  I wondered if it smelt like food, as the meals are Naturediet.  Funny he doesn't eat the older dog's poo, and she doesn't have Naturediet!
  Hilda

Dogs, unlike rabbits and some other animals, have no biological need to recycle their excrement however what normally happens is that it can either be something they have copied from their dam in the nest or, more often, the diet contains a great deal of cereal which dogs are not designed to process and a lot comes out the other end undigested which is therefore still attractive to the dog, hence why dogs like horse droppings so much.  Dogs like cow pats especially if they have been on silage as it tastes so sweet and other droppings like from herbivores as again it appears attractive.

Environmental management is a must eg removing it as soon as it has been eliminated.  Changing the diet can work, I know of no raw fed dogs that eat their own or other dogs excrement as there simply is no food value left, it has all been digested.

You could add digestive enzymes to the food which can assist in the proper breakdown of the consitutents (hence why pineapple is so often recommended as it contains bromelain) or there are products like Deter which are supposed to make the poop taste disgusting

HTH

there is a name for this poop-eating behavior.  i forget what it is, but i'll go look around for it, because there is lots of info online about it. 
tohme, the poster says that the dog eats other dog's poo, not his own.  i too have heard and read that a dog may do this because it is seeking out nutrients from another dog's poop. 
and by the way, could you find me some info on all the dogs you know that are on the raw food diet that don't eat poop?  im wondering how many actual cases your basing that statement on.

okay, looked it up in the dog book......it is called "COPROPHAGY".  if you look up "canine coprophagy" on the internet, you will find loads of sites pertaining to this.  most say it is normal.  some say it is an ancestral link from wolves..... but you look it up, quite interesting indeed.

"could anyone out there adise me what to do about my 10 week old puppy eating poo "

Sorry Elija I could not see anywhere in the original post where the poster said that the dog eats other dog's poo. :?

The technical term for poop eating is coprophagia.

At the moment, 325 dogs Elijah, and counting, all the info is not in yet. I will let you know when all the replies are in.

regards

oh sorry, you are right tohme, it didn't say in the original post whos poop the puppy was eating.  it is just that with the dogs i know that have eaten poop, it has been "other" poop.  not their own.  that is why i assumed that.

and i know the tech term....as you can see, i've already listed it in a post before your post. 

and what are you talking about?  what 325 dogs?  what info and replies to what?  are you running some sort of private poll on barf diet poop eaters???  how hillarious.

i just know that some dogs don't do it because of any dietary deficiancies.  according to some articles i've read, they can do it for no reason, or ancestral misfirings in the brain......  so if this is the case, it should not matter if the dogs are fed commercial food or barf.   any way, if you are interested, look it up on google.  you might learn something, that is if you don't know everything already, in which case, you probably won't bother.

Thank you for your interest elijah.

I am conducting research into the health and behaviour of raw fed dogs; the questionnaire I have developed includes a question on coprophagia.

There are indeed many reasons why dogs demonstrate this behaviour as I mentioned in my original post. 

Yes indeed Elija, as you know, one of my dogs eats poo, (other dog's poo, not his own) and the other three do not. And they're all eating the same premium food with suppliments and are very healthy.

Carrie

Found this on a search,and had to add that I have three malamutes - all fed on BARF.

And my youngest pup (14 weeks) has just started to eat his own poo.

I know of quite a few more dogs on the BARF diet that eat theirs too :)

I won't be changing anything in his diet, as far as I can see it is not diet related.

It can often be a learned behaviour as has been said; we walked in a group of young adolescent dogs, and most started eating the freely available horse manure after the Golden Retriever did; with younger dogs it tends to be more copied from the dam. Agree though there can be many reasons including medical... :)

Lindsay
X

HI guest

my puppy does it too, her mother used to do it as a pup, but grew out of it, yes the best way is to remove it before they get the chance but sometimes (with a houseful of kids !!) its not always possible to do, or at night when they are still being house trained and you are not there to do it.
The mother however will try and get cats poo if she gets the chance !! eeewww i know, but there is something that makes them do this, same as a baby i suppose if they got the chance to get in their nappy they would do the same, its just a matter of teaching them not to and they should/will stop, i take it as part of the puppy training.

Hi there,
my 17 week old pup eats poo too, i have read in a puppy book to try the courgettes or pineapple in their food, i would agree its worth a try...my pup however will eat any dogs, cats ....if im not fast enough when we are out! lets hope its a puppy thing, good luck