Why does my puppy eat his own poop

Puppies investigate almost everything with their mouths as a normal part of learning about their environment, and waste is simply one more novel thing to explore in that stage. Some puppies also mimic behavior they observed from their mother cleaning the whelping area in early weeks.

As puppies mature and their environment becomes more structured, with regular walks, cleaned up yards, and more established routines, the behavior usually fades on its own by six months to a year old for most puppies, without needing intensive intervention.

Prompt cleanup after every toilet trip, supervising outdoor time closely, and teaching a reliable leave it cue all speed up the process. Redirecting attention to a toy or a short game immediately after the puppy finishes toileting also helps break the association.

Taking a puppy out on a leash specifically for toileting, rather than letting it wander a fenced yard unsupervised, gives a much better opportunity to clean up immediately and redirect attention before any investigation of the waste can begin. This structured approach also has the side benefit of making house training progress faster overall, since a leashed toilet trip focuses the puppy on the task at hand rather than getting distracted by everything else interesting in the yard, waste included, during what should be a quick, purposeful outing rather than an extended, unsupervised exploration of the whole garden where older waste might already be sitting unnoticed.