dog eats feces

Question
We rescued a 1 year old Chihuahua from an abusive home,ever since we've had him(2 months) he has eaten his and sometimes the feces from my 3 other Chihuahua's.We can't get him to stop. He was straved in the other home and locked up in the bathroom.HELP

Answer
No one really knows why some dogs take up this nasty past-time. It is not uncommon for puppies to experiment with stool-eating, and good bitches always clean up after their puppies; sometimes stool eating can just become a habit.

Some feel that it can be from an inadequate diet, and the dog is lacking something in its diet, so it "recycles" its food. (Kitty stools, for instance, can be choice tidbits to many dogs because of the high protein/fat content in cat food.)

The best way to stop this behavior is to get out there with the dogs and immediately pick up any stools as they are deposited. There is also a product called ForBid that can be sprinkled on the dogs' food that makes the stools distasteful to the dog.