Question: why do dogs eat other dogs poo

Sarah Martin answered on 21 Jun 2012:

Hi hector10,

Dogs actually eat poo deliberately – it’s well studied behaviour called Coprophagia by experts!

There are lots of reasons:
– Long ago, before the dogs were tamed and domesticated humans, they were mostly scavengers. They lived in packs and lived off of whatever food or edible object they could find in their environment. They often fed on the waste and food scraps that were left by other animals or other dogs, and dogs today kept that inherited behaviour but mistakenly include poo too!

– When several dogs live in one house, dogs lower down the group hierarchy often eat the poop or stool of the dominant dogs as a sign of submission.

– Mother dogs eat the poop of their newborn puppies. This is perfectly normal behavior among dogs. Mother dogs have that keen instinct to keep her nest and litter clean all the time, so that’s a good thing!

– Dogs are fairly intelligent animals. In some cases, a dog might see his master cleaning up poo and decide to help out!

– Scientific studies show that dogs eat poo to replenish their store of digestive enzymes, so they could digest their food better, or to make up for low Vitamin B levels in their body when they’re lacking nutrition.

– Some dogs will eat their poo just to get the attention of their owners, while bored and lonely dogs sometimes play and eat their poo just to have something to do…

There you go!

🙂 Sarah