As far as I'm aware, your best bet is a solid ”leave it” cue.

Unless she is trying to correct a deficiency in her diet?

 

For sure I do need to work on the 'leave it' cue, because off-lead she'll ignore it in many places. She's only been with us for about 3-4 weeks, and was partially trained by a few different people before so I'm going back over to refine those basics. But I hoped there was some protocol for teaching to avoid specific 'foods' without me having to say 'leave it' every time though - I mean, the chickens free range in our/her own backyard.

Unless she is trying to correct a deficiency in her diet?
I don't think so: because she did it from the very first day we got her home, and must have a different diet here than before but the poop eating continues. I think it's just an established behaviour? But, I'm now adding organ meats and real foods like that to her diet, maybe it will help.

Is there specific deficiencies commonly indicated by this? - I think her behaviour is broadly within the 'normal' range of poop interest for dogs. It's not like she's obsessively eating all the chicken manure, she just goes for 'special smelling' bits, but she's persistent about it when she's found one.

 

It's possible....don't know how likely, but possible.....that she will grow out of this habit in time. My young dog ate any kind of poop when he came to me at 12 weeks of age, even dog poop, and I think it was because he'd had such woefully poor nutrition in his life and been out on his own at such a young age that he would simply eat anything at all just to survive. Having been with me for over a year now and getting excellent nutrition and regular dependable meals he no longer has any interest in poop.....except rabbit pellets. Those he will still gobble up if he finds any when we are out walking, but I have known many dogs who do that and I think they just think they are yummy. Since the rabbits are only eating vegetable material they find in nature, I don't worry about it, although I try to keep it to a minimum.

So, your dog may become less interested in time if she is getting excellent food, which is sounds to me that she is.

 

When my pups were quite young they were fascinated by horse and rabbit poop. They weren't starving by any means. I suspect they were seeking it out as a sort of pre- and probiotic supplement to help build their gut microbiome. They lost interest in their little green snacks partway through adolescence.

 

I hope it turns out to be something like this. It seems reasonable to seek probiotics from existing animals in a new home too. It's the poultry poop that bothers me most because mostly the germs in that aren't good 😬