Poo eater - help please

[ToesInWater]

We have the most gorgeous, good natured 8yo Springer Spaniel (and a younger dog). From time to time we would catch her eating her own poo which is pretty gross, but it used to be occasional. Recently she is at it all the time and her breath constantly stinks. She is fed good quality food, correct amount for her size, so surely it’s not a hunger thing. I know I need to get the kids to be more diligent about picking up dog poo in the garden (where she usually goes), but we have a huge garden and she doesn’t have a set place she goes so they are obviously missing some. I’m really wondering if anyone knows the underlying cause or has a similar experience.

[isthismummy]

What type of food is she on OP?

My puppy had this problem until recently and then I switched her to raw feeding (Natures Menu) and its improved massively. Basically they absorb more nutrients from it and do much smaller less tasty poos.

[illuminousopptomist]

I had a dog that did this - it is revolting. I'm afraid nothing worked for me except standing over the dog to pick poo up straight away in the garden.

[ToesInWater]

Thanks for the input. She is on Black Hawk holistic dog food (don’t think it’s a brand you get on the UK) which is supposed to be as good as you can get but changing food might be a good idea. Yes, standing over her is the only short term fix - I will be watching her closely 😁

[tinymeteor]

Our beagle does this in phases, and he's raw fed. He's just disgusting. Nothing dissuades him. The only thing that works is a very predictable toileting routine (set times each day) so you can be there with a poo bag and deny him the opportunity.

[KinkyAfro]

Feeding pineapple is supposed to stop this, no idea if it's true tho

[NewBrian]

I had a feeling it would be a springer! Mine is 11 and still sometimes gets selective hearing, forgets she’s got bad legs and runs off to eat a cat poo . She definitely did it more when on a high protein diet.

[Wolfiefan]

Take her out on a lead to toilet so you can pick it up straight away?
Mine used to try and do this on kibble. She's on raw now and doesn't.

[notapizzaeater]

We had. A rescue dog when I was younger and the told us to immediately sprinkle with pepper and let him try and eat it, soon stopped him doing it.

[LilCamper]

If your going to take the time to sprinkle it with pepper you might as well just pick it up.

[illuminousopptomist]

Exactly!!

[Rikalaily]

Add some natural live yogurt to each meal. They eat poo because there's something off with their gut flora. We did this with our boy and it helped alot but only completely stopped when we switched him to raw.

[ToesInWater]

I’m hearing raw food a lot so will try that. Thanks everyone.

[Wolfiefan]

You also definitely need to pick up the poo! If she gets to keep doing this it will be an ingrained habit.

[notapizzaeater]

I didn’t explain very well, our ex stray ate everyone’s poo, dogs, cows, foxes etc. Of course we picked up his poo but we needed him to make a link poo = ouch ! So we peppered it - he’d turn his nose up (eventually took a few days) then we didn’t need to do it anymore.