By Barbara Cannon
Perhaps you have experienced this: it’s the first week you have your new puppy at home. You take him out to the yard to do his business on a leash, and he quickly poops as you ask, then suddenly turns around and starts to eat it. Horrified, you drag him away, uncertain what to do about it or how you can stop it. Why did this happen?
Coprophagia, the medical term for eating poop, is the act of consuming a dog’s feces or the feces of other animals. Coprophagia is a common problem in some puppies, which usually clears up by adulthood with good nutrition, direction, and supervision. It’s usually a learned behavior that can be changed through training. Puppies can learn this behavior from their mothers because that is how mama dogs care for their newborns. They keep them clean by eating their body wastes. But it’s also called a behavior of opportunity because puppies can learn this behavior as they grow up with their siblings and transfer to solid foods, creating solid wastes. If those wastes aren’t cleaned up promptly, the puppy might see the feces as another food source. The opportunity is there to eat it, and so they do.
The first step in changing this behavior is eliminating the opportunity. Whenever your puppy poops in your area, clean it up immediately and thoroughly. If you notice that your puppy seems overly interested in the poop after or even while he is going, be prepared to redirect him with a squeaky toy or a high-value treat. You can also teach your puppy to SIT while you clean up the poop. Try not to give the behavior a lot of attention. You could use a TOUCH CUE to lure him away from the feces or even a high, cheerful voice to excite him to run with you in the opposite direction. Start working on the cue LEAVE IT (Basic Training Lesson 2.9 in the STEP-BY-STEP PROGRAM), first with food and then with other items to generalize to other objects. When your pup has demonstrated that he can reliably leave an object when you ask, use the cue to teach your puppy to leave the feces alone.
Here’s a step-by-step training plan using LEAVE IT:
Put your puppy on a 4–6-foot lead and have some higher value treats ready. The more interested your puppy is in the feces, the higher value the treats must be.
Working in an area where you have some space, start going around in a large circle around the feces. Keep your puppy on your right side at first, away from the pile but close enough that your puppy can see it. When you puppy looks at the pile say LEAVE IT firmly. When your puppy looks at you, say YES! to mark and reward.
Keep moving in the circle, marking and rewarding any time your pup looks at you when you say LEAVE IT. As your puppy more consistently looks at you, start moving closer but try to keep at least a foot of distance.
Back up 3-4 feet, put your puppy on your left side, shorten the leash and start again. Now your puppy has a better opportunity to reach for the poop so watch carefully and increase the number of rewards anytime your puppy checks in. You may want to go more slowly at this point to make sure your puppy can’t suddenly reach for the poop.
Keep practicing and slowly reduce distance. It will also be helpful to vary locations to generalize the cue.
Coprophagia can also be a medical issue. Feces, especially those of other dogs and animals, can carry parasites that cause diseases such as giardia. Any medical problem that leads to a decrease in absorption of nutrients, causes gastrointestinal upset or causes an increase in the appeal of the dog's stool, could lead to coprophagia. Ensure your puppy gets the correct amount of nutrients from their diet. If you are uncertain about this, your veterinarian can make dietary recommendations. When dogs eat the stools of other animals, it is often because they are attracted to the odors, taste and/or texture of the stools, or even supplementing their diet with nutrients they are missing. Talk with your veterinarian about possible causes for your puppy’s coprophagia and ask for suggestions to help discourage stool consumption. Taste deterrents have not proven very effective, but your veterinarian may have other recommendations.
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