4 ways to prevent dogs from eating poop: learn how to kick this disgusting habit!
There are several ways to prevent dogs from eating poop. However, it is difficult to recommend any of them, since the reasons why dogs eat poop remain a mystery to all dog breeders. There are commercial products available on the market that will help overcome this problem, but one of the methods described below is worth trying. Don’t panic if none of them work (it’s almost impossible), as this bad habit will likely die out by the time your pup is 12 months old.
Stop dogs from eating poop Step 1 – Get rid of the poop
One of the easiest ways to prevent dogs from eating poop is to collect all the poop as soon as it appears. However, this method isn’t perfect as your dog might search other animals’ fences while he’s outside, just because he tries it. To teach your dog that poop isn’t the best food out there, you can add a little Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper, strong-smelling substances, to your dog’s fences and other animals you encounter. You can also add some spinach, pumpkin, or pineapple to your meals. These plants are said to smell horrible after being digested and eliminated and easily repel dogs.
Prevent Dogs from Eating Poop Step 2 – Get Your Pet Busy
Since dogs often engage in this horrible habit out of boredom, a great way to prevent dogs from eating poop is to keep them busy with something. The best way is to give your pet a chew toy called a Kong. It can be filled with dog food or treats and will force your dog to work very hard to get the treat piece by piece. This way your dog gets busy and is no longer hungry (one of the reasons for eating poop). You can also exercise your dog so that he gets tired and would rather sleep than seek out other controversial forms of entertainment.
Prevent Dogs from Eating Poop Step 3 – Feed a Well-Balanced Diet
Your dog may also eat poop because he needs certain minerals and vitamins. This is due to the fact that the meals you feed them may not be well balanced. Therefore, if you want to prevent dogs from eating feces, make sure you give your pet a suitable type of dry kibble (puppy, adult or senior) that contains all the nutritional elements that your pet will need.
Stop dogs from eating poop Step 4 – Eliminate stressful stimuli
To prevent dogs from eating feces, we can also reduce the number of stressful situations your dog has to go through, as this can also be one of the reasons why he eats feces. You need to identify what is causing your dog’s stress and fear and reduce your dog’s exposure, try to eliminate it from your dog’s life, or do some desensitization exercises with your pet.
The latter option seems to be the best as it doesn’t require you to limit your dog’s freedom or spend money on things like soundproof windows etc. By slowly dosing small portions of a stressful stimulus, we can accustom our pet to its presence. You can definitely prevent dogs from eating feces using this method, but it should be taught by a professional dog trainer or look it up in a dog training book.
