Gross - Stool Eater

Oh gosh! I wish I could give you an answer, but to tell you the truth? I have had 7 rescue Shelties in my home and once they get the taste of "stool" they seem to be hooked for life. I so wish I could be the bearer of better news, but with Shelties I have not been able to break this very nasty habit! Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't answer your question without asking you a few more.  Let me give you some background first though...Xerxes, the pharaoh hound, is a stool eater.  This is something that most of his breed do at some point in their lives.  X won't eat his own stool, however, only the stools of those dogs in his "pack" at the park.  (This has descended from the primitive need to keep secret the location of the den.)  So what I have done to combat this is a: clean up every orphan poop I can find.  b: feed him about an hour before we go to the park. and c: pay very close attention to his every move at the park.  I've been told that he'll grow out of this phase sometime soon, but I don't believe it at all.

So here are the questions:  Does the food you're feeding have corn or grain in it?  If so, these unnecessary additives don't get digested by the dogs.  But with all the other additives they are made palatable.   So the dog smells the stool and thinks "hey there's more of my food in there, I should eat it!"   And if you feed any of the commercial treats it's likely that some of the sugars/starches aren't being digested as well.  So maybe changing the food/treats might help.

If that doesn't work, you could try a product by Solid Gold called "S.E.P." (Stop eating poop.)

Hope this helps.

My dog goes digging for hidden treasure in the kitty litter box.  I have to keep the box hidden.  I try to break him of it and he knows he's not supposed to, but he does.

Krista

I have the same problem with my 1 year old black Lab.  And, nothing has been able to rid her of this problem...she won't touch it while we're around...but, we can't be outside with her (we have a fenced-in yard) every minute.  So she, as well, tends to try to do it when we're not looking.  Luckily, she will only eat her own and that of our 5 mos. old Lab.  When we go for walks in the local forest, she sniffs other's stool, but walks away (whether it's because we're there to dissuade it, I'm not sure).
 
But, good luck with this problem...because once they have a "taste" for it...it seems to be one of the grossest habits to break. 

as i understand it, doesn't cat food have much more protein in it and therefore dogs smell it in cat stool and can't resist. one of my old vets told me that, he looked like he was fishing for an answer just to save face though so i don't know. i do know that my dog used to eat stool, now politely sniffs and walks away, but cat stool? ohhh boy i think a litter box will always be a box of chocolates to my dog. if there is such a thing i guess he is a poo connoisseur, yet i'm not sure i'm proud of that.