Hi all,
I have a 7 month old BC, he is very placid, and lovable, but he has a horrible habit ! If he gets the chance he will eat his own Poo...........Ewww sorry !,
I try now to follow him round, before he gets chance to eat, this is a nasty thing to talk about but i need "HELP" how do i stop him ???? newhere

Coprophagia - basically the eating of faeces. Mine will eat cat poo (Many dogs find cat poo to be a delicacy) or the very odd other dog poo (Probably depends what they've been fed) but they don't eat their own. Meaty diets tend to create stools that are more attractive to eat. This is a very common thing is dogs and isn't actually a big issue where they are concerned...just leaves humans grossed out:P Like John Fisher said in one of his books, the biggest problem with coprophagia is that the dog might be rejected by the owner because of the disgustingness of the habit. Other than that, it probably raises the risk of internal parasites etc..but nothing dramatic.

I've heard of things you can feed that that will make the stool less attractive but it's not always a 100% dead cert that it'll work and I can't think of what foods right now other than pineapple. Some other people might know of other foods that could do the trick.

There's a lot of speculation about why they do it from inadequate diet to boredom but I think the main reason really is that dogs are opportunists. Eating poo isn't something they only resport to, eating poo is something many are quite happy to do regardless...to them, it's no different to scoffing that bit if ham sandwich they found dropped on the ground and humans wouldn't assume it was bad diet or boredom that caused a dog to scavenge a ham sandwich. To them, it's an easy source of nutrients so might as well make use of it. Many dogs also like rabbit droppings too. Some dogs just happen to get into the habit and others don't.

Ditto all the above - we put chopped up mushrooms in Bree's dinner for a week (advise from her breeder), did it work? Well she doesn't eat her own poo anymore, don't know if the mushrooms worked or if she just grew out of it!

However, she is still VERY attracted to cat poo and will pick up rabbit droppings and even have a nibble of horse manure if we don't catch her first!

We are never cross with her if we catch her eating, the idea is to catch her just before she eats and distract her, in Brees case we usually use a ball!

Good luck !

and they love sheep poo! *sheep(

Thanks very much for the help, i will try the mushrooms and see if it works, i presume they are not cooked ?
As I feel anything is worth a try, its not pleasant to talk about it but seems there is alot of poo munching that goes on.
Thanks again *thumb*