Coprophagia is the subject owners are least willing to mention and one of the more common problems in young dogs. It is also one where the internet's favourite solutions, additives that make stools unpalatable, are the least reliable part of the answer.
Why dogs do it
Puppies explore with their mouths and frequently grow out of it. Bitches clean up after their litters, and the behaviour is entirely normal in that context. Beyond that: boredom, scavenging habit, learned attention-seeking because the household reacts dramatically, and in some cases an underlying medical driver.
Cat faeces are a special case: many dogs find them genuinely attractive, which is a litter tray management problem rather than a behaviour problem.
If it starts suddenly in an adult dog that never did it, see a vet before treating it as a habit. Parasites, digestive disease, and conditions that increase appetite can all present this way.
The medical check
Ask for a faecal analysis and a general examination. Worth mentioning to the vet: appetite changes, weight, stool consistency, drinking, current diet and any medication. Conditions that reduce nutrient absorption, or drugs that increase hunger, both make this more likely.
If the dog is on a diet that leaves it hungry, or is genuinely underfed, that is worth reviewing honestly.
What actually works
Management, relentlessly. Pick up immediately in the garden, every time, before the dog has the opportunity. On walks, keep the lead short past the places it happens, and learn your route's hot spots.
Teach "leave it" properly, away from the street first, with the rule that the dog never gets the thing on the floor and the reward always comes from you and is always better.
Teach a recall away from the spot rather than a shout. Call, pay generously, then walk on together.
Reduce the reason: more sniffing on walks, food delivered through puzzles rather than a bowl, and enough to eat. Bored, under-occupied dogs do this more.
What does not work
- Punishment. The reliable result is a dog that eats faster or waits until you are not looking
- Shouting and running over, which for an attention-seeking dog is the reward
- Additives, which help occasionally and do nothing in most cases, and which cannot work at all on another animal's stools
- Hot sauce or similar on the stools, which is unkind, unreliable and can cause harm
The garden and the litter tray
In a household with a garden, the single most effective intervention is picking up immediately, every time, rather than once a day. A dog that finds nothing on twenty consecutive trips outside stops checking.
Cat litter deserves its own arrangement. Raise the tray, put it behind a gate set a few centimetres off the floor or with a cat flap cut in, or place it somewhere the dog physically cannot reach. Clean it frequently, because the attraction is strongest when it is fresh, and feed the cat somewhere the dog cannot help itself either.
Horse and wildlife droppings
On the valley paths and forest tracks around the city, the commonest version of this is not the dog's own stools but those of horses, deer and foxes. The risks there are parasites rather than anything dramatic, which makes the worming schedule the relevant protection.
The training answer is the same: a reliable leave it, a shorter lead through the places you know are a problem, and a recall that is paid better than whatever is on the ground.
Is it dangerous
Mostly it is unpleasant rather than harmful, but it is a route for parasites and for some infections, which is why parasite treatment needs to be on schedule rather than on memory for a dog that does this. It also matters in a household with small children, where hand washing and picking up promptly do most of the protective work.
Do not let a dog that does this lick faces, and be sensible about where it sleeps.
Expectations
Most puppies stop by adulthood with consistent management. Adult dogs with an established habit take longer and respond to the same combination: remove the opportunity, make the alternative pay, deal with any medical cause, and keep it boring when it happens.
Tell your walker or sitter plainly. It is a mildly embarrassing sentence and it lets them keep the lead short in the right places and report it factually rather than discovering it by surprise.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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