How do I stop my dog from eating poop

Picking up waste in the garden daily, ideally right after the dog toilets, and staying alert on walks to steer around other waste before your dog reaches it, addresses the habit at its simplest and most effective level: if the opportunity is not there, the behavior cannot happen.

Practicing leave it regularly with low stakes items at home, rewarding generously for disengaging from something tempting, builds a response strong enough to work in the more distracting, higher stakes moment of encountering waste on a walk or in the yard.

A dog left alone in a yard for long stretches with little to do is more likely to develop this and other exploratory habits, so more walks, puzzle feeders, and supervised outdoor time can reduce the underlying motivation alongside the direct management steps.

A dog that continues the habit despite prompt cleanup and a reasonably solid leave it cue often benefits from all three strategies layered together rather than relying on any single one, since removing opportunity, building a reliable interrupt cue, and increasing overall enrichment each address a slightly different possible driver behind the behavior. Reviewing progress after two to three weeks of consistently applying all three together gives a fair trial before considering whether a vet visit or a more structured behavioral consultation might add useful additional insight into a particularly persistent case that has genuinely not responded well to these basic steps alone after a fair trial period.