dog eats his own poop

Question
I have a fantastic 8lb poodle who grew up in a condo. He is almost 2 years old.  We have had him for about 6 months.

He was potty trained to go on a wee wee pad.  He does this pretty consistently.

He will tend to eat his own poop if we are not there to pick it up.  We are using Distaste.  Our neighbor also recomended meat tenderizer.  The Distaste does not work consistently.

We keep his food bowl full so that he will have something to eat instead of poop when we are not there.

He does not seem to overeat.  We give him about 1 cup a day, 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup in the evening.

He is pretty consistent using the wee wee pads.  He does not go anywhere else in the house.

Now that he lives in a house with us, I would like to train him to go outside.

I have taken him out on dog walks and he knows it is just fine to use the potty outside.  I let him know how happy I am when he does so.

We have a fenced in back yard.  We have a baby monitor.  When I see him near the pads and he looks like he wants to pee, I call him in a happy voice so that he may go outside.

He loves going outside.  

I have two questions.
Any ideas on keeping him from eating his poop?

I would like to keep his coat very short so that he will be easier to clean when he comes inside.

What type of clipper to you recommend and what blade size(s).

I don't need a lot of blades.  I have a small cordless wahl trimmer which works fairly well.  I just need something to clip his legs and body very short. Also, it would be great if it were fairly quiet.

Thank you very much.

Answer
The best solution to stool eating, coprophagy, is cleaning them up before the dog has a chance. You can try other food additives, the home remedies pineapple juice or canned pumpkin or the commercial products Forbid or Deter.

Why dogs do it is poorly understood. It may be diet related, but changing the dog's diet might cause worse problems. Whatever problems it causes for the owner, it doesn't seem to hurt the dog unless you are trying to clear up a worm infestation.

For more information see http://home.gci.net/~divs/behavior/coprophagia.html  Cleaning up will work better after you have him going outside.  It is possible that crating him when you aren't around would restrict his activity allowing him to hold his bowel movements until you return and take him outside.  I don't think a dog should be left more than 4-5 hours at a time.  If you can't make it back for a mid day break, see if a neighbor or professional dog walker can.  

The clipping is an area I haven't gotten into.  Perhaps a good dealer could help.