That Doesn't Seem Appetizing

You have probably witnessed it, especially with your puppy. But as unpleasant as it appears to humans, coprophagia, or feces-eating, is very common among dogs, and young puppies do it often. Sometimes the dogs do it to get nutrients they may be lacking in their diets. However, if you are using a quality dog food, this reason is unlikely. Most of the time dogs will partake in feces eating just because it smells "tasty" (to them).

There are ways to attempt to stop your dog from doing this. The most common is taste deterrence, or using some type of liquid or spray to make the feces taste "bad" to the dog. A common taste deterrent is hot sauce, which can be dropped on the piles. But more efficiently, if you are right there to apply hot sauce, the best solution is just to pick it up right away and remove the temptation.

Even without any attempt at deterrence, evidence suggests the dog will often outgrow coprophagia in a matter of weeks.