I know most dogs do it. I've heard they do it to make themselves throw up if they feel icky, and I've heard they do it to settle their stomachs if they feel icky.
I have never seen a dog eat grass like Gusto. He does it pretty much any opportunity he can get. On leash walks in the neighborhood, he will walk up to the front of the leash, start grazing until it is stretched out behind me, run ahead, and repeat. He spends half our hikes chowing down on grass. Sometimes he is nearly frantic about it, but mostly it is just casual grazing.
The downside of it all is that once or twice a week, he spends a bit of time in the middle of the night throwing up all that grass. Wednesday, we went on a 4 mile hike after work. He threw up 4 times that night between 12:30 am and 3:30 am. Just clumps of grass. He is completely fine before bed, and wakes up happy and eager for breakfast and such. It doesn't seem to affect him in any other way.
Every winter, I hope he's just going to get over it (or at least get a stronger stomach for it). Apparently not this year.
Does anyone have brilliant insight into the behavior? Ways for dealing with it? I've considered adding plain raw veggies to his food, to see if there is some nutritional reason he wants greens. I've also considered trying to fit a mini-horse grazing muzzle on him, although not all that seriously.
I swear he learned the behavior from Tristan, since I spent so much time hand grazing Tristan while he was sick, and Gusto always tagged along. Maybe he's trying to spiritually reconnect with his pony.
I have never seen a dog eat grass like Gusto. He does it pretty much any opportunity he can get. On leash walks in the neighborhood, he will walk up to the front of the leash, start grazing until it is stretched out behind me, run ahead, and repeat. He spends half our hikes chowing down on grass. Sometimes he is nearly frantic about it, but mostly it is just casual grazing.
The downside of it all is that once or twice a week, he spends a bit of time in the middle of the night throwing up all that grass. Wednesday, we went on a 4 mile hike after work. He threw up 4 times that night between 12:30 am and 3:30 am. Just clumps of grass. He is completely fine before bed, and wakes up happy and eager for breakfast and such. It doesn't seem to affect him in any other way.
Every winter, I hope he's just going to get over it (or at least get a stronger stomach for it). Apparently not this year.
Does anyone have brilliant insight into the behavior? Ways for dealing with it? I've considered adding plain raw veggies to his food, to see if there is some nutritional reason he wants greens. I've also considered trying to fit a mini-horse grazing muzzle on him, although not all that seriously.
I swear he learned the behavior from Tristan, since I spent so much time hand grazing Tristan while he was sick, and Gusto always tagged along. Maybe he's trying to spiritually reconnect with his pony.