Dog Coprophagia Symptoms and Treatments

Apparently common to most dogs, this is a behavioral trait in which a dog will eat his own faeces or even those of cats or rabbits and other dogs. It does not mean that there is anything wrong with him and is simply a trait difficult for humans to comprehend.

It is thought that the behavior stems from a primal need to eradicate his scent so as not to be detected by predators, but this does not really explain why he eats cat or rabbit faeces. There may be a link to nutritional needs but this is theory only and has not been substantiated.

Although seen as a behavioral trait, nevertheless it would be useful to train him out of this behavior. Faeces will not carry bacteria and there is no harm to children if they pet him, but of course faeces may well harbor worms and larvae which can lead to his own infestation and that of others.

Training will involve teaching him to ignore his faeces once he has passed them, and most importantly he should not be taught that he is doing nothing wrong. He should not be scolded or mistreated and his retraining should be an encouragement to develop new behaviours rather than force him to adjust.

Primarily the trick is to remove the faeces as soon as he has passed them, which is often easier to suggest than to carry out of course. This is important not only in his own environment in the back garden but in the outside world too, which is why you need always to have small bags with you to clean up after your dog when taking him for walks, not only for public hygiene but to help other owners train their own dogs not to investigate and eat deposits they find along the way.

One way to discourage him from eating his stools is to put some chilli powder or lemon juice on them so that he learns to associate eating them with something unpleasant, and if you have a cat you can remove the cat stools on a regular basis so that they're not available for him to investigate. You can also try catching his attention as soon as he has passed a stool and getting him to come to you and then making a big fuss and rewarding him. He will get into the habit over time of associating passing stool with leaving it straight away, and if you have also managed to apply chilli or lemon juice that will reinforce the message.

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