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You are probably not prone to chowing down on poop, but some of our best friends beg to differ. While all dogs are not into the fresh stuff, some are decidedly inclined (heck, drawn) to gobble it up.
If you are still reading despite topic and tone, maybe it's personal. If one of your canine friends eats poop, you may wonder, "Why, dog? Why are you into this? And is it normal? And, well, could you maybe do it less?"
So I read the whole article. They really didn't say why some dogs do this and the only suggestions for stopping it were to teach the dog "leave it" or clean it up before the dog can get to it.
We have this problem with 2 dogs at our dog park. We (the humans) watch like hawks and pick up poop as soon as it appears. But dogs can run faster than humans and sometimes get to it first.
I have read that dogs will eat cat poop because of its high protein content. Which reminds me I must scoop the litter box.
I'd had my dog about 2 years before he started this nasty habit. I am fastidious about cleaning the litter box - and if I'm not fast enough - after she stunk it up - she'd come and give me the hairy eyeball and toss her head like "get off your butt and clean this - it stinks". He discovered if he lurked outside the bathroom he could slip in there before me... I'd see him stroll out kinda smacking his lips and cringe... I finally took a set of the short wire garden fence - and put it across the bathroom door. He's snort and doesn't realize he could jump it. It stopped him cold. He wouldn't dare walk into the bedroom and go in the other door - the bedroom was the cats domain and he'd receive a claws out smack...
that's one of the reasons I don't have a cat at this time.... soon I hope.
I had a dog years ago that would take the dirty diapers out of trash and lick the insides!
Dogs can have, well...disgusting habits, at least to us. To them, it's like they hit the culinary jackpot. I've had dogs do this, as well as other rather personal items (underwear, underwear liners, etc.). Oh, and yes, the kitty litter box tends to equate to a canid's treasure trove of treats...which is why, when I had cats, I always faced the entrance of the box toward a wall...to discourage my dog's curiosity.
I've always equated these rather unwanted behaviours to the dog's keen - yet weird - sense of smell, rather than anything to do with protein content. (Ever see a dog after he finds a rotted fish somewhere? The more fetid the smell, the more interesting it is.)
One man's (or dog's) trash is another's treasure, sort of thing.
We have a poop eater - he was a rescue and was emaciated with horrible mange when we "fostered" him, and he just sort of never left us. I suspect he survived (not well) on poop, mice, trash, etc., and it is "just food" in his mind. he only eats poop that has been around for a while - fresh stuff is frequently smelled, but not touched.
Obviously, when I catch him, I stop him - a loud "YUCK!" normally causes him to drop the poop and stop eating. My wife refers to deer and elk pellets as "pre-digested grass" and that particular type of poop seems to be the "delicacy" of the poop hierarchy.
Thats disgusting. There is a product called Forbid you can put in the cat's food, or the dog's food whatever. It makes the feces taste disgusting to them and they stop eating poop. Obviously you can't feed it to the Elk.
I lived once in an area where people thought it was totally okay to throw their dirty diapers out of their windows and my dog had a problem with it. He would get angry at you if you tried to wrestle a soiled dirty diaper from his mouth. I moved out after like 5 months. Never had a problem after that with that dog.
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