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So a few years ago, we adopted an older dog from the humane society. He was about 9 years old at the time, and obese. We got his health and weight back to a normal level, but despite our best efforts to prevent him from doing this, he still has a bad habit of consuming paper, cardboard, and dog droppings. I believe he had several owners prior to us adopting him, so I'm sure it has something to do with what he was allowed to get away with at his previous owners. But it's frustrating, to say the least. What is driving his unusual appetite? Why is he so compelled to eat things like that? Been around dogs my entire life, but my wife and I are dumbfounded by this behavior. Other than that, he's a sweet, obedient companion for the family.
Obviously when the dog was younger, someone gave him cardboard, or paper to play with, and it has stayed with the dog all it's life.
The old saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, holds true in this case.
Short story to share with you about dogs and paper.
My German Shepherd, when he was a pup, use to like to play with the cardboard roll from the paper towels, once the towels were used up.
He enjoyed it, and gave him pleasure , so I always encouraged it.
Same with empty boxes pizza comes in.
He would tear one of them apart in just a few minutes.
Never swallow any, just happy to tear them into small pieces.
One night, I was getting ready to make a bank deposit, and left the bedroom for a minute.
The Shepherd was lying on the bed, and the eight one hundred dollar bills(the money going into the bank) were on the nightstand.
When I returned to the bedroom, the Shepherd was having one hell of a good time ripping the bills to shreds.
Of the eight bills, five were completely mangled, and the other three were pretty torn up.
I didn't get angry, or yell at him because he was use to eating paper and cardboard.
It was a game to him.
A couple days later I was talking to a friend about what happened, and he said if I still had the bills, my bank would exchange them.
I did, and took them to the bank.
They couldn't take them, but gave me the address of the printing and engraving department in Washington DC.
I sent them a letter explaining what happened to the bills, enclosed them, and in about a month, I received a check for the eight hundred dollars that the pooch destroyed.
But back to you, Idaho. Poop - normal for dogs to eat it. Some more than others. In my experience, this is VERY hard to discourage - they seem to regard it as I would cookies. (Gag.)
Paper. You might be able to redirect this focus, with a fair amount of work at retraining. Find a book (or trainer) that uses positive refocus methods. Victoria Stillwell and Leslie McDevitt are two authors who come to mind. Stillwell also has some stuff online. McDevitt might, I don't know.
My dog, Leo, ate poop. So I would give him and our other dog — and any foster dogs — a small sliver of pineapple every day for about a week. The pineapple made the poop distasteful to Leo and would break Leo of the habit for months. And if he slipped up, we’d start with the pineapple snack. Dogs love fresh or canned unsweetened pineapple as a treat. But it effectively disgusted Leo in doggie stools.
I have to go against the other thoughts and say it's not normal. I have had a lot of dogs and have never seen that. The cat's litter box is a different story. I have seen that occasionally but it's not a regular thing. Cats are a different species so that may be a factor, but I have never seen my dogs go near their own. I would try the food additives and hopefully that will help.
My dog, Leo, ate poop. So I would give him and our other dog — and any foster dogs — a small sliver of pineapple every day for about a week. The pineapple made the poop distasteful . . .
Pineapple! I will HAVE to try that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by motownnative
I have to go against the other thoughts and say it's not normal. I have had a lot of dogs and have never seen that. The cat's litter box is a different story. I have seen that occasionally but it's not a regular thing. Cats are a different species so that may be a factor, but I have never seen my dogs go near their own. I would try the food additives and hopefully that will help.
On the contrary, it is very normal. You can do a little online research yourself and verify that. Dogs DON'T usually eat their OWN poop. But some dogs eat other dog poop, and/or cat poop. Some dogs eat other animal poop - and not carnivore poop. Like my last 2 - they loved deer poop. But never touched coyote, cat, or other dog poop. My current two like coyote, cat, coon, and goose - and don't touch deer poop, or their own.
Obviously when the dog was younger, someone gave him cardboard, or paper to play with, and it has stayed with the dog all it's life.
The old saying, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, holds true in this case.
Short story to share with you about dogs and paper.
My German Shepherd, when he was a pup, use to like to play with the cardboard roll from the paper towels, once the towels were used up.
He enjoyed it, and gave him pleasure , so I always encouraged it.
Same with empty boxes pizza comes in.
He would tear one of them apart in just a few minutes.
Never swallow any, just happy to tear them into small pieces.
One night, I was getting ready to make a bank deposit, and left the bedroom for a minute.
The Shepherd was lying on the bed, and the eight one hundred dollar bills(the money going into the bank) were on the nightstand.
When I returned to the bedroom, the Shepherd was having one hell of a good time ripping the bills to shreds.
Of the eight bills, five were completely mangled, and the other three were pretty torn up.
I didn't get angry, or yell at him because he was use to eating paper and cardboard.
It was a game to him.
A couple days later I was talking to a friend about what happened, and he said if I still had the bills, my bank would exchange them.
I did, and took them to the bank.
They couldn't take them, but gave me the address of the printing and engraving department in Washington DC.
I sent them a letter explaining what happened to the bills, enclosed them, and in about a month, I received a check for the eight hundred dollars that the pooch destroyed.
Bob.
OK, a bit off topic because it's not a dog doing the eating, but here goes:
I adopted a wild caught toucan from some clueless first time bird buyers. I knew enough about birds like this to be OK with sharing the house with an intelligent, crabby, raven-sized monster with an 8" beak. We got along pretty well actually. I was always hunting for low cost simple toys to keep that surly little brain occupied. Gave him paper shopping bags, wadded up newspaper, and cardboard boxes to rip apart.
One year during income tax season I got started late, was down to the wire working on the forms, and left a pile of various schedules and statements on the coffee table. Started a more enjoyable chore in the other room and forgot about it. Eventually I heard happy shredding. Came in only to find my completed tax forms all ripped to shreds. Hours of work lost. To add insult to injury he'd pooped all over the statements and my calculator. Toucans eat fruit...lots of ripe fruit. Their GI tract is so short they leave behind almost as much organic matter as they ingest in 10 minute intervals. A favorite is fresh blueberries. I'll leave that mess to the imagination. In all fairness I couldn't get angry with him. After all, he'd learned to shred paper from ME!
To this day I wonder whether an IRS auditor would believe me if I told them my excuse for filing late that year and what the faint purple stains on some of the margins came from.
Last edited by Parnassia; 12-13-2018 at 10:37 PM..
My dog, Leo, ate poop. So I would give him and our other dog — and any foster dogs — a small sliver of pineapple every day for about a week. The pineapple made the poop distasteful to Leo and would break Leo of the habit for months. And if he slipped up, we’d start with the pineapple snack. Dogs love fresh or canned unsweetened pineapple as a treat. But it effectively disgusted Leo in doggie stools.
Our rescue is a poop eater on occasion, so this advice is gold, thank you!
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Just as there are many dogs, there are that many reasons dogs eat stool.
Here are some:
Diet, if the food in the diet isn't being digested properly it can come out in the stool and making it that much more tempting.
Boredom, pretty much self-explanatory
Health- as the thyroid been checked?
For those doing the pineapple trial, I'd love to know how that turns out. It was fail here
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