Coprophagia We all love our dogs however some of them do have some pretty awful habits.
The most disgusting habit, in my opinion, is that of eating faeces.
The scientific term for faeces eating is Coprophagia, variations are Autocoprophagia - eating it's own faeces, Intraspecific Coprophagia - eating faeces from within it's own species, Interspecific Coprophagia - eating faeces from another species.
Eating pooh is a habit that we humans generally find disgusting but it seems to be a natural behaviour for dogs.
There are no scientific reasons that I know of why dogs do this but here are a few theories that I have come across: 1) They enjoy it - maybe they just like the taste!!! 2) Learnt behaviour from mum - sometimes female dogs eat the faeces of their puppies, they do this to keep the area clean & also as a throwback behaviour from the past.
In the wild, eating the faeces would reduce the smell coming from the den & hopefully keep predators away.
3) Diet deficiencies - If your dog is fed on a good complete food there is no reason why he would be deficient in any way.
4) Attention seeking - If your dog has this habit & you reprimand him when you see him doing it, he may see the reprimand as attention.
Even negative attention is better than none if you don't generally pay him much attention.
5) Learnt behaviour from owner - The dog sees you picking it up & copies you.
There are various different methods that you can try to stop this behaviour, here are a few suggestions: 1) Additives in the food - You can buy commercial products that you add to your dogs food, these are supposed to make the faeces taste bad to the dog and so stop him from eating it.
You could also try adding pineapple to his food as this apparently has the same effect.
This method may help with the problem at home, but wont stop him eating any other faeces that he finds whilst out walking.
2) Additives on the pooh - Put something like chilli sauce or mustard on the faeces to deter the dog from eating them, again this wont help whilst you are out walking.
3) Clean it up at home - Always clean up at home, there is no excuse for leaving faeces lying around in your own garden.
Some people say that you should not let your dog see you picking up as he may be learning the behaviour from you.
Also, he may be more determined to eat it as soon as possible to stop you having it.
4) Keep your dog on a lead - Keeping him on a lead means you can control what he eats whilst out and about.
This is a good idea if you are in an area where you know there are lots of faeces around.
5) Have your dog wear a muzzle - wearing a muzzle means that your dog can run around off the lead but is unlikely to be able to pick up & eat any faeces he comes across.
6) Training & positive reinforcement - Train your dog to leave on command, that way you should be able to stop your dog eating faeces just by using the leave command, then give praise & a treat when he does leave it.
In my opinion, method 6 above whilst out, coupled with cleaning it up promptly at home, are the best methods to stop this behaviour.
You may be wondering if there are any health implications connected to this behaviour.
Perhaps surprisingly, not as many as you would think.
Eating faeces of unfamiliar, infested dogs or cats, or wildlife, can result in the ingestion of internal parasites.
You should make sure that your dog is wormed on a regular basis.
Sometimes eating faeces can also transmit some viral diseases such as Hepatitis or Canine Parvovirus.
You should make sure that your dogs vaccinations are up to date at all times.
Organisms such as Toxoplasma gondii is transmitted in some cat faeces, this can cause a variety of problems for dogs.
Generally, this behaviour causes no real problems to the dog; it's really just us that seem to be adversely affected by it.
The most disgusting habit, in my opinion, is that of eating faeces.
The scientific term for faeces eating is Coprophagia, variations are Autocoprophagia - eating it's own faeces, Intraspecific Coprophagia - eating faeces from within it's own species, Interspecific Coprophagia - eating faeces from another species.
Eating pooh is a habit that we humans generally find disgusting but it seems to be a natural behaviour for dogs.
There are no scientific reasons that I know of why dogs do this but here are a few theories that I have come across: 1) They enjoy it - maybe they just like the taste!!! 2) Learnt behaviour from mum - sometimes female dogs eat the faeces of their puppies, they do this to keep the area clean & also as a throwback behaviour from the past.
In the wild, eating the faeces would reduce the smell coming from the den & hopefully keep predators away.
3) Diet deficiencies - If your dog is fed on a good complete food there is no reason why he would be deficient in any way.
4) Attention seeking - If your dog has this habit & you reprimand him when you see him doing it, he may see the reprimand as attention.
Even negative attention is better than none if you don't generally pay him much attention.
5) Learnt behaviour from owner - The dog sees you picking it up & copies you.
There are various different methods that you can try to stop this behaviour, here are a few suggestions: 1) Additives in the food - You can buy commercial products that you add to your dogs food, these are supposed to make the faeces taste bad to the dog and so stop him from eating it.
You could also try adding pineapple to his food as this apparently has the same effect.
This method may help with the problem at home, but wont stop him eating any other faeces that he finds whilst out walking.
2) Additives on the pooh - Put something like chilli sauce or mustard on the faeces to deter the dog from eating them, again this wont help whilst you are out walking.
3) Clean it up at home - Always clean up at home, there is no excuse for leaving faeces lying around in your own garden.
Some people say that you should not let your dog see you picking up as he may be learning the behaviour from you.
Also, he may be more determined to eat it as soon as possible to stop you having it.
4) Keep your dog on a lead - Keeping him on a lead means you can control what he eats whilst out and about.
This is a good idea if you are in an area where you know there are lots of faeces around.
5) Have your dog wear a muzzle - wearing a muzzle means that your dog can run around off the lead but is unlikely to be able to pick up & eat any faeces he comes across.
6) Training & positive reinforcement - Train your dog to leave on command, that way you should be able to stop your dog eating faeces just by using the leave command, then give praise & a treat when he does leave it.
In my opinion, method 6 above whilst out, coupled with cleaning it up promptly at home, are the best methods to stop this behaviour.
You may be wondering if there are any health implications connected to this behaviour.
Perhaps surprisingly, not as many as you would think.
Eating faeces of unfamiliar, infested dogs or cats, or wildlife, can result in the ingestion of internal parasites.
You should make sure that your dog is wormed on a regular basis.
Sometimes eating faeces can also transmit some viral diseases such as Hepatitis or Canine Parvovirus.
You should make sure that your dogs vaccinations are up to date at all times.
Organisms such as Toxoplasma gondii is transmitted in some cat faeces, this can cause a variety of problems for dogs.
Generally, this behaviour causes no real problems to the dog; it's really just us that seem to be adversely affected by it.
Source...