Dogs have an uncanny liking for their own feces. Technically this habit is called coprophagia.

Why a dog indulges in this is not clearly known, but boredom and nutritional deficiency is considered the reason behind this habit. It is also believed that this habit has descended from the days when dogs were used to eat their own feces to be safe from predators.

Though this habit is quite natural incidence for a dog, it appears to be a nasty one to humans. Apart from its own shit, dogs take special interest to cat and rabbits shit. Almost every dog in its life shows this tendency at some age or other.

Getting rid of this menace can be difficult, but following some steps with patience may produce desired result.

First step in this direction is to check whether the dogs diet is balanced or not. If required get recommended diet chart from an expert and follow that. If the reason of feces eating was nutritional deficiency this should stop this behavior.

Some dog owners report good results from using one spoonful of canned pineapple or spinach as dietary supplement.

If that does not help a dog owner should try controlling the dog using simple commands like OFF. Idea is to keep the dog off from feces and let the dog know that this habit is totally disapproved by the master. Do that without using physical punishment and praise the dog when it obeys command and stays off of feces.

Making the stool unappetizing can be a good deterrent. Key to success, while using this method is finding something that the dog really hates like hot sauce, lemon etc. Try sprinkling it on the feces it will keep the dog away and break the habit in course of time.

Cleaning the feces and the toilet area immediately after the dog excretes does not allow the dog to eat it and can be effective method to keep the dog from habit formation in the first place.

There is one product available for this very purpose Forbid; it needs to be fed with dog food. But this does not work equally well for all dogs.

In the process of stopping the behavior it is to be kept in mind that however repulsive the habit may appear to us, it is quite natural to dogs and essentially we are trying to break something that comes naturally to dogs, so patience is required to be successful in this endeavor.