Coprophagia (the eating of faeces) is one behaviour problem that people find very hard to understand. The plain truth is that your dog thinks that faeces taste nice.

When a young dog is growing, their body craves protein. Often, there is undigested protein in the stools themselves, and so the dog with his powerful sense of smell will sometimes demonstrate his desire for more protein, by eating the stool (poop eating dogs).

Canine coprophagia is unpleasant, unhealthy and should be prevented.

Take your dog for toilet training whilst on a lead and do not allow them to engage in the practice of poop eating (canine coprophagia). After initial growth spurts, dogs will often desist from this behaviour naturally, but it's vital to communicate to the dog that eating poop is undesired behaviour.

It's also worth considering changing to a different type of dog food.

If your dog is craving additional protein, you may need to supply him with a higher-quality food, richer in protein.

If your dog has suddenly started eating faeces it is a good idea to get him checked by your vet, as some medical conditions can increase appetite, so making coprophagia more likely. Nutritional deficiencies can also lead to coprophagia.

What can be done about it?

If your dog just eats his own faeces the problem is easier to tackle. First look at his diet. The richer the diet, the less is taken out as it passes through the digestive system and the tastier the faeces! Try changing to a dry diet with a lower protein level.

Alternative methods reported to work include feeding pineapple or an iron tablet in the meal which can render the faeces less palatable or clean up the faeces immediately before they can be eaten. This is easier if you train your dog to defaecate on command.

If your dog eats the faeces from another animal it is more difficult to stop as you don't have any control over where the faeces are. Some people have found spiking faeces with chilli peppers or other unpalatable substances is enough to put their dog off for life. Unfortunately many dogs learn to detect spiked faeces by their smell and avoid these, while still enthusiastically consuming the untouched ones encountered on a walk. A small proportion of dogs actually seem to relish the added seasoning! The only other alternative is intensively training an alternative behaviour by preventing any successful eating and rewarding leaving the faeces. Remember, while doing this, you will need to offer some pretty potent rewards if your dog does ignore any faeces - after all you are asking him to pass up on a delicious snack. Also, while training you will need to stop him from ever being successful - he must not even get a small mouthful - which means training will need to take place initially on a lead. If, at other times, you want to let your dog off the lead, you can muzzle him to prevent him from snacking.

Some alternatives to drugs that work for some:

Add two to four tablespoons of canned pumpkin to the food bowl each day. Pumpkin apparently tastes good in food, but repugnant when expelled in excrement.

Add a spoon (teaspoon or tablespoon depending on the dog's size) of canned pineapple, pineapple juice or spinach to the dog's food.