Corgi Puppy Eating Poop

Hi all, my corgi puppy is 9 weeks old and is eating his own poop. I feed him Orijen large puppy food and supplement it with a tablespoon of pumpkin and few chunks of pineapple (since I heard that it will help the dog not eat his poop). Nothing has worked and he continues to do so. He gets fed 3x a day, 1/2 cup per meal.

Is he possibly doing this to get attention? Because usually when I come home from work I clean up the dirty newspaper, wipe his paws, and brush his teeth. i know there's a product out there called Forbid but would really not want to use it unless it's the last resort. If anyone else has input that would be wonderful?

Also on a totally unrelated topic (since he started eating his own poop before this) he's started to scratch/lick his back legs, I heard it be might hot spots or whatever. Anybody have any experience using Epsom salt to soak his legs? In any case I'm bringing him to the vet on Saturday.

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Permalink Reply by susan on February 3, 2015 at 10:56pm

It's so gross when they eat poo! Ugh. My previous corgi did that. Thank god Jeli doesn't. But we started picking up her poo immediately after she went since we first brought her home so she never had the opportunity. Would you be able to do that? Maybe it would break the habit before it starts?

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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on February 4, 2015 at 10:53am

It's instinctive. A lot of dogs do it. My GerShep loved not only her own but cat poop and especially horse droppings, ooohhh what a delicacy!

My vet told me to sprinkle a small amount of MSG (it's the main ingredient in "Accent" meat tenderizer) on her food. This doesn't harm the dog, but it metabolizes during digestion so that it causes the dog's poop to taste bitter.

It worked! Like...right away. And I didn't have to use the MSG for long -- just a week or so, and the dog lost all interest in that particular gourmet item.

I wouldn't soak a dog in anything -- could dry out the skin, especially at this time of year (if you're in the northern hemisphere). Have the vet look at the itchy spots. There are salves and things that will help if something's irritating.

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Permalink Reply by Denis J. on February 5, 2015 at 3:16pm

I hear ya. I'm trying to control Wally's interests with the cat litter cause if he has free access he will go for it.

But on Walks it different. I have to watch him carefully when he gets his nose going on the ground and follows a sent. If I see that poop mound coming up I'm prepared to do a quick tug and "no" or "Let go" so we continue walking. But if he's loose at the dog park he will sometimes just ignore some and others it's like Ambrogia for dogs.

Sure pups talk via their body language, bark, pee and other smells. I'm not sure what he gets from it, probably: "Oh hey! Is that late night pizza with sausage I'm smelling?? Num Num Num"...