Ugh, this is so disgusting but Bandit is turning out to be a sh*t eater. Never his own though; he's eaten our cats poo and then today he found some poo in the backyard that he gobbled down. I'm pretty sure it was cat poo because there are lots of feral cats in our neighborhood, and I know they chill in our yard and driveway. I tried chasing him away but he thought it was a game and just ran around me in circles before darting back to the poo to eat more. I ended up having to drag him away from the poo by his neck, and he turned around to bite me and then there was sh*t all over my hands. Not a good day.

I called the vet already so I'm not that concerned about him getting sick. I'm pretty much just beyond disgusted that he's a poo eater! How do I get him to stop?!

when you find out a way to stop it let me know

in the past yr sierra has started to pick up dried poop on our walks, they are always small ones so either cats or small dogs as no one uses their back yard to let their dog do its thing!!!! i just try to spot it before she does and she is not left sniffing one spot to long as that tends to lead to poop. as for your back yard i would say you should do a poop pick up every morning before letting him out, as he gets older and starts eating the cats they should stop coming by, thats what happened with us, well a few still pop in but either dont stay long or never make it back out.....

I've read that faulty crate-training can lead to dogs eating their own poop. Do you know how he was kept before he came to you?

Also, cat poop is basically doggy candy. Or that's what I've experienced from my friend's dogs.

jbealer wrote:

when you find out a way to stop it let me know

Me too!

DanielleCortez wrote:

Also, cat poop is basically doggy candy. Or that's what I've experienced from my friend's dogs.

Pretty much. Our old lab mix when I was a kid would constantly break into the litter box, so we finally put baby gates up. I started that right off the bat with Ghost so we haven't had issues in the house. Outside however, is another story. We have a bunch of feral cats running around too (rural FL Panhandle here) and they constantly crap in our yard. It's like a smorgasbord for Ghost

The best we can do is fortify the yard so they don't get in in the first place and try to pick it up as we see it. Good luck!

Danielle, we got him when he was 4 weeks so he hasn't had any other owners. Plus, he doesn't eat his own poo, just cat poo. And now I can't stop thinking of cat poo as doggie candy...thanks guys lol

BeBopBandit wrote:

Danielle, we got him when he was 4 weeks so he hasn't had any other owners. Plus, he doesn't eat his own poo, just cat poo. And now I can't stop thinking of cat poo as doggie candy...thanks guys lol

You're welcome

4 weeks, holy cow! How old is he now? We've had some discussions about pups leaving their mom and siblings too young around here, I'd highly recommend taking a look at them. There is a lot of socialization that goes on between 6-8 weeks, and you may have a bit of a bite inhibition problem on your hands. We have a few members who got their pups that young, and I'm sure they'll be happy to give you advice on socialization.

He's about 8 months now, and yes biting is a problem. Its getting better, slowly but surely. Yea, I know 4 weeks is too young to take them away from their mom, but the guy told us when we came to look that he was leaving the country in a week. He was going to be adopted one way or the other.

When it comes to socializing, Bandit sucks. He's too eager and doesn't listen when other dogs growl at him to stay away. People keep asking us why we don't take him to a training class at Petsmart; well, its because he would be too distracted by other dogs and we'd basically just be paying for a wasted class. But its worth pointing out that most of the dogs he has been around so far are much smaller than him, so maybe once he gets around same size dogs it won't be an issue.

jbealer wrote:

when you find out a way to stop it let me know

Me three! maggie eats horse crap.

A lot of the dogs at my work are poop eaters, I bet their owners like to know too! lol

Kerian eats duck Crap there is a pond by the dog park.

Marmot poop on the mountain is the best treat ever, says Sierra and Jack!

So we often wonder why our dogs keep getting worms.

This post made me laugh! My dog's have been eating cat poop for years! I asked my vet about it and he said dog's love "Kitty treats"!

The only way I keep my dog's out of the cat litter is by putting a baby gate up and every now and then I'll catch one of them crying behind the gate, because they can't get out hehe.

As for outside ... all poop is fair game! yuck!

Cally eats cat poop :/ I had to move the litter box so that it is blocked in and facing the other way so now my cat has to jump on top and then down to the other side... oh well, whatever works right? lol Cally also likes horse poop. Yay for me, I've got a poop eater too

Lol such an interesting discussion.

Let's see, Dakota doesn't touch dog or cat poo but he does enjoy elk poo.

Glory doesn't eat any poo that isn't hers, she loves to eat her own poo fresh out of the factory...disgusting! She'll turn right around after she goes and start chowing down while it's still hot! Lol We've been using a distract and redirect technique to stop her and it's worked very well. Only very rarely will she eat her poop now and it's never when it's hot off the press anymore.

Faith is such a diva we're lucky to even catch her sniffing poop, she wouldn't dream of eating such a thing no matter what animal it came out of. The little miss priss is just too good for that!

Huskyluv wrote:

Glory doesn't eat any poo that isn't hers, she loves to eat her own poo fresh out of the factory...disgusting! She'll turn right around after she goes and start chowing down while it's still hot! Lol We've been using a distract and redirect technique to stop her and it's worked very well. Only very rarely will she eat her poop now and it's never when it's hot off the press anymore.

That's *hilarious*!!!! Disgusting, yes, but still hilarious. Thankfully ours stick to the cat poo, but Lulu likes to turn around and watch the tootsie rolls come out. Disgusting little dogs!

Tootsie rolls! ROFL!

Lucian's snack of choice in the back yard is rabbit poop. He has a bacteria in his system because he eats it. He's like a little four legged vacuum cleaner. He runs out there and instantly finds it.
I know there is no way I'm going to be able to go out there and find the rabbit poop before he does. So I'm trying positive distraction training with him. I'm hoping it works, and he stops eating it. If he keeps it up he's going to have to be put on medication. Vet said not to bother with it yet since he doesn't have full blown diarrhea. More like formed, but mushy.
Never touches his own poop though, he'll sniff a little and walk away. It smells horrible. Lol.

Thanks for all the responses! This thread sure made me laugh

Glad to see I'm not the only one! My dogs are picky about their poop choices.

Pooka, the chi, won't touch it. He's a good boy.

Herc, the lab, will eat any and all poop, but it tends to get worse now that it's colder. Guess he likes his frozen.

Callie doesn't eat anyone's poop but the chi's. She doesn't touch poop on walks, at the park, nothing. Only the chi's. I. Don't. Get. It.

So for her, it's an easy fix. I just pick up the chi's poop all the time. Herc, I gave up on. Plus, not my dog, not my problem kind of deal. My mom can fight with that.

As far as dogs that aren't picky like Callie, I have no clue. There's tons of products for dogs that eat their own poop, though I don't know how effective that is. For other animal's, I guess the only fix is to watch like a hawk and have something yummier (ewwww) on hand to offer as an alternative.

Juneau eats poop too, UGH! Not her own though. I think it's racoon poop or cat poop. Very small. At work, I'd walk her around the grass and all of a sudden she would lurch forward and dive in the grass! I was like, "WTF"?! Then I see her smacking her lips and I crouch down and smell poop! I quickly pulled her away from the poop. Now whenever we walk outside, she goes for that spot EVERY time and I have to direct her somewhere else. Ugh lol.

Thankfully we don't have any foreign poops in our yard lol.

OMG!! zizzy just recently started her poo fascination!

A couple weeks ago I caught her sniffing too much in this one spot. then saw her pick it up and i couldnt get to her in time.

since then, shes gotten it one other time (that i know of) and she even got yuki interested in it.
ugh. i wish someone had a suggestion. :/ i hope it doesnt get worse.

http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_PoopEating.php

My friend's dog does this. She gets really lonely/bored while her owners are at work and eats her own poop.
She comes for visits to my place for sleep overs and has Freya to play with. I've also got 2 kids and am a stay at home mum so have pleanty of time for the dogs. There is also alot of stimulation to be had here. As a result she doesnt eat poo while she's here with me. As soon as she gets back to her owners place she's back to the old habbit.

There are lots of reasons why she might be doing this - Habbit, hunger (maybe you need to assess the amount of food you're giving her?), nutrition (perhaps look into different brand of food?), bordome (is she getting enough mental and physical stimulation?)
These are just suggestions as to what the problem may be so you can get an idea of it yourself. I'm by no means accusung you of not feeding your dog enough or anything like that.

This is my first post on the forum! XD Forgive me if this has already been said, but my experience with dogs (2 shih-tzus, 2 black labs, and now two huskies) has been that if they are eating poop it's generally one of two things.

The most common is that they aren't getting enough of something in their diet, it may be time to take a look a husky's food. You may need to change to a higher quality food that has minimal to no grains, and high protein content. My wife and I feed Buster and Logan Blue Wilderness - Chicken flavor. I'm not endorsing a brand, just saying what has worked for us.

Second, it could that your husky is removing what he/she sees as a territorial marker, whether just to do so, or to make it their own.

Just my two cents