I can't get my sweet little puppy to stop eating her own poop!! She doesn't even give me time to clean it up = it's so gross!! Can anyone help me? I feed her 3-4 small meals a day of high grade expensive puppy food... I'm definitely not underfeeding her or giving her non-nutritious food.

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Are you out there with her when she goes? If you're standing right next to her, and rewarding her with a treat for going when she does, use the moment when she comes over to you for a reward to gently grab her collar (or, if she's on-leash, keep her leash quite short) and hold her while you use your other hand to clean up her poop. If you have your bag and treat prepared ahead of time before you go outside, this should be a breeze.
I've heard from several people that if you feed a dog pineapple it makes the poop taste bad and they won't ever eat it again. I haven't tried it myself, but people I know swear by it.

Don't feel bad, mine does the same thing. The first time I got really upset, but then I decided to just be thankful she was "trying to clean up" :P It's so disgusting though!
Isabella was/is a poop eater, too...She's getting better, but still has her moments when left unsupervised. :o) Just when we thought we had it under control, we had a mishap. I mentioned it in my blog if you want to read that...It grosses me out too much to relive it again! Anyway, we had to watch her like a hawk every time she went out. As soon as she pooped we put tobasco sauce on it! She HATES tobasco. Do you blame her? Ha Ha. Before that, we had used tobasco successfully when she was chewing on a baby gate. The third time I got the bottle out of the fridge (becuase she kept going to different spots on the gate!), shook it up and headed toward the gate she just glared at me walked away! She learned quickly! It was after that when she started eating the poop. Mind you, this was all in less that a week's time! She's doing pretty good now, but I'm catching her sniffing it more and more...I chase her away and clean it up, but I think it is time to break out the tobassco (or bitter apple, she hates that, too!) again...
I've heard pineapple works too, but I've never tried it myself. My guys just stick to bunny poo. v.v

I think I read somewhere it can also happen sometimes if the puppy is scolded for accidents; they become afraid of getting in trouble so they "get rid of the evidence" so to speak.
Thanks for the advice & I will check out your blog. She seems to mostly do it indoors on the potty mat.

She's only 11 weeks and I can't take her out as much as she needs to go... I won't even know she's gone poop until I hear her eating it - I guess I'll try pineapple. One of my friends mentioned something about pumpkin as well.

She doesn't do it as much outside because I can catch her quickly while on the leash.
She's very young, for sure. Are you crate training her? Try to keep an eagle eye on her as much as possible. What I mean is, if my Isabella had freedom in the house to do as she pleased I'm sure we'd have had many more accidents than we did. We got her just shy of 10 weeks old and she pooped maybe 3 times total in the house, in the first week or so. She did that becuase I didn't know the signs and behaviors to look for. It wasn't her fault for having an accident, it was mine for not getting her out in time. If you can start noticing her behavior (maybe she sniffs, circles a few times and starts to squat) -- pick her right up and get her outside. If you can't have your eye on her and she can't go everywhere you go, having her in a crate should help. I digress...this isn't really about potty training, but what I mean is if you can have an eye on her, you will be able to pick up the poop so she won't eat it. :o)
Oh, and, I'm one to talk! Ha Ha! I've obviously lightened up a bit on my "eagle eye" as indicated by Isabella's 16 week birthday celebration! I've had to remind myself that even though I've become more comfy with puppyhood, she's still a baby. I was WAY overprotective at first, I'm sure...Our backyard just seemed so huge for such a small pup. Now she does get some unsupervised outside playtime...but it only takes a minute to do something naughty! We have a joke now about who will smell her breath when she comes in. Yuck!
This is very instinctive behavior. The mother dog does it to keep the nest clean. The best way to stop it is to watch her closely and give her a dramatic no and remove the poo immediately. It will take some time now but she is more likely to stop the behavior now than when she gets older.
Yes she is actually completely crate trained & has been since about a week after I got her. She's been extremely easy to train in all areas except for this one - it's like the poo is way too tasty to resist (ewewewew)

Also, my apartment is small enough that I can always watch her closely (areas out of view are gated off) but somehow I occasionally miss it when she poops. I know the signs which are exactly as you described but again, every once in awhile I miss it. It's not about her having accidents, it's about her eating the poop pretty much immediately after going.

I will try to watch her even more closely and will definitely try a natural way to make it taste yucky for her.
Oh, OK, I see! Yes, if they want to eat poop, they WILL eat poop! I think making it taste nasty will be quite effective. :o)
I heard if you put Adolf's meat tenderizer on the food it will keep dogs from eating their poop
Great suggestion Quincy & Michelle - I'll try it! I assume you'd get that at the grocery store??

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