You’re enjoying a nice walk along the lakeside and your Morkie stops to eat goose poop. Why do dogs eat goose poop? And, how do you stop a dog who eats goose poop?
There’s a scientific name for eating poop—coprophagia (kop-ruh-fey-jee-uh) and it’s not unusual. Some dogs eat their own poop as often as they can. Other dogs enjoy a more exotic poop, such as Canada Goose sh*t.
Although eating goose poop isn’t a hugely dangerous habit, it’s a nasty one that we people aren’t too fond of. Goose poop (all poop) can carry Salmonella and E.Coli but luckily, the digestive tracts of most healthy dogs are good at destroying these bacteria.
Health risks for your dog of eating goose poop include:
- chance of picking up giardia
- can be at risk for salmonella
- could pick up Campylobacter bacteria
These risks can mean diarrhea in dogs.
Yes you could catch it too
Human Campylobacter infection happens for people if we:
- consume raw milk, undercooked chicken or any food that’s been contaminated during preparation
- you can also catch it directly from your dog
- dogs mostly get it from infected feces
About Canada Geese
Environment Canada lists the geese as being “a significant safety threat” to aviation, and a problem in local parks, pastures, golf courses and any other grassy area.
Nesting Canada geese are aggressive and will attack children and dogs. (Tip: don’t look the goose in the eye; drop your gaze and walk away slowly).
Goose droppings are expensive to clean up from parks and grasslands. According to Canada’s Federal government, at least goose poop has NOT been linked yet any health concerns for humans.
In 2009, a US Airways A320 Airbus flew into a flock of Canada Geese shortly before losing both engines and splashing down onto New York’s Hudson River. Fortunately, all 155 passengers and crew survived.
How to stop your Morkie from eating goose poop
The best thing to do, if you have a dog who tries to eat poop, is to teach him/her the ‘leave it’ command. You yelling at him to stop, if he doesn’t know these commands, just makes him eat the “treat” all the faster.
Teaching ‘leave it’ isn’t hard, but there are a number of steps, so I’m suggesting you check out either of these two sites where you can see how it’s done:
Banner photo credit: ottawak9school,