It is one of the least appealing things dogs do and one of the most common. Surveys have found a substantial minority of dogs eat faeces at least occasionally, and around one in six do so frequently.
The likely explanations
It is ancestral. The leading research on this, from UC Davis, found that stool-eating dogs overwhelmingly preferred fresh faeces — under two days old. The authors proposed this reflects an inherited denning behaviour: keeping the den area clean of fresh faeces reduces exposure to intestinal parasites, whose eggs take days to become infective.
If that is right, coprophagia is not a disorder at all. It is a hygiene behaviour operating in the wrong context.
Maternal behaviour. Bitches clean up after their puppies for the first weeks, and puppies see it.
Puppy exploration. Very common and usually outgrown.
Learned attention-seeking. If the dog eats it and a human reacts dramatically, the behaviour is reinforced. Some dogs learn to eat it *faster* because a human is approaching.
Scavenging opportunity. Dogs are opportunistic, and other species’ faeces — cat, horse, rabbit, sheep, goose — are in a different category. These are often more attractive because of undigested nutrients, and cat litter tray raiding is extremely common.
Medical causes worth ruling out
Less common, but important if the behaviour is new or the dog seems ravenous generally:
- Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) — the pancreas stops producing digestive enzymes. Ravenous appetite, weight loss, large volumes of pale greasy stool. A blood test diagnoses it
- Malabsorption or maldigestion of other kinds
- Parasites
- Diabetes or Cushing’s, both of which increase appetite
- Anaemia
- Medication effects, particularly steroids
- Underfeeding, simply
- Cognitive dysfunction in older dogs, where the behaviour appears for the first time
See a vet if the behaviour is new in an adult dog, or comes with weight loss, a ravenous appetite, or a change in stool.
Health risks
Eating a dog’s own fresh stool in a well-wormed dog is relatively low risk. The risks come from:
- Other dogs’ faeces — parasites including giardia, roundworm, whipworm, and infectious agents including parvovirus
- Cat faeces — parasites, and the litter itself, which causes obstruction
- Livestock and horse faeces — parasites, and ingested wormers given to horses, some of which are toxic to dogs
- Wildlife faeces — lungworm from slugs and snails on them, and various parasites
This is the practical argument for managing it regardless of whether it bothers you aesthetically.
What actually works
1. Pick it up immediately. The single most effective intervention. If there is nothing there, there is nothing to eat. In the garden, go out with the dog and clear it straight away.
2. Teach “leave it” properly. Built on low-value items first, with the rule that the dog never gets what they left but always gets something better from elsewhere.
3. Recall away and reward heavily. Call the dog away the moment they toilet, and pay generously. Over time, toileting becomes a cue to come to you.
4. Manage cat litter trays. A covered tray, a tray behind a baby gate raised a few inches so the cat can pass underneath, or a tray in a room the dog cannot enter.
5. Address boredom and hunger. A dog on a restrictive diet who is genuinely hungry, or a dog with nothing to do, is more likely to scavenge. More mental work, and check the portion is appropriate.
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KONG Wobbler Treat Dispenser
Feeding part of the daily ration through a puzzle addresses both boredom and the sense of not having eaten much. It uses food you are already giving.
6. A basket muzzle, for a committed scavenger on walks. Properly conditioned over a fortnight, it allows safe off-lead exercise that would otherwise be impossible. It is safety equipment, not a punishment.
7. Check the worming schedule is appropriate and current.
What does not work
Punishment. The UC Davis research specifically found that punishment and deterrent approaches were among the least effective interventions, and punishment frequently makes it worse — dogs learn to eat faster, or to go where you cannot see.
Food additives marketed to make stool taste unpleasant. The same research found these ineffective in the large majority of cases. They also make no difference to the far more common problem of eating *other* animals’ faeces.
Adding pineapple, courgette or meat tenderiser to the food. Widely recommended, no good evidence.
Shouting or chasing. Turns it into a competition and teaches the dog to be quick about it.
The honest position
For a healthy, well-wormed dog who occasionally eats their own fresh stool in the garden, the health risk is small and the main cost is aesthetic. Prompt clearing solves it.
For a dog who eats other animals’ faeces on walks, it is worth taking more seriously — and there the answer is a solid “leave it”, a good recall, high-value rewards for coming away, and a basket muzzle if the habit is entrenched.
What it is not is a sign that you are feeding your dog badly, or that something is wrong with them. It is, in all likelihood, an old behaviour doing an old job in a garden that does not need it.
