Dogs that eat poo help !!!

[Melissa smedley]

A friend of mine has 2 standard poodles and they eat their own poo ever since they were started on a good that I man from trophy chicken and rice costs £35 per 15 kg ive told her I think the food is no good but don't know what would be the best to say to try can anyone help ?
Thank you

[Dottie]

Hello Melissa - welcome to the forum. Unfortunately I don't know anything about Trophy dog food.  I have therefore checked the Dog Food Directory on this website and I am wondering if it is this version that your friend is giving to her dogs. It doesn't score too well and there are controversial ingredients in there. 

Some people feel that dogs are more likely to develop coprophagia when the faeces contain undigested food substances.  Are you thinking that this is happening with your friend's dogs?  I too don't care for the food she has chosen but it is possible that changing to another food would not stop them eating poo.  There is a lot written about this awful habit but IMHO it is just one of those things that some dogs are prone to.  There isn't a lot to be done about it other than clean up immediately and muzzle the dogs if the owner can't be there to supervise. 

Some factors that might induce her to consider a better quality food are:
      Smaller, firmer and easier to clean up stools.
      Might be more cost effective because dogs often need a smaller amount of good, high quality dog food.
      Health and general condition of dog is likely to be much better.
      Maybe fewer visits to the vet, particularly for anal gland problems.

Hopefully someone else might be able to think of other and of how to encourage your friend to try something better for her dogs.

[Schnauday]

I think I read somewhere that adding pineapple to their food makes it smell strange coming out the other end and they are less likely to eat it.  Am I imagining I read that ? 
 

[Dottie]

You are not imagining it - that piece of advice has been around for many a year. The other one is putting chilli powder on the poo. I haven't heard anyone say that either of them actually work.

[kez_sparky]

Hiya,

Anecdotally I agree with the theory that dogs are attracted to poop when there is undigested food in it - usually from poor quality foods...

My dog doesn't eat her own poop (I feed Aatu, barking heads grain free and raw) but she will eat my mum's dog's poop - My mum recently switched over to barking heads (golden years in the morning and good hair day with pedigree (yuck) topper in the evening), She used to feed science diet and pedigree.  Since the switch over to barking geads my dog doesn't bother so much - she still does it but the intensity with which she did it before isn't there.

Hope you can persuade your friend to feed her dogs something better even if the habit doesn't subside!  Good luck!

[lottiesmum]

Just noticed that this topic was in the general section and wanted to add my two cents...

My Lottie has an obsession with poo! She eats it and rolls in it non stop... she's not discriminate either! The smellier the better 
   Firstly her own poo - if you don't pick it up as soon as she's gone, she'll turn around and eat it. I think this stems back to an incident in my parent's house (where she lived for the first year of her life) where she pooed in the house and was scolded so now she tries to hide the evidence asap. Maybe I'm wrong though...We tried all kinds of things (the pineapple, the chilli powder etc but she just seemed to like it even more). So as long as we clean up straight away - it's not an issue.
  However, it's other animal's poo that's the problem! My eyes are constantly on the ground for other dog or cat poo (loves cat poo) trying to spot it before she does!  I don't like to muzzle her as that gives off the wrong impression to other people that she's dangerous. Generally, if she does get some (not every outing of course) I just wait til I get home and give her a small dental treat/carrot/lots of water and hope she doesn't lick me!

The rolling in poo is another common occurrence - but a lot of dogs do that. I try to stop her or keep her on her lead but sometimes she gets the better of me and reeks of fox poo! Consequently she has a bath 2-3 times a week ... I try not to fully wash her if possible - just spot wash as I know too much washing is bad for her!  I just use baby shampoo as it's the mildest around.