NBR: Does anyone have a puppy?

acutting · November 2009

So maybe not the wisest choice we've ever made with the baby about to be born and all... but about a month ago we got a puppy! He's a little pomchi named Walter. He's doing *decent* with housetraining, but in the past week or so we have noticed that if we don't pick up his poop IMMEDIATELY after he goes on his puppy pad, the nasty little thing EATS HIS POOP. It grosses me out so bad! I've never had a dog before,so I don't know... Is this normal?!

Here he is, just for fun.

Nicole731 · November 2009

lol. It's normal. They eat their own poop. They eat cat poop. And they will eat baby poop if you leave a diaper within reach. Gross, I know!

Luv-a-Bug · November 2009

It's been known to happen. I've heard of mixing things into their food that makes the poop less inviting to them. I'm sure you can find remedies if you google, or just pick it up faster.

ArmyWife123 · November 2009

ive heard of this before. when they do that i BELIEVE it means they are missing some part of their diet.... call a vet and ask. i vaguely remember (dang pregnancy brain) that there is some type of medicine to make them stop.

and hes adorable!!!

we have a 'puppy' too. shes a 7 month old, 93 lb as of this weekend, great dane and shes the best puppy ive ever handled or been around! GL!!

sarajo317 · November 2009

As gross as it sounds... yes.

We asked our vet - cause our puppy did the same thing.. she eventually grew out of it. Some people will tell you to spinkle meat tenderizer on his food - and that might help. My vet just said to let her do it - because she is getting vitamins that she needs - ::barf:: - he did say - to be careful when she's being sweet and wants some kisses. GROSS!!!

jkfranklin · November 2009

My coworker's dog would eat his poop when he was bored or didn't feel like he was getting much attention. I don't think there is much you can do about it besides clean it up right away and scold him if you catch him in the act.

bhawk0527 · November 2009

Doesn't it mean they aren't getting enough nutrients...? That was no help probably LOL but thats what I thought I heard Smile

nbryant1207 · November 2009

https://www.pet-comfort-products.com/why-dogs-eat-poop.html

JinglesChic · November 2009

I got a puppy a couple of weeks before my surprise BFP. I love her and can't believe she's going to be 1 on Sunday. She too was a poo eater, which meant she kept on reinfecting herself with giardia (I think that's the bacteria but it's probably spelled wrong). We still have some housebreaking issues, but she's much better. I found out through the pets board on The Nest that those puppy pads are THE WORST thing ever (I had to caps it because they're that bad). It's not training them to wait to go outside, and it's just a crutch.

The best thing to do is use the umbilical method. Keep your furbaby on a 6 foot leash at all times with you holding it. Every 2 hours bring him outside and if he goes to the bathroom reward him and take him off the leash for 10-15 minutes. If you're leaving the house crate the pup (mine had anxiety issues though and we couldn't do this). Within a week you'll notice a huge improvement in his bathroom habits. Ours went from always going inside at 6 months to going outside 90% of the time within a week. It still takes a little while after that point to fully solidify the training, but you can probably leave him off the leash and just have them go outside quickly every 4-5 hours.

GL on everything, he's a cutie!

littlemaybaby · November 2009

What type of food is the dog on? Some dogs just do this and there really isn't any stopping them. However, with lower quality dog food, less of the food is digested and ends up coming out in the poop - so the dog will eat it. With higher quality dog food, the food is more fully digested which only results in "wasteful" poop - which doesn't interest most dogs.

My mom had this problem with both her dogs and when she upgraded their food, they both stopped. (They also have smaller poops less frequently!)

Lola'sDogMom · November 2009

What a sweet puppy! My Chihuahua just turned 1 but she used to eat her poop a lot. She grew out of it after a few months.

bmstee03 · November 2009

Sometimes it's a learned behavior. If they see their mom eating poop they do too. Momma dogs do this to keep the area around their newborn pups clean.

Hip2Bsquare · November 2009

My dog is a 5 yrs old now but when we got her as a puppy.....she never ate her poop. I never thought this was normal behavior but it is a behavior that the dog can easily be trained not to do.

BellaAmor215 · November 2009

my puppy had the same problem... except not with his own poop, it was cat poop... the vet said it was very normal, and that they do that to get more protein in their diet. and usually its in their first year because thats when certain nutrients are more of a deficiency for dogs... but i still think its gross!

lostaspen · November 2009

I got a 5 week old puppy in August, he's about 5 months now. In the first few weeks he did eat some of his own poop, but I'm fairly sure it was because he was hungry. I upped his food and he hasn't eaten his own poop (that I know of) since!

Your puppy is so cute! Here's a photo of mine a few weeks ago, his name is Samwise (we have another dog named Frodo):

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