For any dog owner who witnesses this behavior – it brings on feelings of pure disgust for a most beloved dog. Then the next emotional concern is whether or not the owner has done something wrong. Rest assured, this is not case.
Dogs who eat their own stool are emotionally challenged. Some of these dogs may be emotionally codependent and either eat their own or eat their housemate’s feces as soon as it is deposited. Some dogs who eat stool are rescue dogs with undetermined backgrounds. The rescue dogs may eat feces because they had no food for long periods of time; or may eat their poop because they were kept in horrible conditions and it was the only way they could stay clean.
There are some dogs who eat poop because they’re not getting enough nutrition from what food they do get. These dogs will have improvement by feeding a balanced, natural diet based on real food-be it raw or cooked. It is possible that dogs who eat poop will get sick from it. Many of these dogs may vomit afterwards.
Options to stop the behavior include adding fresh pineapple or Adolf’s Meat Tenderizer (as long as there are no other health concerns). These food additives are supposed to make the poop taste terrible. One other option is potty your dog on a leash so you call pull away from the fresh morsel, thus preventing it from being eaten.