Sudden Feces Consumption

[TooLabs]

I am not sure what has happened but in the past day my 15 month old lab pup has dug up frozen dog poop in the yard and ate it 2 times... both happened today. He has never done this before and I am baffled as to why he did this.. the first time earlier I took him out and I didn't know what he was doing until it was too late.. just now he did it quick before I could even react and it doesn't help that we have many inches of snow and expecting more so there are a few piles strategically buried. Any idea why he would suddenly do this? He never at his poop as a pup, now unfortunately both my labs have a taste for chicken poop and a random goat turd or so.. but never have they ate their or each other's poop.. let alone frozen in the snow!!!!!! I am so grossed out and he knows I am not happy with him too!

[barry581]

Yeah, poop eating is a pretty disgusting thing. I've only had one poo eater, and it was impossible to stop him. Since Sophie's arrival 3 years ago, I've cleaned up all the poo as soon as it hits the ground. Bruce will try to get to Sophie's poo, while she's pooing, but a stern "leave it" works very well. I always have a poo bag on me, and the second the poo hits the ground, it get cleaned up.

My best advice is to train "leave it" and "drop it" ASAP.

[sheltieluver]

My sheltie is a poop eater and so is Benelli. With my sheltie he know leave it and drop it so its easy to get him to stop. Benelli doesn't know leave it or drop it yet that's a work in progress. He will try eating it as the other dogs are going. Right now I leash him until all the dogs have gone and have everything scooped. Best thing to do is just make sure the yard is picked up after each outing.

[Tanya]

yeah the labs are pretty notorious for that Mine started randomly at FOUR YEARS OLD.

best bet - clean up asap and work on leave it/drop it and trade for HIGH VALUE REWARD. very high.

I had no luck as we went to dog parks. my dog is now 10 and horrible horrible horrible abut eating poop.

[labsnewfy]

Bailey started with frozen poopsicles I think because he had a lot of energy and bored best way to get attention from me running around the yard was to grab a frozen treat. My bad turned it into a game for him. It can be a learned habit as well, Tootsie was also a poop muncher and when baby Sarah came along she picked up the nasty habit too. You can try putting hot sauce on it, or feeding him pineapple or buy the stuff from your vet but again the best way is teach leave it/drop it command and pick up as soon as you can.

[Woofie]

Most dogs who start this habit, generally start in the winter time. the poops are cold, hard, and they think they're toys to play with.

My puppy does this too; but only when it's super cold out, and chasing them only makes the issue worse. I just ignore it & try to keep the poop cleaned up; the less I pay attention to it, the less she does it.

[POPTOP]

Same here, started in the winter. The boys seemed to start then finding a poopsicle particularly fun. All the girls here consume any time of year. Think it's a natural act with the girls as they clear up their puppies.

Drop it and leave it help. I'm constantly picking up. Today will be the exception, there's about 8 inches of new snow on whatever I missed yesterday. A breeder told me to either scoop immediately or turn your head.

[TooLabs]

This morning- and yes we have several inches burying frozen poop too soooo I am not searching.. anyway he did his business and while Baylee was doing hers, he went and was sniffing the fresh stuff.. told him in stern voice to leave it and No and he did.. had to do this about 4 times.. finally he lost interest and took off plowing through the snow with a piece of black flexible plastic pipe that he thinks is the greatest toy ever! Dogs...lol.. but at least no breakfast poop!!!! yeahhh!!!

[SoapySophie]

LMAO...Sophie started doing this two days ago and now she scratches at other frozen poops to get at them under the snow! ARGH!! Poopsicles...fantastic. So gross. And the breath..omg! When we got her in the house she got to enjoy a denta stix and a small bunch of crunchy mini-treats!

I got hubs to buy some turkey weiners yesterday and I chopped one of those up to bring outside with me in the treat bag. Flawless recall with those, even when trying to unbury the treasure!