Why Does my Dog Eat Poo?
February 24, 2015
Why Does my Dog Eat Poo?
They’re cute, they’re cuddly, they’re our best friends and they can also be completely disgusting creatures! Yep, that’s right – I’m talking about our canine, furry, four legged friends. Some dogs, but not all dogs, will eat poo either routinely as a daily delicacy that they’ll chow down whenever they can get their paws on it – or as the occasionally smelly treat. Of course, we can’t bare it when they do this. Not only is it hard to watch, believe, and of course bare the smell of, but also it’s just plain fowl!
As gross and distasteful as it might be, and seemingly completely purposeless – this behavior does have a lot of very reasonable possible explanations. Yes, that’s right, that super disgusting habit of eating poo actually might have a reasonable origin and may actually be a solvable problem.
The Many Possibilities as to Why a Pooch Eats Poo
There are really quite a few “schools of thought”, so to speak, surrounding the topic of canine coprophagy. Yes, there’s actually a more formal name for this eating of feces, coprophagy which is pronounced kä - präf’ – je and comes from the Greek copro which means feces and phagy which means eat.
Psychological Theories:
a. Some dogs may eat poo as a symptom of anxiety or other environmental stresses, this sort of anxiety driven coprophagy is seen frequently in kennels where dogs may not be getting the proper exercise and care or may have come from particularly traumatic circumstances.
b. Additionally, some think that dogs who have been potty trained incorrectly by being punished for pooing in the house, could associate all pooing as bad and try to eat their own poo to “hide” the evidence.
- And of course the good ol’ “give me attention” theory. Some think that dogs eat poo simply to get attention. It does certainly get a good rise out of their humans!
Biological Theories:
a. There are some professionals who believe that dogs eat feces because it was passed down through generations and generations of canines past. The idea essentially, is that when food is scarce eating poo serves as a survival mechanism and is essentially hardwired into their genetic makeup.
b. Then there’s the theory that I personally think makes most sense. There are some nutrients that dogs need that they often don’t get in domestic dog diets and as a result – they look for these nutrients elsewhere – in poo! There does seem to be consensus that dogs derive nutrients from animal feces and that in a way it does provide a food source, so it does indeed seem quite plausible that they would eat poo to either get more food or to get those nutrients they might otherwise be missing in their daily diets.
Well, there you have it! Some very sensible reasons as to why your dog might be acting in a way that seems completely nonsensical! We hope this has helped clear your conscious a bit.
Sources
Authour: Aileen Schultz
The above article is an adaptation from various information resources including the following online sources:
Photo credit: Brook, on rocks via photopin (license)