At the moment, I am looking forward to the date this column will be published and I just want to say . . . sorry.
This topic is not exactly very, uh, palatable, before a big sit-down dinner, even if Fido is present.
But it is a topic that has reared its ugly behind a few times in the last few weeks, so I figure it's time to discuss it.
Coprophagia, or poop eating, is an unfortunate side effect that some dog owners deal with every day. If you are lucky enough to have a dog that does not indulge in this delicacy, then give your dog a big hug right now - seriously, like right now - because you have no idea how lucky you are. The reason dogs eat either their own feces or the feces of other dogs is not totally understood. There are plenty of theories, but none that have proven themselves reliable enough to stop the behaviour.
The behaviour is quite common in puppies, probably because they witness their mother do it, so they mimic her. The mother dog will stimulate her newborn puppies by licking their hind ends to make them eliminate both urine and feces. This is her way of keeping the denning area clean. She will also eat the feces of her more mature puppies that have done their business in the denning area for the exact same reason. So, when a young puppy in the throws of its imprinting stage between birth and 16 weeks of age sees its mom eating poop, well, it is only natural that the puppy begins to eat feces too. In essence, the behaviour has been imprinted.
But it still isn't very appetizing for us humans to witness.
Most puppies tend to grow out of the behaviour by six months or so. For those who don't, sometimes a form of aversive training such as clapping one's hands or shouting "No!" or "Leave it!" (if the puppy has been trained to leave it) when the pup or mature dog begins to show an interest in the feces can curb the behaviour rather quickly.
But for other dogs, eating feces has become an obsession.
To be fair to your dog, it would be best to rule out any malnutrition issues or dietary deficiencies before introducing aversive training as this may make the situation worse. A dog that is eating the feces of another dog due to an undiagnosed medical issue is already considered stressed health-wise. Adding an aversive form of training may make the stress worse. Personally, I have found that dogs being fed a raw food diet tend to have fewer issues with eating feces. Although, this diet does not preclude them from eating the feces of all animals.
Herbivores, such as horses, deer and rabbits, apparently have a delectable feces flavour and very few dogs can resist a pile of fresh horse or deer dung. I live on a farm and have horses. My dogs can't wait to "help" me clean the stalls in the morning.
Anti-feces-eating training can be rather arduous. Hey, I'm being honest. It involves walking your dog on leash - all the time - so that you are able to manage its behaviour. When you see your dog investigating a pile of poop, you can either give a little pop on the leash or call its name to break its focus and then redirect it to something more interesting, such as a treat or toy or play. This could go on for a very long time, until you can walk by piles of poop every day, for at least three weeks, without your dog so much as glancing at them. Only then can you even begin to consider your dog has broken the habit.
But the really crappy (sorry, had to say it) thing about this is that sniffing poop is part of normal canine behaviour. They sniff to get information about the dog who left it behind. It is a great big pile of business cards!
Denying a dog the ability to express a healthy, normal, genetically programmed behaviour may result in the dog developing another behavioural issue as a result. Like I said, crappy.
The ideal situation would be for dog owners to just pick up after their dogs all the time. But since I have seen no decline in dog owners leaving their dogs' messes behind in the 25-plus years I've been doing this, it would be safe to say that it is asking too much from our canine-owning brethren to be that responsible.
Joan Klucha has been working with dogs for more than 15 years in obedience, tracking and behavioural rehabilitation. Contact her through her website k9kinship.com.
