When Coprophagia Is A Problem
Slow learners, puppies that are accustomed to oral retentives and puppies may continue to engage in coprophagia and become more involved in it beyond the accepted norm.
Such hard-core coprophagic continue to behave long after their peers have developed new interests. Such dogs, which seem to be addicted to the habit, can be described as compulsive.
Below is a list of contributing factors, even if more than one is working in any given case.
- Chance of noticing dam eating feces
- High protein, low residue, puppy diet
- Irregular feeding schedule
- Constant chance of taking stool
- Attention / supervision is not enough
Why Do German Shepherds Eat Their Own Poop
Poop is consumed by German Shepherds for a variety of reasons. Hunger, parasites, anxiety, a diet lacking in adequate nutrients, behavioral difficulties, or an underlying health condition are the most prevalent causes of this behavior.
Why is it that my German Shepherd Dog eats his own feces? Poop is delicious to your German Shepherd Dog, therefore he eats it. You may have noticed that what we find noxious smells fantastic to them. Yes, most dogs eat feces because it tastes and smells good to them. Some people believe that dogs can smell their last meal in their excrement. Because he eats too rapidly, your German Shepherd Dog consumes his excrement.
Is it true that German Shepherds consume their own feces? Boredom, like many other behavioral issues, can lead to coprophagia. Dogs that do not receive enough attention or exercise may frequently find other methods to occupy their time, such as chewing on objects or eating feces. Your German Shepherd puppy is humiliated, so he eats his own excrement to hide it.
Puppies consume their own feces for a variety of reasons. It is considered natural for a new mother dog or her puppies to eat feces for reasons we shall discuss in the next section. Adult dogs, on the other hand, consume their own feces. The most prevalent causes of coprophagia in adult dogs are listed below. In a nutshell, animal instincts are the primary cause of coprophagia.
Feed Our Dog A Healthy And Balanced Diet
The easiest balanced food to give our dog is dry kibble. Dry kibble is nutritionally balanced and results in less teeth tartar.
Make sure to get a high quality kibble, with good protein sources, and no unhealthy fillers.
Some well reviewed kibble brands include Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Natures Variety Instinct, and Orijen.
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How To Stop My German Shepherd Dog From Eating His Poop
Amazing Ways To Keep Your German Shepherd Happy
Whether youre researching getting a German Shepherd or are just trying your best to give your loveable furry friend the healthy and happy life they deserve, we have some tips for you. There are plenty of ways you can keep your German Shepherd happy, from mental stimulation to giving your dog some more cuddles on the sofa, here are 8 ways to keep your German Shepherd happy.
Weve popped a quick list together for you which well cover below in more detail.
- Physical activity
- Socialising from an early age
- Good nutrition
- Regular check-ups at the vets
- Showing them plenty of love and affection
- Agility training
- Buy from a responsible & trusted breeder
Physical Activity
German Shepherds are a breed that are bursting with energy. Originally bred as working dogs for farms, and more recently for the Police and Military, German Shepherds need plenty of exercise each day to be properly stimulated.
Its typically recommended that you should give your German Shepherd 90-minutes of exercise each day, which can either be spread out across the day with high energy activities such as walking, running or playing fetch although you can give them their 90-minutes of exercise at once if you are planning a hike.
Any walks you do should be opportunities for your German Shepherd to explore their environment and practice good behaviour off their lead.
Socialising From An Early Age
Good Nutrition
Mental Stimulation
Regular Check-ups At The Vets
Agility Training
Regular Grooming
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How To Adjust The Behaviour
If your dog likes to eat poop, the very first thing you should do is check for any health problems. This is especially true when the dog never did it before and it has started recently. Dogs that eat poop regularly might have worms or any other parasites or might not have enough food. Call at your vet to find out why this really is happening after which treat it immediately.
Make The Dog Poop Taste Bad
Adding meat tenderizer containing papain,in small quantities to our dogs food, will sometimes prevent poop eating. Make sure it does not contain other additives such as MSG or salt. Some people also suggest adding pumpkin, pineapple, or stool deterrent supplements as alternatives. Our vet can also give our dog medicine, that will make his stool taste extremely bitter.
Only use one additive at a time, so that our dogs digestive system does not become overly unbalanced.
Remember to consult with our vet, before using any of these additives. Adding too much, may give our dog digestive issues. Some dogs may also be allergic to the added ingredients.
Instead of adding to our dogs food, we may also coat our dogs poop with taste deterrents such as Bitter Apple.
Note that taste deterrents are added to the feces, and *not* to the food.
However, stool deterrents only work when our dog is eating his own feces, or those from other dogs in the house. Results are usually much better and longer lasting, when we correct the source of the poop eating behavior, through the other methods listed above.
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Your Dog Has Parasites
When your dog has parasites, they are essentially eating for the parasites as well as for their own health and nutrient needs.
Unfortunately, eating poop is one of the primary ways that a dog can pick up parasites like hookworm, roundworm, and whipworm in the first place, as Vetz Insight explains.
Even if you dont see other evidence that your German Shepherd has parasites, if your dog starts to eat poop more frequently, it is time to get your veterinarian to do a fecal culture.
If The Problem Is Behavioral Consider Talking To An Animal Behavior Expert Or A Professional Dog Trainer
A vet might be able to refer you to an animal behavior expert.
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Home » Obedience/Training » Why Does My German Shepherd Eat His Or Her Poop?
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Common German Shepherd Stomach Problems
Sam Shephard is an experienced German Shepherd owner and has learned throughout the years how to optimize the breed’s health and wellness.
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German shepherds make wonderful pets, but, unfortunately for them and their owners, they often suffer from health problems. Common among these are digestive issues and a sensitive stomach. These range from mild to fatal, so its very important to keep an eye on your dogs health and bowel movements.
If you own a German shepherd, you should consult regularly with your vet about your dogs diet. Depending on what issues it has, you may need to adjust by eliminating certain kinds of food, adding supplements, or even designing a raw food diet.
With attention and care, you should be able to keep your dog’s stomach issues in check so that he can live happily and you dont have to clean up too many messes.
Change Of Food And Change Of Amount
How much to feed a German Shepherd puppy may also change based on when you begin the transition from puppy food to adult dog food.
If you choose to keep your GSD puppy on puppy food for longer, you may want to slightly decrease portion sizes per meal as your puppy grows up.
Conversely, if you switch your puppy over to adult food earlier, you may want to slightly increase portion sizes.
Discuss this with your veterinarian if you are unsure which approach is best for your puppys health.
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Teach A Solid Leave It Cue
You should teach your dog the leave it cue regardless of whether they are a poop-eater or not.
Of course, this is only helpful if you’re around when your dog is about to snack on poop. But if you’re managing the situation while you’re changing your dog’s diet and lifestyle, you should be around whenever they can potentially access poop.
Here’s an excellent video by Victoria Stilwell showing just how quick and easy it is to teach this cue.
Why Does My German Shepherd Eat Its Poop
If your German Shepherd eats its poop then you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.
This post will show you a number of reasons why it could be happening and what you can do about it.
So, why does my German Shepherd eat its poop? Possible causes are that its trying to satisfy nutritional deficiencies, its bored, its doing it for attention, its trying to make itself throw up or that it is stressed.
There are a number of things that you can consider when trying to understand why it does it. Depending on the cause there are also a number of things that you can do about it.
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Why Is Dog Pooping So Much
These include their size, diet, activity level, the number of walks they take and their age. Most dogs poop between 1 and 5 times per day. Puppies or older dogs who eat frequent small meals may be on the higher end of this scale. Dogs with health issues may poop more or less depending on the nature of their issues.
Boredom Stress Or Lack Of Exercise And Mental Stimulation
Believe it or not, your dog may be eating stool because in his mind theres nothing much else to do. As incredulous and disgusting as it might seem to us people, boredom is thought to be the underlying reason of coprophagia in some dogs.
Significant changes in their daily lives, like moving to a new house or losing a beloved family member, cause a dog to experience stress.;
Like people, every dog handles stress differently. Some may become depressed or despondent, some may become aggressive or develop destructive behavior, some may refuse food, and some may eat everything in sight, including poop.
A dog who is not being regularly stimulated both physically and mentally will often come up with his own ways to burn off excess energy and entertain himself, frequently much to the owners dismay.;
The dog is then oftentimes punished by either being ignored or locked up in his crate which leads to more boredom and additional stress. This can evolve into a vicious cycle.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Acute Diarrhea
Is Your Dog A Poop Eater 5 Ways To Stop Canine Coprophagia
For some pet owners, this is definitely the worst part of owning a dog. Nothing compares to the disgust we feel when near our pooches face only to smell.. ick! What is that?! POOP BREATH??!?!!? Not aggaaaiiin.
So how do we stop this icky behavior? Its hard, but we will try to break down 5 ways to try to stop coprophagia as it is medically called.
First, however, lets start to address what could cause it:
- Parasites
- Poor diet
- Scavenging
We arent going to dive into each of these causes for the time being, but its important when you see your dog consistently eat their poop that you discuss this with your veterinarian.
Now to what you are reading this for. HOW to approach stopping this gross habit.\
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Preventing Stomach Problems In German Shepherd Dogs
There are some things that you can do to prevent your dog from developing any of these conditions. The most common and simple ways to do this are by making sure that your dog is eating a diet thats suitable for it.
To make sure that youre not going to put your dog at risk for developing stomach problems, its important that you make sure you know that youre getting quality food. Quality food, for a German Shepherd, isnt necessarily the same quality food that you might get for another dog.
Of course, youre going to need to make sure that you get a good mixture of protein, fat and carbohydrates. For a Shepherd, this equates to roughly 20% of its calories coming from protein and 5% coming from fat However, more important than the breakdown of nutrients is the quality of the ingredients and the specific ingredients used. Try to go without glutenfree or at least low grains.
In terms of protein, youre going to want to make sure that you choose a high-quality protein source. Good sources of protein for Shepherds would be those that come from whole meats like beef, fish, and other organ meats. Chicken isnt the best food for Shepherds because foods made with chicken often come with a lot of byproducts that arent good for anybody, especially not a Shepherd with a sensitive stomach.
Dog Eating Poop Other Animals Poop
This scenario usually plays out in rural areas.
Dogs are not true carnivores, which is a myth that many people believe. Dogs and the wolves they evolved from are omnivores.
Omnivores eat meat, but they also can sustain themselves on plants, grasses, and berries.
Animals like cows, horses, deer, rabbits, et cetera, eat plant and grass materials, so their stool is really just processed grass and weeds, and it is attractive to some dogs.
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Bonus: After Your German Shepherd Eats Poop Do This
If you found out, your German Shepherd just ate poop, clean his mouth as soon as possible. It will remove the taste of feces, and he wont look for it anytime soon.
Heres how to do it:
- Give your dog some food and water. This will make him salivate, allowing him to naturally wash his own mouth.
- Let your dog chew on a dental stick or treat. This is an effective way of cleaning your dogs mouth, as well as clear his teeth from debris.
- You can use a wet cloth to clean your dogs mouth. Just be careful not to push your fingers too far in or your dog might gag.
German Shepherd Puppy Feeding Guidelines
Here are some general German Shepherd puppy feeding guidelines that may be helpful to consider as you plan your puppys menu:
- Puppies typically need to eat more than adult dogs.
- The puppy diet is usually higher in fat and protein than the adult dog diet.
- A good puppy food will always meet these two criteria: it is formulated for large breed puppies AND it offers complete and balanced nutrition.
- Do not provide extra vitamins and minerals unless your veterinarian advises otherwise.
- Puppies generally eat at least three times per day, whereas adult dogs may eat twice or even just once per day.
- Puppies always need access to plenty of fresh water during and in between meals.
- A common age to switch GSD puppies from puppy food to adult dog food is 12 months.
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