My Dog Eats Poop – Help!
Dogs have some pretty endearing habits, but eating poop (either their own or another animals’) is not one of them. Although the behavior is mostly normal, no one wants their dog to raid the litter box or gulp down a stinky snack from the yard or sidewalk.
At All Creatures Veterinary Hospital, we are often asked the question “Why do dogs eat poop?”. Although there is no one answer, we can offer some insight into this unpleasant culinary choice.
Why Do Dogs Eat Poop?
Poop-eating, technically known as coprophagia, may be normal, but that doesn’t make it any less upsetting. Watching your sweet pup happily gobble down their own feces or the feces of other animals can be an unpleasant shock to witness.
Ancestrally, however, coprophagia served an important role – collective poop eating kept the den clean, and mother dogs and wolves routinely clean up after their puppies in this way.