So you have dogs eating dogs poop, and you think it is unusual.
You are right because that behavior is unusual for us dog owners but surprisingly it is not unusual for the dogs themselves! It simply is a normal behavior!
A Brief History
Wolves and humans
Most evolution theories point out to the fact that the current day dogs trace their history of origin to some kind of wolves (the Grey wolves to be specific). These wolves were of the less harmful and more ’friendly’ kind that the humans chose, to domesticate.
These wolves stayed with the humans in the human settlements and moved around with them. Over a period of time, having been subjected to domestication, these wolves started exhibiting some traits and genetic changes that resembled those of the current day dogs.
When wolves became dogs
Bingo! Then somewhere between 12,000 years ago to 15,000 years ago the dogs seem to have evolved from the grey wolves completely and since then have been in the constant company of the humans.
The early dogs played several roles, from being a ‘watchman’ to providing fur to cleaning the area around the human settlements. It is in this process that the dogs evolved into being the first ever scavengers, helping clean the area within the human settlements.
This ‘job’ could have led them to eat anything and everything that was garbage for the humans – the process of dogs eating dogs poop could have started off in a natural way.
Dogs eating dogs poop: it’s natural and normal
For dogs it’s just natural and normal to eat poop; its own or that of any other animal.
We must keep in mind that the dogs were the first scavengers human have had and used. This simply meant that the ‘work’ of the dogs was just to ‘clean’ up everything and keep the settlements tidy.
Dogs eating dogs poop is just waste management
In the same lines of understanding how the dogs have evolved from the Grey wolves it should also be understood that the dogs at that time did not have any particular ‘diet’ or food and they had to ‘pick up’ anything and everything that was edible.
By virtue of doing this, the dogs incidentally were the first ever ‘Waste Management Workers’ for the humans.
Nutrition Quotient
It’s true that there is a certain amount of nutrients got from the practice of the dog eating (dogs) poop.
In most cases the dog would have developed the habit not only because it’s natural for it to do so but also because maybe the dog must have found the poop ‘good’ enough to eat as this provided the dog with the required and essential nutrients.
To change dogs eating dogs poop:
We have now understood as to why dogs eat poop and though it does seem unusual for us all as dog owners, it simply is a natural habit for the dogs which were perhaps the first ever ’waste management workers’ the humans ever had.
If you wish to know more about this kind of behavior and the causes and preventive measures – Click Here