Hi there! I am a new mom to an 11 week old havanese. She is a happy girl with normal puppy challenges, however, one thing is really concerning me. Every single time she poops, she eats it. I have been immediately ready with a poop bag, but literally have to hold her back not to eat it. I’ve had her for 2 weeks, and I’m sure it’s confusing for her to poop and then have this struggle with me. I’m at a loss what to do? Any suggestions are welcome. I feel by trying to stop her, I’m confusing her that pooping outside (although she still decides sometimes to poop inside) is a bad thing by holding her back and not making it a pleasant experience for her. Ugh ... help!

Welcome to the forum! If you are taking her outside on a leash you should be able to keep her away from her poop until you can scoop it up with your bag. She will not associate it as a bad thing by you picking it up and not letting her at it. If you have a poop eater it is important to not give her access to it and I would continue to supervise her at all times for potty trips.

Thank you. I do take her on a leash and physically hold her back while I scoop.

Welcome! Welcome to the poop eating club! Willow is also a poop eater. She only eats if it's fresh and still warm. Disgusting I know! She's always on a leash so I can most often get to the poop before she does.

Ugh. Penny too. It’s so gross. I’m hoping eventually she will outgrow it! Yuck!

Well, I shared this with Ed like I usually do and I said “Here look at these 2 angels how could they possibly eat their own poop? Good girl Jodie.” Then he says “Oh, I’ve seen Jodie eat JoJo’s poop.”😱 He says it doesn’t happen very often but has never mentioned it. I know it’s not a dangerous issue but if I saw her I would definitely mention it. Seriously though, it’s not uncommon and word on the street is fresher is better-yum. In Jodie’s case it’s only when JoJo accidentally poops on the deck and it’s normal since we have a herd of 3 and JoJo is the oldest and weakest. Mommy dogs do keep their babies clean and eat little bits of poop to keep the area clean. That means mommy may have a little scent of feces on her breath. Sinclair77, I can assure you that Willow is loved and taken care of very well. Who knew girls could be so disgusting😆

My guys all love wild animal poop, cow poop, horse poop is the favorite delicacy. Fortunately, for some reason, they don’t eat dog poop.

The funniest (grossest!) dog/poop story I know, however, is from LONG before I was a dog owner. A friend and I went to a horse show way up in VT. Her family happened to have a little cabin on a lake nearby, so we decided to stay there during the show. There was no indoor plumbing, but an outdoor shower and an outhouse. We had her beautiful Irish Setter with us. The dog disappeared at one point during the evening, and we started calling and looking around for her. (She was not a wanderer) She came up from UNDER the outhouse with a big (literal) shxt-eating grin on her face, smelling like... and COVERED with stuck-on toilet paper and... I let Charlotte clean her up by herself... and the dog remained on a leash for the rest of the time at the cabin! LOL!

I do not even know what I would do. But, that’s what makes it so funny!

Fortunately, mine only ate poop a couple of times when he had accidents inside, and I think he was trying to get rid of it. That was before we knew he had to poop twice in the morning.

However, he is extremely interested in other dogs’ poop. Once at the park he was sniffing around in the bark chips and all of the sudden I realized he had an enormous poop in his mouth like it was a prize. And it wasn’t new but I immediately noticed it smelled so strong like cheap dog food, so I don’t even blame him in retrospect for being curious. I have to admit, I reacted very badly. It really wasn’t bad as far as puppy poop stories go, but I was startled and I may or may not have shrieked, in the middle of a public park.

OMG! I clicked the "like" for your post but it really should be "barf" instead!