My GSD puppy has started eating her own poop! She is 12wks old and I have had her for 5wks. She is fully vaccinated and has been going out for just over a week. The eating of her own poop started about a fortnight ago, she will leave it if i see her and firmly say "leave", but if I am not in sight she will eat it.  Is this something she will grow out of? If not, how can I discourage this unpleasant behaviour? It surely can't be good for her - can it?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Jansu20263@aol.com

Hi my GSD used to do the same thing i think its something to do with the breed!!! He also used to eat other dogs poo as well though, that was much harder to sort!! Telling them off firmly and trying to be there and removing poo immediately certainly helps and you are doing that but a well reputed dog trainer that uses the vets i work for (i'm a nurse/ receptionist) told me to try putting a few red, green, or yellow peppers in his food don't over do it or she'll end up with diarrhoea and obviously not the hot kind of peppers. The reason being they taste nice going in but apparently not at the other end. It certainly worked with my dog but whoever tests these things i don't know!!!

i think it may be normal to have to eat poop adn i have a german shepherd mix and although i have not seen her she probably does dont think nothing of it you could pick up the poop so she doesnt do it but that is all

Hi again, sorry i replied earlier about putting peppers in food. I had an after thought keep an eye on her poo as she gets a little older, the poo eating is a very GSD thing and i think border collies are prone to it too. However if her motions are loose and she doesn' t look to be putting on weight such as she looks very skinny and seems always to be very, very hungry all the time (hard i know, to tell with a shepherd ) but it might be wise to pop her to a vet as GSD's are very prone to an enzyme insufficiency, within the pancreas which can cause them to look for nourishment in their own poo. Don't worry about this if she's not showing any of these signs and as i've said it is a very GSD thing, but i thought you ought to be aware of it