Find What You Are Looking For Here
FYI: If you make a purchase via a link on this site, I may receive a commission from various affiliate programs, and as an Amazon Associate and Chewy affiliate I also earn commissions from qualifying purchases—at NO extra cost to you. See the Disclosure page for more information. Thank you!
Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

Eating Poop!

by Sue
(Richmond, VA)

PLEASE help... Lily eats poop... hers or the other dogs. No matter what I do... tried the "No Drop" that doesn't work... picking it up right away is the only thing; which sometimes cannot be done.

Any suggestions.

Comments for Eating Poop!

Click here to add your own comments

HELP FOR POOP EATING
by: heidi

I think there is something you can buy that makes, well at least hers, less tasty??>>

possibly spray that Bitter Apple on it before she encounters it?
does this happen on everyday, routine walks? keep her in heel mode?

I am NO expert, but I had a border collie who did this. Her fav was raccoon. Gross. Maybe bring something distracting that she really loves to throw at her just before she gets to it?

Good luck!

Re: Eating Poop
by: kym

You can try a few things. But the first place I would start is making sure your dogs are on a good quality food.
You can try feeding a little bit of pineapple. This makes the poop taste yucky, but may be difficult to get your dog to eat it.
The second, is a product called 'forbid' this is something that you sprinkle on the food to make it taste yucky too. Usually, you would use for aprox. 3 days.
Hope this helps!

Raw food diet
by: Anonymous

You may want to try a raw food diet. Eating poop is often caused by a nutritional deficit. A good book on the subject is Its Reigning Cats and Dogs.

Recommended book
by: Anonymous

Do you mean 'Its Raining Cats and Dogs' by Hale?

to Heidi Re: raccoon poop
by: jcrply

My comment is for Heidi, whose dog ate raccoon poop. This is far more serious than eating dog poop. Raccoon poop commonly contains a deadly parasite... not deadly to raccoons but deadly to people. Not just disgusting... deadly! Little children touching infected soil or touching the dog who has eaten raccoon poop might put their fingers in their mouths and become infected. So, please, for your own safety, keep dogs and especially children away from raccoon poop. Here is a quote from an online article about it:

"... If you thought childhood couldn’t become any more dangerous, a new study in the September issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases notes that the Raccoons answering the call of nature in urban gardens could spread “raccoon roundworm encephalitis.” The bad news is that a), raccoons like to build latrines in people’s gardens, especially if they are near wooded areas, and b), nothing good for you ends with “encephalitis.”

Here’s the quick and dirty on raccoon roundworm: if you’re a human who manages to ingest the worm’s eggs – and for good measure there can be up to 20,000 per gram of raccoon poop – the larvae don’t turn into worms inside your body. Instead they make their way to the brain and eyes, and… well, you can read the news story at MedPage Today if you want to know precisely what follows. Hint: It involves the word “encyst.”

..."

Eating Poop
by: Anonymous

I have caught my Aussie eating her poop. It started one day when I decided to put a raw egg on her food. She also eats rabbit poop and I'm pretty sure she eats the ferral cat poop out in the woods (where she is not suppose to be). She is 3 now and I haven't seen her eating her poop for a long time. Got to love those aussies!

Book
by: Anonymous

In response to is it raining -- nope, it is reigning :)

Eating Poop
by: Anonymous

My Aussie suddenly began eating poop. I bought a liquid at the pet store to mix in her food to make the taste of her poop unpleasant...as if it already wasn't. It helped a little. Then she began vomiting and we went to the vet. It turns out that she had a stomach infection and wasn't digesting her food properly. She was hungry and ate her poop because it contained undigested food.

Good luck!

Murphy my Aussie eating poop
by: Anonymous

My puppy that is 7 months old has been starting to eat his poop at night. I am not sure if there is something lacking in his diet or if it has to do with possible being bored.

Aussie eating her poop
by: Anonymous

I recently adopted an Aussie, she is eating her own poop. It is my first experience with that behavior. My previous two dogs were male and never ate their poop. Is this a behavior that can be corrected?

My 3 month-old eats her poop too
by: BB

I have the same problem with my 3 months old Aussie. She was fed raw food diet at her breeder, so I continued to do so (same food) for a month. Now she eats dry food, but she still tries to eat her poop if she has a chance. My current solution is to pick up her poop right away so she can’t do it. She tends to poop when I leave a few minutes, so it drives me crazy!

I don’t think raw food helps. I feed her extra food since she is growing fast, so I don’t think it’s because she is hungry. My previous Aussie did the same thing when he was puppy, but just a coupe of times. I am thinking to try forbid though because she has stinky gas as well. I hope she’ll stop doing that once she is housebroken.

Aussie eats poop
by: Anonymous

I have tried everything to get my 3 Aussies to stop eating their own poop and each other’s 😩🤮 I have tried every product on the market - pumpkin, vinegar, multi vitamins. The vet recommended Accent meat tenderizer - didn’t work - THEN he said to sprinkle Tobasco sauce "which is cruel but they will never eat it again."Well, they even like poop with Hot sauce 😩😩 i give up

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Australian Shepherd Q & A.

Australian-Shepherd-Lovers.com icon

Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

Have Dog Training Questions?

Check out these introductory dog training videos...

I want my dog to stop being aggressive.

I want some help training my new puppy.

I want my dog to stop barking at everything.

I want my dog to walk nicely and calmly on the leash.

I want my dog to listen and come every time I call!