My dog eats poop! This isn’t a blog just about poop eating pooches. This is also a blog about how dogs learn and how very easy it is for us as humans to mis-communicate a message that we want to get across to our dogs?
This morning, I was walking in the woods with my doggies as usual when we met a beautiful black Labrador who said hello to us and went on its way. It then found a delicious pile of poo and began to sink its teeth into it, at which point it’s furious human turned and shouted for it to cease its behaviour, it stopped what it was doing, left the poo and ran on; fair enough you would think that’s a good thing to do. However, the man then called the dog to him, then after the dog arrived, he immediately scolded it, shouting and telling it it was ‘dirty’ and ‘bad’. Now that’s okay if you have human style brain processing and rationale, but the canine brain doesn’t quite work this way.
Let me explain:
- The dog was interrupted from its behavior and it stopped doing what it was doing. Good work. Excellent job.
- The man called the dog to him. The dog came, good work, excellent job.
- The man proceeded to scold the dog. What was the message?
Why would the dog wish to return to the man the next time he calls? Think about it from a canine point of view. Dogs don’t speak English, they are very clever at picking up on body language and energy, so while the man was shouting “Dirty, dirty, dirty” the dog won’t actually understand the meaning of the words. What it will understand is the energetic value of them, it will understand that the human is angry. However, it may not have a full grasp of why you are angry, and therefore will end up very confused.
The net result of this is to degrade the trust bond that the dog has with with its human. When that trust bond has been eroded, this can be where really big breakdowns in communication happen, particularly in dogs that are free thinkers, with subservient dogs they just submit. Dogs can spot energetically when you are displeased, and it may submit to you, and humans sometimes misunderstand this as the dog being obedient. It may roll on its back. It is submitting. It may try and lick your face. It is submitting. It may yawn. It is giving you a signal that indicates stress, anxiety or appeasement (less likely in this particular moment is tiredness). It may put its ears back flat. This is the same signal as the yawn. If the human doesn’t notice these signals this is how we end up with a breakdown in communication. A more free thinking dog will either be more reluctant to return when called the next time or if it feels really threatened may growl or even bite, particularly if subtle body language signals go unnoticed.
Let’s address the issue of the poop eating pooch for a moment the official name is Coprophagia. There are many reasons why a dog might eat poo, the first one being that it may have a dietary deficiency. So if you’re feeding cheap dog food there’s a chance that it may not be getting everything it needs, or if it has a health problem it may not be able to gain optimum nutrition from its food. So that’s reason one, nutrition or deficiency.
Reason two is behavioral. Some puppies that are scolded for soiling in the house when they’re little will go on to eat their poo as adults because they are trying to avoid a scolding. It’s not an uncommon behavior in rescue dogs and dogs that have been kenneled and left with their own mess also will sometimes eat their own faeces. Reason two learned behaviour.
Reason three is opportunistic, dogs are hunter / scavengers and therefore can eat a range of things both in the home or outside on walks. Cat and horse faeces are a particular favourite, my little Yorkshire terrier will still eat rabbit poo if he finds some on an icy morning, he seems to view frozen rabbit poo as the doggy equivalent of ice cream! This is not a behaviour that I encourage, however, as frosty mornings in Sussex are quite rare, it is also something that I am not worried about. Reason three tasty! Young dogs are just like children in that most things go into their mouths. It’s part of learning.
Before you discipline or correct your dog just imagine for one moment that you have just landed on a new planet where no one speaks your language; the culture is very different. Things that were acceptable in the country of your birth are considered a criminal offence on the new planet, but you don’t know this because you can’t communicate effectively. You are aware that these beings are displeased with you, they hit and shout at you, but you don’t know why and cannot understand what they are saying. How do you feel? Do you submit in the hope they back off or do you punch, kick or bite one? You may try all approaches until one works! Then you are very likely to repeat this behaviour. This is what the world of many domestic dogs is like.
When canine / human communication isn’t clear on both sides the relationship breaks down, dogs are labelled as ‘naughty’ or ‘un-trainable’ and in worse case scenarios euthanized. Building back the relationship is the foundation stone of my Canine Relationship Counselling, from here training and extinguishing unwanted behaviour can be more effective.
Take some time to learn to speak dog, you won’t regret it!
