It’s an unbelievable happiness to get your Frenchie boy or girl and enjoy several lovely moments with them experiencing how cute they are. Some parents, however, are disillusioned to see them eating their poop. In this article, we give you some practical tips – based on our experience as breeders and the feedback from our community – on how to tackle this.
Why do French bulldogs eat their poop?
First of all, let’s see why a puppy eats their poop. In their first 6-9 months, it is quite normal, it even has a scientific name: coprophagia. Frenchie behavioral experts say it’s an instinct inherited from the wolf ancestors to keep their crate free from parasites.
Will Frenchies outgrow eating poop?
An other, quite obvious explanation is that they mimic the mom French Bulldog who often keeps their place clean by eating the poop. As they are older they outgrow this habit, and by their first birthday, they normally should stop doing it.
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But what to do when it doesn’t happen. The worst thing is to get emotional about it, shout at them and punish them, as they don’t do it on purpose and this will only teach them to do it again when they need attention.
A good idea is to clean up their poop as soon as they eliminate. We also train the pups to do their potty on paper stripes, that way they cannot eat it.
Check what your Frenchie eats
You should also check his or her nutrition, as he or she might miss some nutrients from their diet. You can try probiotics or one of the several products which are designed to stop or restrict poop eating and help them digest food easier. An other option is to sprinkle his or her food with parsley or pepper spray.
Training also helps to reduce poop eating for French bulldog
Here is the tip from one of our clients, Donna shared in the Tomkings Frenchie Family:
“When we went outside, she would poop and as soon as I saw her turn to start indulging herself, I made a sharp ‘eh’ sound but would not look in her direction, just side glance. It would catch her off guard and she would move away. I did that every time so she would associate the sound with the eating of the poop. She no longer eats her poop outside, but if she occasionally poops in her crate, she may, but she does not do it all the time.”
As with any training, consistency is key, and if he or she stays away from his or her poop, give a reward.
Puppies might sometimes eat their poop out of boredom, so make sure you take yours for a walk and they have enough exercise.
If you notice he or she eats other dog’s or cat’s poop, try training and make sure you walk them on a leash for a while until this habit stops.
If nothing helps – which is very rare, – post your problem in the group where you’ll be helped by great Frenchie parents and ourselves. We’ll also tell you when to turn to a vet.
The article was written based on the experience and the services of the TomKings Puppies Team. TomKings Puppies have been breeding French Bulldogs for 10 years on their farm. All the pictures in the post belong to them and show a puppy from their breed. Check their available puppies here, or if you have any questions or comments let us know below the article.
14 thoughts on “How to stop Frenchies from eating their poop?”
Great information, we have had our baby for 10 days and the poop eating really grossed us out. He also has diarrhea so we can catch him as he licks at it and pick him up quickly. We just say “no”, but not yelling, that was good info not to stress him out. Has vet appt this week. He eats good and drinks good, our first Frenchie but not our first puppy by a long shot.
We’re here to help! Feel free to contact us directly if you have any further questions! 🙂
My 12 week old Frenchie boy just ate his poo for the first time and I almost died. Having dogs my whole life I have never seen or even heard of this. Instinctively, and regrettably I screamed at him and put him outside. After researching that it is quite normal, although terribly disgusting, I realize my actions were wrong. I cannot figure out why this occurred. He literally has food in his bowl and has been playing with the kids and cat for the past hour. In potty training him he has been scolded for going the bathroom in the house so is it possible he ate it to try to hide the evidence? I know that seems silly but that’s the only reason I could think he would eat it all the sudden today. Help!
In their first months it is normal that they want to eat their poop, in our experience.
Their mom is doing the same with their poop when she is feeding them.
Please watch him and don’t let him to do it.
Shout at him just in case you see doing it! 🙂
We just brought home our 9.5 week old frenchie puppy less than a week age. He has begun eating his stool. We can not clean it fast enough! During the day we have to keep all eyes on him to prevent him from eating it. At night I have been doing my best to wake up every 2 hours to clean his crate but am afraid he is eating far to much. Any help or advise what I can do or give him to help him stop this!! Recently started 4 medications for parasites.
Hi Lauren. We have a closed Facebook group with our puppies’ happy families who are happy to help each other with any questions. You can find useful info, tips and tricks in this topic under the following link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149832885108427/post_tags/?post_tag_id=2948924555199252
Please feel free to join to group and look around although only TomKings puppy owners are allowed to post in the group. 🙂
My frenchie Zorro ate his poop till he was almost 1 years old but the trick was to pick it up right away and no give him the freedom of being able to go back to eat it! I tried Probiotics and Pumpkin! Nothing worked but patience and perseverance !
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. Picking it up instantly definitely helps a lot. 🙂 I hope Zorro is doing great now. 🙂
My Coco, eat her poop and our cat poop from her litter box 🙄 until she was about 1.5 years
Nothing helped. Even when shit starts pooping twice a day and we would walk her, she would come home and eat cats poop. Now she ignores it
Hi Yana!
I’m happy to hear that Coco has finally stopped this behavior. 🙂
Hi ,
I have a French bulldog, she’s roughly 5 years old and iv had her for about 2 months. She came from not a very good living situation, she was found at the back of a barn on a slab of concrete with no food or water, severely malnourished, used for breeding, poor thing didn’t even have a name. She’s been doing amazing now, she’s up to a healthier weight and is enjoying life with my other dog and kids. However, every night or every time I go out I have line the floor with dog pads as she’s still not fully house trained but iv noticed she eats her own poop then for most of the following the day she will be sick and refuse to eat her actual food. How do I help stop her? Considering she’s an older dog and iv never actually caught her doing it to tell her ‘no’or make the ‘eh’ sound. I don’t understand why she’s doing It for.
Hi Kristy,
Well, it would be difficult to say the exact reason why she’s doing it as it can have many reasons. It might be a bad habit from her past but you should also check her nutrition, as she might miss some nutrients from her diet.
You can try probiotics or one of the several products which are designed to stop or restrict poop eating and help them digest food easier. An other option is to sprinkle her food with parsley or pepper spray. Also, it might be more difficult to train her now, but it’s not impossible if you are consistent. 🙂
Joli1967”@icloud.com
My cousin has 4 adults in a big cage but the eat their poop every day!! Please help!!!
Hi Yolanda,
We have sent you an email with recommendations.