Why Does My Puppy Eat His Own Poop?

[littleflower]

My toy poodle pup is getting 8 month old and recently I noticed that he started to eat his own poop.... everytime when I noticed he did a poop he already ate it or was chewing on it...and it seems that he really enjoys eating it! He has been with Royal Canin and had no problems for the last 6 months since we had him. I feel totally lost and worried about why this has happened. I have read through articles saying it could be something to do with intestinal problems....then I started to wonder if I missed to give him Advocate dosage which should be given at the end of last november (the most recent dosage given was at the end of Dec09), would it cause him to get any intestinal worms or anything like that? Does anyone know?

Also, another issue just raised was he seemed that he was beginning to pee on the sofa!! He didnt use to do that at all, but recently he has done that twice!! He was newspaper trained but no idea why he jumped on to the sofa to do it instead All suggestions are welcome please!!

[Aidan]

He was newspaper trained but no idea why he jumped on to the sofa to do it instead All suggestions are welcome please!!

Is he still using the newspaper? Certainly in my experience problems like this are more common where the dog is allowed to toilet (even somewhere acceptable) inside the house. I wouldn't read too much into it, take him out more often and teach him to stay on the floor unless invited onto the couch (if at all).

Coprophagia (poo eating) is a problem that has no certain answers. The only sure way to stop it is to pick up immediately every time he empties his bowels. Other than that, food that is more digestible is less likely to encourage coprophagia. A raw diet, e.g BARF, has a very high success rate. Premium foods such as Royal Canin are usually pretty good though. The addition of raw pineapple to the diet can help as the enzymes help to digest the proteins more thoroughly (the same reason pineapple can be used as a meat-tenderiser prior to cooking).

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

i have also heard that some dogs don't like the taste of pineapple as well so two reasons to try adding this to his food.

[yotis]

I have this problem... the only way I found effective is to have a plastic bag handy most of the time.. as soon as the dog does his poo go and pick it up immediately or when I see one pile on the ground I'd pick it up as soon as possible. Everytime my dog does it I would ignore him for a while too and do my thing. He has stopped eating his poo for a while now or he has eaten it very quick.. either way I haven't seen him done it.

I have tried pineapple and pineapple juice neither made any difference.

[FranVT]

Atlas did this a few times, seemed to just be a phase though. Has it been going on for awhile?

[pie]

My 6 month old pup is Coprophagic, I tried the pineapple and it didn't work but I seem to be having good success with a product called Thrive D, it is a digestive enzyme powder that is added to the food.

I have not seen her try and eat her poo since I began adding the Thrive D to her food, she will sniff it then leave it alone.