poop-eating Brittany

Question
How can I keep my crazy 13 month old Brittany from eating poop (his
and...any dog's)? It is just too disturbing to have him come in from being
outside and smell his poop-breath!
We run him daily on the beach (sometimes twice) and also once a day on the
bike so I hope he's not doing this out of boredom as I simply don't have any
more tricks up my sleeve to keep him busy.  Thank you.  Alison.

Answer
Dogs do this for various reasons, but diet can be attributed to it. Usually it's because while we think its gross, it's perfectly normal for a dog to do this.

Here are some tips to help:

Keep your yard scooped and provide other more interesting activities to occupy your dog: Kongs / Buster cubes!

Don't rush to scoop - competition for the desired item may INCREASE the dog's desire to have it, especially in competitive dogs. In some cases, it is actually "taught" by the owner who hovers to pounce on it first.

Don't let your dog see you scoop. Dogs are naturally interested in what you pay attention to.

Take the dog out on leash if necessary, tell the dog "leave it" and reward the dog for coming away from the poop, take the dog inside before scooping. Reward the dog for coming straight back inside. Create the habit - "do your business- then run to the house for a treat"!

It does little good to apply bad tasting stuff to the poop that is in the yard. If you have time to sprinkle stuff on it, you might as well just scoop it.         


There are products on the market which can be added to the dog's food to make the resulting poop less palatable. "Deter" and "Forbid" are two such products. There are also other somewhat less expensive additives that may also work:


Adolf's meat tenderizer (which is actually papaya extract plus preservatives)
Papaya extract (from your health food store)
Crushed pineapple
Powdered ginger
Tomatoes


One thing we have learned here is that the most important thing out of these is to NOT let the dog see you clean it up and do NOT scold them for it. It only increases the anxiety of getting in trouble and so that makes them more apt to hurry and 'clean it up' themselves.

Make sure your dog is on a good quality food, such as Science Diet. If you feed store bought foods you need to get him off of that  and onto a better quality one.

Kongs are good with peanut butter in them as far as keeping him busy while you are gone. Crate him when you are away and then take him out as soon as you get home but bring him in right away.

If you follow these tips it can help. Some dogs outgrow this. I have never known a dog that has done it for life.
I have also never had a client with a dog on Science Diet have this problem with their dog either.
Let me know if they help.