I have a perplexing problem with both my dogs. They have become quite obsessed with eating dirt and grass anytime they are outside. To be specific, I am talking about clumps of grass that they pull up, roots, attached dirt and all. It's become like a crack addiction to them.

It seemed to have started over the summer. I began to notice that they were eating grass/dirt more often than just the occasional nibbling on fresh, tasty blades that many dogs do. I started paying closer attention and would of course stop them when I caught them. But for most of the time I have had these dogs (both of them about three and a half years), I have been able to put them outside to do their business and just leave them for a while. The yard is securely fenced. It has never been my habit to leave them out for long periods of time, unattended. Five, ten minutes, for the most part. Longer than that in nice weather when I can sit out on the deck and watch them.

So now it's winter and their addiction has become so bad I am forced to put them outside one at a time, each with the e-collar on (I only have one e-collar). Or, in the alternative, my husband or I must put a leash on and go out with them. One of the dogs is worse than the other, and even with the leash on, she is very quick and will sometimes grab a mouthful before we can stop her.

They know the "leave it" command, but in order for that to work, I pretty much have to say it constantly the whole time they are out.

So two questions: Any insights into a possible cause for this? Also, any advice on how to put a stop to it and get to the point where I can once again turn them loose in the yard for five or ten minutes without having to use the e-collar?

What is their diet? Both the same?

Is it the same spot(s) in the yard?

Both dogs are on the same diet. After feeding a completely homemade, cooked diet for about a year, I finally couldn't do it anymore (extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming) and gradually put them back to mostly kibble. So their breakfast is kibble, usually with a spoonful of yogurt. Sometimes I add a spoonful of coconut oil and a spoonful of apple cider vinegar.

The evening meal is usually half and half with kibble and the homecooked formula (with appropriate amounts of calcium based on the amount of home-cooked). Sometimes, I vary the evening meal with Honest Kitchen, a little premium canned, or added scrambled eggs or sardines. They also get vitamin E and liquid fish oil in the evening meal.

As far as brand of kibble, right now I am alternating between Earthborn Holistic, Ocean Fusion flavor, and Natural Balance, Chicken and Sweet Potato flavor. My one dog, Logan, had chronic loose stools for a very long time (which is why I did the home-cooked diet), but he seems to be tolerating these two brands of kibble.

As far as the location in the yard where they are eating, they do have a preference for a particular area that is approximately 10-foot by 10-foot; but they will eat elsewhere, too. I can think of nothing about that area that is special.

When the pica started (over the summer), what was happening with the diet?

Can you link to the ingredient lists?

What is the home-cooked?

"... homecooked formula (with appropriate amounts of calcium based on the amount of home-cooked). " How much calcium per how much food? What form of calcium?

Both have good log stools now? Or still some pudding?

What happens if that area is inaccessible?

Connie, it's called pica? I am definitely interested in the replies to this. 3 of mine do a lot of this and I always wondered what the hell it was.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

When the pica started (over the summer), what was happening with the diet?

Can you link to the ingredient lists?

What is the home-cooked?

"... homecooked formula (with appropriate amounts of calcium based on the amount of home-cooked). " How much calcium per how much food? What form of calcium?

Both have good log stools now? Or still some pudding?

What happens if that area is inaccessible?

Here are links to the two brands of kibble I am currently using:

http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/dog_formulas/ocean_fusion/ingredients.php

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/SP_Chicken.html#Ingredients

My home-cooked recipe is as follows: Mostly boneless, skinless chicken breasts but occasional pork loin roasts; sweet potatoes; some kind of cooked and chopped vegetables like green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, carrots. The mix is approximately 60 percent cooked meat, 30 percent sweet potatoes, and 10 percent veggies (by volume, not weight). (For the full year that I did this, approx. July 2010 to July 2011, I was alternating between sweet potatoes and whole wheat pasta; I'm not using the pasta anymore, although I will occasionally mix in cooked rice, barley, quinoa, etc., if I happen to have a little leftover.)

Calcium is supplemented at the rate of 900 milligrams per pound of food served (meaning the homemade stuff only. I know the kibble doesn't need supplementation). For a long time, I was using this:

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/browse/sku_detail.jsp?id=VS-1079

I then discovered how easy it was to dry and pulverize eggshells and have been using that for approx. the last seven or eight months.

The poops. Oh boy. I'll try to be brief. Natasha has almost always had good poop. She goes two, three times a day, firm logs. For most of his life, Logan has had chronic, intermittent mushy poops, sometimes pudding, sometimes liquidy diarrhea, occasionally bloody diarrhea.

Earlier this year, for a three- or four-month period, say approx. February through May, both dogs had some pretty bad poops. Multiple fecal tests were negative. The vet had me do a round of Panacur anyway. Each dog also had at least a couple rounds of Flagyl. It finally cleared up, although no cause was ever discovered.

Since that time, Logan's poop has been what I consider good for him. He is a large dog, around 85 pounds, and he goes once, maybe twice a day, so each time it is a pretty large volume. They are firm enough that I can pick it up with my mini-pitchfork, but if I had to pick it up with a baggie over my hand, it would still sometimes be a little soft to the touch and some would probably stick to the ground.

As far as making the preferred grass/dirt eating area inaccessible, it would be pretty hard to do. The area is right in the middle of the path we use to walk from the house to the barn. I have a fairly large yard and I have never thought of trying to fence off this area. When I am outside with them, either on the leash or with the e-collar on, and I am keeping them away from the preferred area, they will still try to eat elsewhere.

So, a tad O.T.,, but apparently there was Giardia or similar .... (You know how tricky it is to diagnose, right?)


More questions: Do they ever vomit up grass and/or dirt?

Going back over the time line, I see they did not do this grass-eating on the home-cooked. Correct?

My dogs too like to graze. Especially since we just overseeded the grass for winter. They are out there like cows. Even on a walk one of them has started to eat the grass as he is walking, we are walking at a very brisk pace. All healthy with negative fecals. I read an article recently in some dog magazine, can't remember off the top of my head, that it is no longer believed dogs graze because of digestive upset, this article goes into it: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/why-do-dogs-eat-grass

"Evidence suggests that most dogs that eat grass aren’t unwell beforehand, or at least they don’t seem so. In fact, fewer than 10% of dogs seem to be sick before eating grass, according to their owners. And grass-eating doesn’t usually lead to throwing up -- less than 25% of dogs that eat grass vomit regularly after grazing."

I would think my dogs may graze in the back because they are bored, but they get plenty of activity, and the fact the are grazing while walking makes me think it is something else. Also, it really just seemed to become one of my dogs favorite activity after they overseeded.

I would like to hear what others have done to stop this.

Yes, I did feel there was perhaps something in the environment causing the chronic diarrhea earlier this year, because at that time they were both still on the home-cooked diet and had been doing fine on it for months prior to that time. Nothing was ever diagnosed, and I do understand how difficult giardia can be to pin down. And it is my understanding it can lay dormant in your yard and pop back up in the future, too?

Vomiting happens only very occasionally, IMO no more than any other dog. I had a previous dog who used to only eat grass when she wanted to vomit, apparently, because that was always the result. These dogs eat it and it goes on through without causing any problems.

Yes, they did occasionally eat grass on the home-cooked diet; they have both occasionally eaten grass all their lives, but I have tried to discourage it. Didn't want it to become a bad habit, but that's exactly what it seems to have become.

I'm wondering if this is, indeed, just a bad habit that has gone way overboard (seriously, like an addiction), or if there is some nutritional deficiency, or some bug in the gut compelling them to eat it or what.

Thanks for that link, Keith. We were typing at the same time. Since it doesn't cause my dogs to vomit 99 percent of the time, I guess if they were just nibbling on blades of grass I wouldn't be so concerned. But what they are eating is whole clods of grass with the roots and dirt (or mud as the case may be) attached.

In fact, I just thought of something else. When we mow the grass in the summer with the riding mower, there are sometimes thick, wet, heavy clods of accumulated grass and dirt that get packed up under the mower deck and fall out when you hit a bump. The dogs consider these extraordinary delicacies! Some of these are quite large, but they will gobble them down. We try our best to pick them all up from the dog yard after we mow, but they are expert at finding ones we missed!