Dog Eating Poop

[frisky]

A friend of mine inherited a dog when her mother died and she’s at her wits end with dealing with a poop eater.

The dog is one of those tiny mutt conglomerations and is about 15 years old with a couple years left of life. Every night she sneaks downstairs, poops, and then eats bits of her own poop. When my friend is lucky, the dog will poop on a puppy pad, however, she’ll also just poop on a rug if she feels like it as well. Sometimes the dog will sneak off during the day and poop. My friend also has a large Labrador and the tiny dog will bolt like a bullet to eat his poop when the dog goes to the bathroom outside.

I don’t know all the details, but she’s been trying everything. My friend would love to crate the dog at night, but she goes NUTS in the crate, whining and scraping the crate, even in the same bedroom. She could possibly put her downstairs in a closed bedroom by herself. My friend has taken the dog to the vet and she’s been feeding both her dogs a supplement that would make the tiny dog uninterested in eating poop. This doesn’t work.

It’s gotten to the point that my friend is disgusted and revolted by this tiny dog. She’s grossed out going into the kitchen for morning coffee to find poop on the floor. I can’t say I really blame her.

Has anyone dealt with this? The tiny dog was raised on puppy pads, because my friend’s mother was a polio survivor. Any ideas on how to live with this dog?

I’ve had old dogs that would poop in the house and it did not bother me because I loved them— and they did not eat poop. Not sure how to make this relationship work. All ideas welcome.

[Mosey_2003]

I don’t have anything helpful to offer, but my dog eats poop too. A lot. It’s disgusting. I will also be interested if anyone has any great ideas that actually help. Mine is a large, 5 month old outside dog though.

[Simkie]

How about muzzling the dog overnight? There are a lot of different types of muzzles that are comfortable for the dog and allow freedom to pant, but should make it awfully hard to eat crap.

[trubandloki]

Just want to say, if the dog is a determined poop eater, be prepared if you muzzle to be cleaning dog poop off a muzzle because some dogs will simply push the basket muzzle into the poop so they can lick it off the muzzle.

I had an old dog who would drop stool bits randomly, she had no idea she was doing it. I guess we are all different types of pet owners but I figured it was a small price to pay, having to pick up some dog poop, to keep my old dog around while she was still happy being my dog. Was it fun to pick up? Nope. But worth it.

[frisky]

I’m going to repeat myself. I’ve had old dogs that pooped and peed in the house, because of age and medical issues. This was never a problem at all. I would do anything for more time. My friend is the same way. This is a different situation.

[Incantation]

I had a poo eater, who was a drooler to boot. He would love to come snuggle with fresh poo smeared in is flews.
We never found a deterrent for him. The best we could do was clean up poo as soon as the dogs went, or he would get it.
My only suggestion if a crate doesn’t work is to use an xpen. At least the mess will be contained, and she could line it with puppy pads for easier clean up.

[Weezer]

I had a poop eating dog once and nothing I did was effective at stopping him. I suggest putting the dog on a very consistent routine to see if you can minimize the amount of times it poops in the house. A crate or pen would be a good idea too because the dog may be reluctant to poop where it sleeps. An old dog is going to sleep most of the day anyway so a good walk in the AM and PM may be enough to keep it sleeping most of the day. Same as a puppy it should have bathroom breaks as soon as it wakes up.

I had a puppy that got into poop eating and we were able to stop it by feeding both dogs those pills that make the poop taste bad. But I’ve been told they don’t tend to work for dogs who have established poop eating habits (like my older dog who was a lifetime poop eater).

[Rhythm_Pace_Impulsion]

A friend had one who did this as a puppy, I suggested adding pineapple to his food as it seems to make the feces unappetizing. It worked for him, couldn’t hurt to try

[SaddleUp158]

We had a small dog who became a poop eater after having a litter of puppies (her one and only litter). Never could stop her from snacking. As she entered her later years she loved to get it freshly served. Gag!

While my mom loved her unconditionally, the rest of us were silently repulsed by her.

[trubandloki]

@SaddleUp158

While my mom loved her unconditionally, the rest of us were silently repulsed by her.

I don’t know anyone who does not find the act of eating poop to be repulsive. Heck, most dogs find horse manure to be a delicious snack. I also find it pretty darn gross that a dog likes to roll in stinky dead things.

I just do not see how that makes a pet not lovable.

I think the idea of an exercise pen or huge crate for this small dog seems like the best answer. That will likely not stop the dog from having its middle of the night accidents but it will contain them to a surface that is easier for this person to clean up. What does the dog do if she closes it in something like the bathroom?

[jherold]

I’ve had some success adding Greek yogurt to the diet. But that was with a young dog. Being an older dog, it may be a long established habit and not breakable.

[SaddleUp158]

I agree, it does not make a dog unlovable at all and I would never mistreat or ignore a dog for this reason. But at the same time I also know that the dog that doesn’t stink and is pleasant to be around will receive more positive attention from people outside of “their person”. This reason alone is why I always try and give my dog a bath and grooming before I have a house/dog sitter come when I am out of town even though I trust my sitters completely. Just stacking the deck in my dog’s favor. Does it make it right, no, but it is human nature whether recognized in the moment or not.