That horrifying moment when you discover that your pooch has turned into a poop eating monster, are you familiar with this? You're having a peek out into the yard only to discover that your pup is gulping down his own waste as soon as it is eliminated. Barf!! Or, you bust Poochie as he takes a turn scooping the litter box. No!!!

Believe it or not, this is a pretty common thing for dogs to do, but, that doesn't exactly mean it’s something to be encouraged or allowed to continue. So, what’s a pet parent to do and, why do dogs feel the need to eat poop in the first place?
 
Let’s examine some of the reasons why dogs are so fond of and inclined to consume excrement. (There’s absolutely no gentle way to phrase some of these facts, excuse the blunt talk please.)

1/ there could be traces of undigested food in the feces. This is a huge factor in cross species consumption, like when dogs go foraging in litter boxes for cat poop.
2/ lack of proper diet is often blamed for poop eating. When a dog is under or improperly fed, they will look for other ways to supplement their diets.
3/ dogs are gross ok? Plus they are naturally inclined towards scavenging. When left to fend for themselves dogs will eat just about anything to survive. These instincts can be present even in well cared for house dogs.
4/ they have been taught to eat poop. That archaic shove the dog's nose in the poop potty training technique? That’s not helping anything and can actually segue into the nasty poopivore behavior that makes us throw up in our mouths a little bit
5/ Mama Dogs will clean up after their puppies when they move their bowels, it’s considered normal behavior in the dog world. Again, this can carry over into life after puppies.
6/ dogs are sensitive creatures and may attempt to clean up after themselves in situations where they have soiled their kennels or in the home somewhere due to illness or too much time left alone.
7/ it gets them attention. Reaction to watching a dog eating poop is usually an excited one. Whether it is a good or bad excited can be rewarding to the dog. Especially if it is a dog who is chronically ignored by their humans.

So, what’s a girl (or boy) to do? Assuming we want to put an end to the poop ingestification, let’s review some tips, tricks and pointers. 
 
1/ if you have a dog AND cat in your home, invest in a covered litter pan. Nobody has time to be racing around checking the litter box every 2 minutes to pooper scoop, except for your dog, so, go shopping! Try to place the litter box where Poochie can’t stick his head in through the entry to the litter box. Dogs are very resourceful when it comes to foraging, you have to outwit La Chien on this one.
2/ some of us are probably feeding not so great foods to our Pups, not out of lack of caring or anything, it’s a matter of knowing which brand is really good as opposed to well-advertised. There are some reasonably priced high value dog foods available to consumers, just do a little research on what might be best for your own pup.
3/ you’re feeding an A rated dog food but he’s still out in the yard hoovering up all the poop piles. Great! Your solution, get out there and clean it up before the dog does it for you. Problem solved.
4/ please get familiar with force free training and use it in all aspects of training your dog. A reward based regimen will yield the best results and will strengthen the bond between dog and human.
5/ same solution as number 3, clean up the yard before your dog does it for you.
6/ dogs choose not to eliminate where they live. However, if left alone for extended periods of time, they will naturally be compelled to move their bowels. If this has happened and the dog is berated for the indoor elimination, they may feel humiliated and attempt to clean up the mess so they don’t get in trouble again, even though they tried to hold it in for a long time already. It’s not ok to be away from your animals for extended periods of time and expect them to “hold it” until you get back home. If there is an accident, all you have to do is clean it up, no need for punishment, the dog feels bad enough already. If there is habitual indoor eliminating when access to outdoors is provided frequently, there might be another issue at hand.
7/ if your dog is eating poop just to get your attention, it’s time to consider getting more involved with your pup. Get out walking, schedule some quality play time, go for a car ride, do something, anything with your dog. And clean the yard!!!

Actually, it's not so great, it's an unfortunate fall-out of the "let's get a puppy/kitten/cute furry creature for Christmas purge" and, we're not fans of this at all. While rescues and shelters brace themselves for the post Holidays spike of incoming unwanted animals, our team of rescuers would:

1. Like to encourage families to try a little bit harder with their pet before deciding to give up,
2. Hope that a decision is made in consideration of the best interest of the animal and,
3. Encourage people to seriously think about their ability to bring a pet into their home in future if they are now or have ever in the past rehomed or otherwise given away or dumped an animal.

The Pack Project is reposting an excellent article on the hazards of giving animals away as "free to a good home". There are some hard truths in this article but, these are things we as loving and kind humans need to know when we are about to evict an animal from its family.

Free to a Good Home

If you are facing a life change or have come to a point where you are no longer able to care for the pets in your home, it may be tempting to use a free ad service to aid with the rehoming. While the best intentions may be behind rehoming and it could be assumed that charging no adoption fee will place the animal faster, there are some major drawbacks to turning family pets into free giveaways.

As good people, it may not enter our minds that there are some very desparate situations a "free to a good home" pet may find themselves in. In rescue, we are completely understanding that there may not be other options than to rehome but, we have seen the end results of free giveaways one too many times. 

Obviously there are some good people looking for a family pet but how do you ultimately decide who is good and who may be a risk? With the high use of social media and free ad websites being used to rehome, our Pack would like to share some rehome strategies and discuss some of the worst case scenarios of giving away your family pet to a random stranger who answered an ad. 

There are some people who review ads for "free" pets for the sole purpose of making money from them. Examples of how a giveaway animal can be traded for monetary gain or simply as abuse targets are as follows:

• Dog fighting rings (bait dogs - graphic images please be warned) 
• Hunting practice
• Used for live food
• Sold to puppy mill owners or kept for breeding purposes
• Sold to animal testing labs
• Used in animal crush videos

In a rehoming situation, end results such as the ones listed above would not normally cross a person's' mind. Most of us would never even dream that companion animals would end up as abuse targets or worse. When rehoming, the vast majority of pet owners are devastated to be parting with their pet and do want the best possible home available for the animal they can no longer care for. 

There are steps that can be taken to ensure that an animal is placed into caring homes:

1. Start with friends and family, ask around your inner circle first
2. Charge an adoption fee upwards of $100
3. Screen candidates, use an adoption application form (feel free to use ours as an example)
4. Research local no kill shelters and/or rescues

Since rehoming should be considered a last resort, it would be great if research could be done to manage any behavioral issues or lifestyle conflicts that are driving the decision to rehome a family member. There is endless information available to assist with training and behavior management so before taking that final step to rehoming, why not explore all options?