eating poop to hide it

Question
QUESTION: I rescued a 10 month old toy manchester terrier in June. The reason she was rescued is because the previous owner gave her as a Christmas gift to their 2 boys and they definitely were not dog people. They would leave her in her cage about 16 ours a day. They finally got fed up with her when she started pooping and peeing in her cage during the day. Trixie is almost 15 months old now. She is totally house trained and has been since we brought her home. She tells us when she needs to go out with no problem. We also have another TMC that is 3 years old and when we leave the house we have them trained to stay in their cage. At the beginning, every time we would put her in the cage she would most of the time pee and poop. I stooped the peeing be taking all blankets and anything fabric out of the cage, she now is on the bare floor of the cage. This totally worked for the peeing problem, it has stopped. Then we noticed that as long as we made sure she poops before we put her in the cage she would be fine and not poop. Now she seems to be regressing. Almost every time we put her in her cage she poops and then eats it to hide it! One time she actually vomited it all up. She does this whether she is in the cage 10 minutes or 2 hours. I spoke with the previous owners and they said that was a large problem and the reason why they gave her to the rescue group. They couldn't take having to bath her and clean up every time they came home. When I first brought her home I would make the cage very small and not give her much room. as she stopped I gave her the full cage, which the cage is small anyway. The cage my other dog is in is much larger. The other day when I came home I noticed she pooped and ate it. I reprimanded her and didn't even raise my voice, just asked her what she did and that she needs to do poopies outside. She was shaking like a leaf. This makes me think that the previous owners may have beat her for it. When I put her in her cage it isn't for a very long time. Once in a while she may be in for 5 hours but it is usually an hour or two and it is not every day. When I tell her to go in her "house" she runs right in. She started doing that after about a week or two of us having her. I am at my wits end and don't know how to break this. Can you help?

ANSWER: She has developed the habit of eating her own feces, either because of being crated for so long at her previous home and not wanting to have to sit in the crate with her poop, or because she is lacking something in her diet, or simply out of boredom. Cophragia (poop eating) is common in young puppies, but they usually grow out of it as long as they are kept in a clean environment. Since she was not, you're going to have to be extra diligent about taking her out and making >>sure<< she poops before being put in the crate. While it isn't going to harm her to eat her own poo, it's certainly less than sanitary, especially if you allow her to lick you!

You should not reprimand her for doing it unless you catch her in the act. Reprimanding her after the fact does nothing but confuse her - hence the reason she was shaking like a leaf when you did it. She had no idea why you were scolding her.

I don't normally recommend it, but do you think crating the two dogs together might solve the problem?


You can try feeding her some pineapple (about a tablespoon each meal), mixed in with her food, which makes the stool unpleasant to the taste (as if it's pleasant to begin with!), but the only real suggestion I have for you is to make SURE she poops before being put in the crate. Try putting her in there for short periods of time while you're at home, also, so that you can reprimand her if she poops in the crate, and/or tries to eat it.

What kind of food are you feeding her? Do you know what her former owners were feeding her? How much and how often do you feed?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kristen,
Thanks for getting back to me. On thing I must say is that we are very diligent about having her poop before crating her and I feel it is a nervous reaction. She has a very laid back friendly personality. I noticed the first time I brought her to the vet that when they put us in the examining room, closed the door she started pacing and jumping up on the walls to get out...we were with her but I could tell it was definitely a very nervous situation for her. It was a small room with no windows. She is kept in a very clean environment and never potties in the house. She always tells us when she needs to go out and holds it until we get her out. I just tried the past two days crating them together. Yesterday I removed her crate and put a bed on the floor where the crate was. I put both dogs in the larger crate but did not lock the crate door. When I came home she was laying in the crate and the other dog was laying on the bed. Our door was all scratched up from trying to get out. I'm a little leery to lock them in together because when we are home she non stop wants to play and the older dog does not. Sometimes the older dog growls at her...has never bit her but I think the potential is there. I would not want them to get in a fight. I was thinking of letting them loose in the house, I think they would be fine but in the summer we stay at a family beach house. When we are at the beach house they definitely need to be crated because if we are not home I'm afraid someone would accidentally let them out and they would get lost. So today we actually locked them together in the larger crate for about an hour and 15 minutes and they seemed fine. Ideally that is what I want to do. We feed them California Natural sweet potato and some sort of fish. It is a great food for their coat because they only have one coat and they tend to get bald spots. This food cleared up the bald spots on both of them after about a month or so on the food. The previous owner was feeding her Purina puppy chow. We fill their bowls in the morning one cup each. They usually eat in the morning and again in the evening when we have dinner. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks!
Gina Maurer

Answer
Gina, thanks for giving me a little bit clearer picture. I do not think that she is eating her poo because of anything lacking in her diet, if you are feeding California Natural. I do think that she probably developed the habit due to being crated for so long at her former home, though.

I think I would be hesitant to leave the two dogs crated together when you are away if she is in the habit of pestering him until he growls. I have a dog that is like that (doesn't really appreciate being jumped all over and etc.) You really wouldn't want them to get into a fight in the crate where neither one can get away.

It sounds like she did a little better when you left them loose, even though she did scratch the door. That can be prevented by putting a sheet of plexiglass on the bottom half of the door. What if you left a TV or radio on when you left? Do you think she would still become so anxious? What if you put her in an X-pen instead of a crate?