Why has my dog been eating her feces?

[s54]

When my cocker spaniel was younger, maybe two or three years old, she started to occasionally eat her feces. She stopped doing it on her own eventually.
She is now 13 years old and is showing signs of aging, including an increased difficulty to control her bowel movements. She tries to make her way to the door to go outside but she can't seem to make it all the way outdoors before she has a bowel movement. Our vet has told us this is a common sign of aging in dogs, and that we shouldn't have to be worried about her memory or cognitive functions because it is obvious by her behavior that she is still trying to go to the door to go outside.
But now that she has been having bowel movements where we can see her, we noticed that she has started eating some of her feces again. She does not do it all the time, and when it does happen, myself or one of my family members is able to stop her since she is a closer distance to us and is not all the way outdoors.
I want to ask this question to see if this is something that could be causing physical harm to my dog, or if this is a behavioral problem that needs to be addressed. And maybe someone has an answer as to why my dog is doing this.

[Ghilly]

As disgusting a habit as this is to us, to animals it's something that they do for a number of different reasons.  As Kimpton has stated in the post above this one, nutritional deficiencies are probably the biggest reason.  In your Cocker's case, however, I tend to lean toward a different reason.  I need to ask - has she been pretty much an impeccably trained house dog all these years?  If so, then I tend to think that the reason she is doing it again at this point in time is because she KNOWS she shouldn't go in the house, poor thing, but because she can't always make it outside, she figures she needs to get rid of it because it's not something that you do in the house, and she knows this very well after 13 years.  

I think you're probably doing the best thing you can do for the situation, and that is to simply stop her when you see her doing it.  You don't want to soothe her and tell her "good girl, it's OK", because that will only be reinforcing the behavior in her mind, and you don't want to flip out and start yelling at her, because she can't help herself and the fact that she's eating it means she's probably already embarassed over it since she's doing her best to hide it or get rid of it, and yelling at her will only make the situation worse.  She will get so nervous when she gets the urge to go that it will only exacerbate the problem she already has with regard to holding it in long enough to get outside.  For right now, just continue to stop her from eating it by simply walking over to her, saying "no" in a firm but kind voice, and picking it up.

You can try feeding her a few pieces a day of pineapple (the canned chunks are good for this), because pineapple is supposed to render their poop so bad tasting that they just won't eat it.  It won't hurt her but if she's a "kissy" dog, you don't want her eating it and then licking people, because the people could end up getting sick from it, especially young children or people with compromised immune systems.  So while it's not the end of the world, it's not a habit you want to encourage or ignore, either.

Ghilly

[kimpton]

hi there.  my dog does eats her poo.  bluk.  but she's not on a very well balanced diet for allergies and the vet (davis BTW) says it's usually from nutritional deficiencies.  but, going down that road can be very costly.   if you dog is eating well i wouldn't worry about it.  no kisses & just scoop before it's an issue.  

& if you haven't had an xray of the hind quarters it might help you diagnose.  my dog had arthritis in lumbar spine.  she slowly became weak in the back legs from nerve blockage and couldn't control her bowel movements.  i would imagine maybe your dog has a different nerve that's blocked that controls bowel movements.  i would find my dog asleep with a little poo next to her.  the last year she needed my help to stand up. she just didn't have any strength in the back legs.  i put a bell on her collar to know when she was trying to get up at night. we had a schedule and a system and she knew that i would be there to help her.  if your dog has an accident in the house, i think it's best to pick it up and not make an issue, because i think they can be sensitive about it.  after all, they know they're not supposed to do it.  

take care.  kimpton