There are at least several reasons your dog might be eating poop.
Today, discover what this unsanitary habit could reveal about your dog!
In this episode, you will learn what you could be doing to reinforce this potentially health-hazardous behavior.
Show Highlights
- Before dogs were domesticated, they were scavengers and commonly fed off whatever they could find including the waste of other animals.
- Mother dogs are wired to keep their den clean, and especially with a new litter.
- This is to keep the litter healthy and take away any scent that may attract predators.
- Submissive dogs will sometimes eat the poop of the dominant counterparts.
- The old-school way of teaching a dog not to poop in the house was to rub her nose in it.
- With this method of punishment, you are not teaching your dog to poop outside, but possibly teaching your dog to clean up and “hide the evidence”.
- One theory is that if you are cleaning up in front of your dog, they may mimic this behavior and pick-up after herself as well.
- Bennie’s theory is if you are talking to your dog in a sweet tone “Why do you keep doing this” then she will think that it is okay to poop in the house, which reinforces why you should never clean up the mess in front of your dog.
- This can also be a learned experience from the mother in the weening process or a young dog may see an older dog do it.
- Bennie says you SHOULD take your dog to the wet if they are eating poop on a consistent basis!
- You should make sure the reason your dog eats poop is not a health issue.
- If you let your dog lick your face, you may want to also make sure you don’t have a health issue.
- If your dog is not absorbing enough nutrients from the food you feed them, this can be a reason your dog is eating poop.
- Worms can be a big cause as to why your dog does not absorb nutrients.
- Also, there are some diseases that can be carried by flies and other insects that may get into the poop your dog eats.
- The biggest reason Bennie thinks dogs eat their poop is to get attention.
- Any attention you give your dog for a behavior that does not stop her from doing that thing and paying attention is praise and teaching your dog to do that thing.
Homework
- The goal is to keep your dog from eating its own poop.
- Talk to a vet before you do this.
- A few tablespoons of pumpkin or meat tenderizer will make the food taste fine going in and taste bad afterwards – it is a deterrent to keep your dog from eating their own poop.
- Clean up your yard daily! It takes two minutes so don’t be lazy and just do it!
Call to Action
Go to FamilyDogFusion.com/insurance to check out Healthy Paws Pet Insurance
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