Normie loves to stop on our morning walk and taste a blade or two. He seems to like the very green long blades that grow in a neighbor's yard. Just a taste or two and he's good to go.

At that point, we've just come up a hill, so I'm happy to have an excuse to catch my breath.

 

An interesting study. An older one, and looking much like an undergraduate project in Biology 202.
But still... some interesting percentages in the original brief. [from a link in the article]
And leaning toward my theory and life with Tonka.
The only time he was comfortable being outside by himself was when he was grazing on his leash. I could go dogless for an hour at times...

There Might Be A Simple Explanation For Why Dogs Eat Grass

There Might Be A Simple Explanation For Why Dogs Eat Grass

www.iflscience.com

Hmmft. They missed my favourite theory, which is that somewhere back to create the poodle breed they crossed in a show horse or two.

Other evidence for this theory includes the running style, trotting style, and love of leaping small obstacles.

 

Lol. I often say that Peggy is part horse, part toddler.

 

@For Want of Poodle

Alpaca!

 

I have only seen my dogs eat grass when they have an upset stomach. I have heard them burp before eating which is something else they only do when sick.

 

My experience with Buck is that grass is his ineffective Pepto-Bismol. So not a food group, but a cry for digestive relief.

 

Only noticed Evelyn start sampling grass after I started giving him the ribs from my lettuce as a treat. He has never vomited or burped after or before eating grass, but occasionally he will cough or sneeze after eating particularly long blades. I've always heard dogs eat grass to vomit so initially I discouraged it, but thinking back not a single dog I have lived with has ever vomited from eating grass or even acted like they might. Might be a dog to dog thing.

 

My puppy Hugh loves eating grass and leaves (all safe plants) and never vomits. My sister who is a veterinarian has a theory that it’s the new spring grass that is so tasty and that once established, the taste changes and dogs are less likely to eat the grass as the summer wears on. I intend to watch for this!

 

Peggy loves grass. She’ll occasionally zoom back and forth between some favourite clumps, grabbing a mouthful of each.

While my past dogs have definitely seemed more attracted to grass during periods of stomach upset, that’s not the case with Peggy. I think she just plain likes it. Maybe it’s a nice bit of freshness in an otherwise rather “lifeless” diet? She also enjoys munching on roots and helping herself to freshly churned soil.

 

Grass is a staple for Stella. Every time she goes outside, she has to eat some grass. Thankfully, she's never gotten an upset stomach from eating (lots and lots) of grass.

Peggy loves grass. She’ll occasionally zoom back and forth between some favourite clumps, grabbing a mouthful of each.

Stella does the same thing lol

 

When my dogs eat grass, they are going to barf. It's a given. But while we are on the topic of delicacies, my dogs (and all the neighborhood dogs) love wild rabbit poop. Two vets in different practices told me that it won't hurt them. But here's the strange thing. They won't touch the rabbit poop locally produced by the wild rabbits living in my backyard. They will only eat the "foreign" wild rabbit poop found in my front yard and beyond. And the dogs are sneaky. While I'm thinking all their sniffing is for a perfect place to go, they are secretly looking for rabbit poop. Which leads to my 4 second rule on a walk: either assume the position in 4 seconds or we are moving on.

Which brings to mind another amazing thing about walks. When my Sheltie and toy see a bird or rabbit 20 yards away, they start barking and pulling on their leashes like mad. They want it. Bad. But when we occasionally end up 5 feet away from a bird or rabbit, they ignore it as if they don't see it. I don't want to say the word Wuss but I might be thinking it.

 

Asta looks for good patches with plenty of grass. He will eat it most of the time when he is out. Never vomited. Asta is also given lettuce ends and he loves them . will always come into the kitchen hoping for lettuce or carrots, and tops of zucchini and yellow squash - you get the idea.

 

I suspect that dogs and cats eat different kinds of grass for different reasons. Poppy used to select couch grass when she needed an emetic - these days, thank heavens, she is rarely sick; Sophy likes rye grass to eat but will also seek out the broader, coarser couch on the infrequent occasions that she is feeling queasy. I wonder if there is any research into favoured grass varieties anywhere? Mine also dig, but whether for roots or bugs I have never been sure!

 

I suspect that dogs and cats eat different kinds of grass for different reasons. Poppy used to select couch grass when she needed an emetic - these days, thank heavens, she is rarely sick; Sophy likes rye grass to eat but will also seek out the broader, coarser couch on the infrequent occasions that she is feeling queasy. I wonder if there is any research into favoured grass varieties anywhere? Mine also dig, but whether for roots or bugs I have never been sure!

Tonka selected his salad by scent, sniffing out his favourites.
Not always grass but some tasty weeds too.
Dogs are weird...

 

Galen likes to taste grass that something else has peed on. Blech. I think moistening the grass with his saliva makes the scent more vivid. People wonder why I never teach my dogs to give kisses.

 

My dogs eat grass here at home, but I would never allow them to eat grass elsewhere because it might have been treated with something toxic.

 

My boys have always treated the backyard as a giant salad bar. Our yard is part grass and part whatever the wind blows in or birds drop off. I've no idea what it is, but a great favorite is the tall clumps of darker green grass.
Sometimes the eating precedes urping up but usually ends in an all four legs up, back squiggling in the "grass" WHEEEEE!!!!

(I just noticed that most of my photos of Neo are of him with his nose in a clump of green lol.)

 

My 9-week-old puppy Tessa thinks grass is a poodle food too (not to mention twigs, oak leaves, acorn caps, chicken poop, dirt, and pebbles). Every time she goes outside she lies down and starts chewing on grass and weeds. She vomited once the other day, but it could have been for any number of reasons so I am not blaming it on the grass.

 

My husband left a weed bucket in the backyard and I caught Peggy helping herself to a mouthful today. I think she’s gone full horse.

 

My dogs just love grass, especially when it’s been freshly mowed and in clumps.
I was concerned at first but after researching and noticing that it did not cause any upset to their systems, l now let them enjoy it. My oldest a sproodle as a grain intolerance and just goes mad in the freshly mowed field , l first thought it was to soothe his tum but l think it’s more he really enjoyed the taste. All my other poodles have followed his example and enjoy it just as much.


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When I take my Spoo to the woods he goes crazy for the grass and sticks too. He doesn't like city grass for some reason, probably good since much of it is sprayed! He does not throw it up, but often the grass comes out mostly undigested in his poo, though I never see any evidence of the sticks.