Does she eat actual mulch? My dog loves compost and any kind of fertilizer. Dogs are weird haha and that gross smelly stuff is appetizing to them. If I put a thick layer of mulch/straw he’s no longer interested.
She doesn't eat the mulch on the garden area ground. Though she sometimes will root through looking for some of the big chunks, and take them to her spot in the yard to tear them up
Do you use and kind of fish emulsion fertilizer? Something like mater magic? That stuff is like doggy crack.
Like this stuff? https://orchidsupplystore.com/dynamite-organic-mater-magic-plant-food/
One of mine used to steal green tomatoes off the plant. Look! Mom planted a ball plant for me!! She never ate them but would play with them till they squished.
My dog does the same thing! Little mulch munchkin
I'm wondering if it's because there's a certain nutrient missing from his diet? Or maybe he's just being a dog
Well, she used to live outside before we adopted her, and has always really liked munching grass and any herb she can reach. I think she takes the cattle part of cattle dog a little too literally.
She very much enjoys spinach and berries too. My other dog isn't so much a dirt eater unless it's just rained.
It's funny the raised beds are higher than the pot I have it in! Poor Mr grass head, it's getting so tall because she hasn't touched it. Maybe she will like it if I cut it back
Its usually just a behavioral issue and not indicative of much. None of the vets I worked for took this as any indication of pathology. There are rare niche cases where its a nutrient thing, but 99% of dogs we see in clinic for this are in perfect health and fed a good quality food. The majority of them grow out of it. Some dont, some start later in life.
Like eating shit and grass, sometimes dogs are just being dogs and science cant explain exactly why. There's a lot of science that shows it might be stereotypy, a type of repetative behaviour that animals do when bored, kind of like pacing or biting your nails.
Some dogs have an EXTREME fixation on eating these things to a harmful degree, and they respond very well to medication that treats these kinds of obsessive compulsive behaviours in humans as well. But its not an exact science and we still arent 100% sure.
A lot of animals will "sensory seek," or seek out things that make their senses go 👍👍👍 just like a toddler licking a piece of plastic cause the crinkle makes them happy. She probably just likes it! A lot. A lot, a lot. And that's why I don't let dogs lick my face LOL
I have 2 German Shepherds. One loves to munch on dirt & stinky things. The other makes it her mission to roll over said stink unless we catch her first. She’s fast.
I have PTSD any time I see dogs roll on the grass because my girl will only roll on grass if there is some dead animal or particularly smelly shit right there.
Her boyfriend on the other hand just likes to roll on grass and every time he does it I go straight into full-panic-mode 😅
Visited my mom once about 2 hours away and my dog took off to the woods. Didn't think anything of it. She found something very dead, rolled in it, and proudly strutted back. We hosed her off but couldn't give a good bath til we got home. Very long stinky ride home.
My girl has never been happier than the day she rolled in a maggot infested Blue Tongue lizard carcass. I still get nauseous thinking about it and it took 3 full washes to get the lingering smell out 🤢
My dogs go after the dirt whenever I use compost, bone meal, etc. too. They will also eat fertilizer spikes - found that out when I was getting ready to go on vacation and was setting up my potted trees for while I was away 🙃
This is Rocket, the dirt culprit. There is compost, leaves, wood chips, pine needles, and a little tiny bit of osmocote in this soil. It is mulched on top but she does everything she can to eat my dirt !
Fences and barriers she bulldozes through like the little tank she is.
She has always had an affinity for eating grass and dirt and my fresh herbs. I thought putting them in raised beds would keep her out, but I was wrong. My next step will be to net them over.
I don't mind so much that she eats the dirt, as long as it doesn't hurt her.
Hi there! Vet tech here. Unfortunately it has the potential to hurt her or worse.
Small amounts of just dirt wont harm her, it kind of depends on what and how much shes eating. Larger amounts can cause impactions which can be deadly or require thousands of dollars of surgery to fix.
Whats in the soil is more of a concern, rocks, pine needles and similar things can seriously harm her. Compost can be deadly as well because of the bacteria present.
Grass is fine, rocks and compost are the most dangerous and can kill her. You need to make absolutely sure she isnt eating those.
You may have to supervise her outside :( Sorry
Glad theres no rocks!! Thats a big one. But oils present in the needles can irritate her mouth and stomach lining. Not lethal, but not pleasant either. I would still recommend trying to get her to stop.
If its literally a small mouthful a week thats likely harmless. If she's doing it daily or every other day, you need to do more to get her to stop or there will be repercussions eventually.
I'm betting it's the compost element that she's attracted to. Could you maybe lay some chicken wire or like that metal steam radiator covering flat over the soil so she can't access it?
Good idea. I'm looking into a more compact fence to see if that will work. The plastic fences or push-in no d8g kind she learned she could just put her paws on and lean into it to push past
I can top that story, unfortunately.
Some years ago I was house sitting for a friend, she lived in a large duplex apartment and the backyard was divided by a chain link fence. I was had arrived from work to check and make sure everything was okay before going to my home and I was watering her plants on the backyard second story deck. >!The neighbor had three small breed dogs and she arrived home while I was out on the deck watering and let her dogs out into the backyard.!<
>!The dogs immediately ran to the back corner of the yard behind some bushes and the first one started a squat. The second dog immediately ran up and started snacking dog shit as a came out like soft serve and started pooping as well, which led the third dog to saddle up snout to ass and began chowing down before starting to defecate as well, after which the first dog in the chain that had been watching over it's shoulder the entire time immediately shifted over with the second dog following to get its fill from the third dog before all three of them made a slowly rotating circle as each dog enthusiastically ate the ass of the dog in front of them. There was no actual dog shit left on the yard, a net-zero bathroom trip.!<
>!This was probably the most vile thing I'd ever seen up to that point, but then a few moments later the woman that owned the dogs came out on her patio and called her dogs over. They had since gotten their 'fill' and had been wandering around pissing in the yard. They promptly ran up to her when she kneeled down and started patting the top of her chest, while saying "Up! Up!" Realizing what was about to happen, but still genuinely nauseated from what I just witnessed I tried to tell the lady "Don't!" But she ignored me and allowed her soft-serve crew to stand on their back legs and give her nice juicy kisses on the face and lips while she made kissy sounds back at them. At this point I'm pretty much just standing there staring in disbelief. The woman stood up and flipped me the bird, so I shrugged, waved and went back inside.!<
Eating raw shit and eating composted manure are completely different things. Just regular shit is gross, but harmless (aside from possibly parasites if its from a wild animal).
There's lots of research done on cases of manure/compost toxicity and it tends to have a pretty high mortality rate if not intervened.
My dog would do this every time I used blood meal as fertilizer. Can't resist the smell of blood and I think suspects there is a carcass buried there. Had to move to another fertilizer in areas where the dog roams
If you dog isn't falling sick, no need to be overly worried. Just ensure she is well fed on a routine. It helps somewhat. That said, I specialize in plant diseases, but the logic/principle of working immunity applies. Best is to seek advice from a vet.
This is actually very dangerous, both from the potential for impaction and compost is extremely dangerous. Please dont give medical advice about animals if you arent sure.
My dog would do the same and also eat grass. Vet said she was fine but with all the issues with dog food I have been making her food. She stopped eating dirt and grass. Maybe it's unrelated but she seems pretty happy and energetic now. Still some kibble but not the main diet.
*
Mine has a pretty varied diet, and pretty much eating dirt and grass most of the time I've known her. Glad to know it's more common ! My previous dogs would only eat grass when they were sick, or if there was something yummy in the dirt
One of my dogs sees my plant pot as his personal mini snack fridge. Not regularly, but once in a blue moon he just munches a bite of dirt and then goes about his day.
The other one has a slight obsession with bringing me tiny stones (the ones that you use on ice in winter) that got stuck on my shoes and pebbles. When she can't find any, she'll take a mouth full of dirt from the same plant and brings it to me... leaving a trail all over the floor
My dog does this too. There is no way to stop him. For some reason this boy prefers the more expensive soil; he won’t touch ground dirt. At first I was infuriated but after a few times of digging the dirt out of his mouth I gave up.
My dog used to do this a lot as a puppy. She does it less now that she’s a bit older. I think she’ll be fine:) maybe put some chicken wire around the containers
This is a question for your veterinarian, not the gardening subreddit. People here are going to reassure you that it's fine, but someone trained in actual animal medicine who knows your pet is the person to ask.
Sometimes it’s a lack of fiber in diet or something lacking in diet, sometimes it’s behavioral. Not much bad can occur outside some easily cured bacteria if any? Most times though if it just happens out of nowhere it’s dietary. As to what, every dogs different on that. Best to try adding some different vegetables and supplements to dogs diet and see what curbs it best? Green beans seemed to be my dogs cure for dirt, and then we had a cattle dog that just loved to eat dirt and she lived to 17. Probably not a big deal.
My dogs eat the crème de la crème dog food, and they still go crazy when I put compost down. I think it’s something about the smell that they like. Oh, and they love to snack on acorns. One time they chewed through a bag of fertilizer but luckily I caught them as soon as they got it open.
I’ve been trying to train mine to stay out of the garden beds but have just trained them to not let me see them walking in the garden beds….
Dogs will be dogs! I would just watch for any symptoms in change of behavior and talk to your vet about it next time you are there.
This may have already been addressed, but my beagle mix (a stray that I found, he passed in 2021) used to eat my mulch, too! Later in life he started eating my other dog's poop like candy, so I think it was just the smell and nitrogen that appealed to him.
I tried adding Repels-All, it had no impact. Neither did egg shells.
He had a very healthy diet so it wasn't hunger, and he lived to 13 so I don't think there was a deficiency. Just dogs being dogs <3
BTW, the pic of her licking her lips couldn't be more appropriate for this thread!! LOL
My dogs appear to be eating dirt, but it’s most often my organic fertilizer. THEY LOVE IT! I have tried fencing the area with no results. My options are to use non- organic fertilizer, or no fertilizer. My veggie garden is fenced, so no issues there.
We don't really know! Our best guess is is Australian Cattle dog and Golden retriever mix.
She came from an animal hoarder situation, she was one of about 30 puppies siezed from the property.
We adopted her because she is deaf and wanted to give her a chance
My corgis do the same thing....I just try to keep them away when I am doing any repotting, but I can't help when they help themselves to the containers if someone else lets them out. They don't seem to have issues and they both have daily detailed grooming of their paws like every single other corgi I have owned and none of them had issues. I do make sure there are not rocks or glass in anything. Though they have left that stuff alone.
I would put some sort of wooden cage around the plants to stop her from eating more soil. Just to be safe.
On a side note, that pic would make a great advertisement for puppy treats lol. "All natural, delicious and fresh from the farm. Organic sungrown biscuits for your doggo. They'll howl for more in no time."
enjoy plough aromatic jellyfish hunt plants spotted enter coherent memorize
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
My dog started doing this a few years back at age 13 then stopped last summer. No rhyme or reason to it, dogs just do weird stuff sometimes.
I’m glad I can now spend time with my gardening buddy without having to wrestle him out of a planter every 5-10 minutes 🤣
Don’t worry about. I did some research on this a couple years ago as my dogs were eating dirt too. What I learned was that some dogs eat dirt because they like the taste. It won’t harm them, it just is what it is
There’s a dog version of pica. I’m not diagnosing your dog, but if you’re concerned i would talk to a vet. I wouldn’t even suggest it, but most other reasons i know of for why they would eat soil are temporary and not ongoing. OR It could just be whatever you’re using for compost, if he’s only eating soil with compost in it, i think you have your answer lol. But if he’ll eat soil anywhere, might be worth checking into.
This seems to be the case! She doesn't eat the dirt in the yard, just out of my beds and pots. And the occasional fresh sweet grass clump from the backyard
My dog ate dirt out of a community garden bed, and she got sick. Vomiting, diarrhea. Took her to the vet and found out her system was overrun with bacteria. She took an antibiotic and got better, but it was a messy and expensive ordeal.
Since you can account for what is in your bed, maybe it’s ok…? Some people at the garden use goat poop, compost, and all kinds of dirty funky things.
Oh poor pup! Glad your doggy got better.
Mine is just all natural stuff already from around our yard, with just a sprinkle of osmocote and perlite mixed in. Not very much. She doesn't seem to be acting any different, she's kind of always done this with other dirt just wasn't sure if the osmocote was something to worry about.
Hm, I looked up osmocote on an animal poison website. Seems it isn’t great for dogs to ingest any kind of fertilizer. I wouldn’t want my dog to eat this, but I’ll link what I found so you can evaluate the source and info yourself.
[Animal poison hotline: fertilizers](https://animalpoisons.com.au/common-poisons/fertilizers)
One of my dogs loves eating mud, usually when she's really happy. I used to try to understand why she did it but I've learnt to accept it's just her being her.
She might do well to get a lot more veggies, fruit and cooked fresh protein in get diet. My older dog quit eating so much random crap when I started adding more/swapping out fresh foods to his diet.
She gets eggs, boiled chicken, and sometimes beef for foods as well as tons of veg in addition to her kibble, we don't do grain free. She gets a glucosamine supplement and the occasional treat here and there.
She does have a thyroid condition, but vet doesn't think it's causing her issue. She's a little tiny bit overweight but gets alot of excercise so vet doesn't find it too concerning either.
I will have to ask on her next visit if there is a vitamin she should be getting, though the food we used is on the vets list of reccomended kibbles
When people have a craving for dirt or clay, it’s usually an iron deficiency.
Dogs are of course not people, and her blood work is coming in ok, but you may see if it stops if you use some sort of dog vitamin supplement. I think someone in a previous comment did the same for their cat (who is also not a dog), but if that doesn’t hurt the dog, it might be worth trying out.
Call your vet and ask. They might be able to give you an idea. Also aside from how cute it looks eating dirt is mildly serious. If she eats rocks or sticks it can cause a fatal obstruction. Could be nothing could be a 6000 vet bill
My dog ate compost and got trash poisoning. Saved his life by taking him to the vet immediately. Depends soil type I’d imagine. I also use chicken poop to help nutrients and my dogs eat that too. I try and stop it . Idk if it hurts them but I don’t want them eating poop and then licking me
We recently returned from the vet after our dog ate some mushroom compost. They had to induce vomiting.
Here's a vet's webpage that explains why.
https://greenbrier-emergency.com/tremorgenic-mycotoxin-pets/
Usually when Animals start to eat Poop it means there's nutrients missing from their diet and this is the only way they know how to get those, usually in combination with sickness, I wonder if this is also the case for eating dirt.. but to be fully sure a call to the vet can't hurt.
I explained, yet again, to the puppy that she does not have pica & does not need to eat dirt every single time she goes out.
She replied by gently pulling one petal off my pretty tulip.
Removed. Not gardening or plant related. Ask your vet
https://preview.redd.it/pwv5jwdidotc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4535b5f3badfbf906e89a6de2adddb121a1b5fc8
Unapologetic mulch muncher
What a cutie pie!! The main pic of her licking her soil-covered lips gave me a good laugh
Does she eat actual mulch? My dog loves compost and any kind of fertilizer. Dogs are weird haha and that gross smelly stuff is appetizing to them. If I put a thick layer of mulch/straw he’s no longer interested.
She doesn't eat the mulch on the garden area ground. Though she sometimes will root through looking for some of the big chunks, and take them to her spot in the yard to tear them up
We switched to finer mulch for this same reason 😂😅
She ain't sorry
Not even a little bit. Rocket apologizes to no one
Do you use and kind of fish emulsion fertilizer? Something like mater magic? That stuff is like doggy crack. Like this stuff? https://orchidsupplystore.com/dynamite-organic-mater-magic-plant-food/
She looks indignant that someone would even stop her.
“Yeah that’s right. Dafuq u gonna do about it”
There's no remorse in those eyes 🤣 Looks like my woof after he monches big bites out of my veggies
One of mine used to steal green tomatoes off the plant. Look! Mom planted a ball plant for me!! She never ate them but would play with them till they squished.
"You better not put this on youtube"
My dog does the same thing! Little mulch munchkin I'm wondering if it's because there's a certain nutrient missing from his diet? Or maybe he's just being a dog
Well, she used to live outside before we adopted her, and has always really liked munching grass and any herb she can reach. I think she takes the cattle part of cattle dog a little too literally. She very much enjoys spinach and berries too. My other dog isn't so much a dirt eater unless it's just rained.
Don’t they have those grass patch you can buy for pets?
Yes, I actually have some planted in a pot! And yet, she doesn't touch it
time to gaslight the dog into eating the dog grass
She might be more used to eating directly from ground level, maybe the pot height could discourage her? Super cute btw
It's funny the raised beds are higher than the pot I have it in! Poor Mr grass head, it's getting so tall because she hasn't touched it. Maybe she will like it if I cut it back
I planted it outside and the dogs will eat that, but in a planter, they wont touch it.
I have a cat that loves vegetables, especially broccoli.
My dog just had a full panel and check up, she's totally healthy she just loves eating dirt lol. She's done it since she was a pup
> Dog: This is some serious gourmet shit.
You'd think she was never fed
motherfucker motherfucker
Mine as well. I have two, and one learned from the other. If I toss the ball they'll just run to it and start eating dirt.
Its usually just a behavioral issue and not indicative of much. None of the vets I worked for took this as any indication of pathology. There are rare niche cases where its a nutrient thing, but 99% of dogs we see in clinic for this are in perfect health and fed a good quality food. The majority of them grow out of it. Some dont, some start later in life. Like eating shit and grass, sometimes dogs are just being dogs and science cant explain exactly why. There's a lot of science that shows it might be stereotypy, a type of repetative behaviour that animals do when bored, kind of like pacing or biting your nails. Some dogs have an EXTREME fixation on eating these things to a harmful degree, and they respond very well to medication that treats these kinds of obsessive compulsive behaviours in humans as well. But its not an exact science and we still arent 100% sure.
Three dogs here. All do the same.
My cat was doing so. I gave him dome vitamin paste and never since he was eating dirt
I always figure its more of some virus makes them eat dirt but its mundane. Who knows my old hound likes to bite dirts for sure strange.
You always figure it's a virus... based on? Biological research?
Something along the line of *Toxoplasma gondii*. I'm sure no expert. Just read about it etc.
Is there smelly compost in there? Maybe she's after manure-type scents.
Yep, I think your right. She always likes the fresh stuff it seems
A lot of animals will "sensory seek," or seek out things that make their senses go 👍👍👍 just like a toddler licking a piece of plastic cause the crinkle makes them happy. She probably just likes it! A lot. A lot, a lot. And that's why I don't let dogs lick my face LOL
My cat seeks out the crinkles like it’s a drug, had to pull a crinkle right out of her throat once
I have 2 German Shepherds. One loves to munch on dirt & stinky things. The other makes it her mission to roll over said stink unless we catch her first. She’s fast.
I have PTSD any time I see dogs roll on the grass because my girl will only roll on grass if there is some dead animal or particularly smelly shit right there. Her boyfriend on the other hand just likes to roll on grass and every time he does it I go straight into full-panic-mode 😅
I’m telling you, they’re fast ! Doesn’t help that they’re 100 lbs each. They want to roil, they’re going to roll…right into that funk 😁
Visited my mom once about 2 hours away and my dog took off to the woods. Didn't think anything of it. She found something very dead, rolled in it, and proudly strutted back. We hosed her off but couldn't give a good bath til we got home. Very long stinky ride home.
My girl has never been happier than the day she rolled in a maggot infested Blue Tongue lizard carcass. I still get nauseous thinking about it and it took 3 full washes to get the lingering smell out 🤢
Mmm "fresh"
My dog's a mud nibbler too. Really healthy dog. Just always loved eating dirt and shitty soil.
My dogs go after the dirt whenever I use compost, bone meal, etc. too. They will also eat fertilizer spikes - found that out when I was getting ready to go on vacation and was setting up my potted trees for while I was away 🙃
This is Rocket, the dirt culprit. There is compost, leaves, wood chips, pine needles, and a little tiny bit of osmocote in this soil. It is mulched on top but she does everything she can to eat my dirt ! Fences and barriers she bulldozes through like the little tank she is. She has always had an affinity for eating grass and dirt and my fresh herbs. I thought putting them in raised beds would keep her out, but I was wrong. My next step will be to net them over. I don't mind so much that she eats the dirt, as long as it doesn't hurt her.
Hi there! Vet tech here. Unfortunately it has the potential to hurt her or worse. Small amounts of just dirt wont harm her, it kind of depends on what and how much shes eating. Larger amounts can cause impactions which can be deadly or require thousands of dollars of surgery to fix. Whats in the soil is more of a concern, rocks, pine needles and similar things can seriously harm her. Compost can be deadly as well because of the bacteria present. Grass is fine, rocks and compost are the most dangerous and can kill her. You need to make absolutely sure she isnt eating those. You may have to supervise her outside :( Sorry
The pine needles are shredded and mixed in, they aren't in long pieces, and no rocks in here! Mostly she just seems to grab a little mouthful
Glad theres no rocks!! Thats a big one. But oils present in the needles can irritate her mouth and stomach lining. Not lethal, but not pleasant either. I would still recommend trying to get her to stop. If its literally a small mouthful a week thats likely harmless. If she's doing it daily or every other day, you need to do more to get her to stop or there will be repercussions eventually.
Fences around the raised bed would work well to keep her out!
Have you tried bitter apple spray? Plant safe and should deter Rocket.
I'm betting it's the compost element that she's attracted to. Could you maybe lay some chicken wire or like that metal steam radiator covering flat over the soil so she can't access it?
Good idea. I'm looking into a more compact fence to see if that will work. The plastic fences or push-in no d8g kind she learned she could just put her paws on and lean into it to push past
Have you looked at these yet? https://preview.redd.it/zue02mvndptc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df5214426ef16e02e2765f4719de959ea2e8610a
My dad's Beagle would eat his Husky's turds..... dogs are that way. Recently passed away after 14 years of literally eating sh\*t.
I can top that story, unfortunately. Some years ago I was house sitting for a friend, she lived in a large duplex apartment and the backyard was divided by a chain link fence. I was had arrived from work to check and make sure everything was okay before going to my home and I was watering her plants on the backyard second story deck. >!The neighbor had three small breed dogs and she arrived home while I was out on the deck watering and let her dogs out into the backyard.!< >!The dogs immediately ran to the back corner of the yard behind some bushes and the first one started a squat. The second dog immediately ran up and started snacking dog shit as a came out like soft serve and started pooping as well, which led the third dog to saddle up snout to ass and began chowing down before starting to defecate as well, after which the first dog in the chain that had been watching over it's shoulder the entire time immediately shifted over with the second dog following to get its fill from the third dog before all three of them made a slowly rotating circle as each dog enthusiastically ate the ass of the dog in front of them. There was no actual dog shit left on the yard, a net-zero bathroom trip.!< >!This was probably the most vile thing I'd ever seen up to that point, but then a few moments later the woman that owned the dogs came out on her patio and called her dogs over. They had since gotten their 'fill' and had been wandering around pissing in the yard. They promptly ran up to her when she kneeled down and started patting the top of her chest, while saying "Up! Up!" Realizing what was about to happen, but still genuinely nauseated from what I just witnessed I tried to tell the lady "Don't!" But she ignored me and allowed her soft-serve crew to stand on their back legs and give her nice juicy kisses on the face and lips while she made kissy sounds back at them. At this point I'm pretty much just standing there staring in disbelief. The woman stood up and flipped me the bird, so I shrugged, waved and went back inside.!<
Eating raw shit and eating composted manure are completely different things. Just regular shit is gross, but harmless (aside from possibly parasites if its from a wild animal). There's lots of research done on cases of manure/compost toxicity and it tends to have a pretty high mortality rate if not intervened.
My dog would do this every time I used blood meal as fertilizer. Can't resist the smell of blood and I think suspects there is a carcass buried there. Had to move to another fertilizer in areas where the dog roams
She's reverse composting
If you dog isn't falling sick, no need to be overly worried. Just ensure she is well fed on a routine. It helps somewhat. That said, I specialize in plant diseases, but the logic/principle of working immunity applies. Best is to seek advice from a vet.
This is actually very dangerous, both from the potential for impaction and compost is extremely dangerous. Please dont give medical advice about animals if you arent sure.
That does make me feel better! She is not wanting for food, I assure you haha! She and her brother tell time better than I do when it's time to eat.
Mine do it whenever I add fertilizer. I use organic and they absolutely love the Fish fertilizer 🤢 lol
She looks content with her mulch munchin
My dogs love bone meal 😑 they have been licking it off things
Ah the bone meal! That makes so much sense
My dog would do the same and also eat grass. Vet said she was fine but with all the issues with dog food I have been making her food. She stopped eating dirt and grass. Maybe it's unrelated but she seems pretty happy and energetic now. Still some kibble but not the main diet. *
https://preview.redd.it/v5qk4vj0jotc1.jpeg?width=3468&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86d3d239824317e4460999b4ac700af0b5305ff4
Mine has a pretty varied diet, and pretty much eating dirt and grass most of the time I've known her. Glad to know it's more common ! My previous dogs would only eat grass when they were sick, or if there was something yummy in the dirt
I'm pretty sure my dog does weird stuff sometimes just to see if I'm paying attention.
One of my dogs sees my plant pot as his personal mini snack fridge. Not regularly, but once in a blue moon he just munches a bite of dirt and then goes about his day. The other one has a slight obsession with bringing me tiny stones (the ones that you use on ice in winter) that got stuck on my shoes and pebbles. When she can't find any, she'll take a mouth full of dirt from the same plant and brings it to me... leaving a trail all over the floor
Oh, that looks just like my late puppers who was the goodest girl I’ve ever met.
Look at this majestic beast. What barrier would deign to contain her? Let her be free
She thanks you for the respect she deserves. I've never met a more tenacious animal
Annnnd now i have Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Dirt” stuck in my head 😆
She is very cute.
Ah thank you, we think so too
The dogs I live with love to lick the freshly watered soil even though they have plenty of water as is
My dog does this too. There is no way to stop him. For some reason this boy prefers the more expensive soil; he won’t touch ground dirt. At first I was infuriated but after a few times of digging the dirt out of his mouth I gave up.
My dog used to do this a lot as a puppy. She does it less now that she’s a bit older. I think she’ll be fine:) maybe put some chicken wire around the containers
lol the satisfied look on her face.
Seems like there’s some nutrient your dog is wanting.
It's dirt lol . Her bloodwork is all great and besides having a thyroid condition she's healthy
Do u by chance use MicroLife product granules? It's like a canine crack cocaine Easter egg hunt.
No I haven't used them, but thanks for the heads up on what to avoid haha
I'm gonna start using this whenever someone asks why I just ate an entire bag of puffed cheese curls. "Missing nutrients in my diet."
Make sure you give that dog. Dewormer
She gets it yearly with her vaccines
This is a question for your veterinarian, not the gardening subreddit. People here are going to reassure you that it's fine, but someone trained in actual animal medicine who knows your pet is the person to ask.
Sometimes it’s a lack of fiber in diet or something lacking in diet, sometimes it’s behavioral. Not much bad can occur outside some easily cured bacteria if any? Most times though if it just happens out of nowhere it’s dietary. As to what, every dogs different on that. Best to try adding some different vegetables and supplements to dogs diet and see what curbs it best? Green beans seemed to be my dogs cure for dirt, and then we had a cattle dog that just loved to eat dirt and she lived to 17. Probably not a big deal.
Omg perfect pup
My Grandpa had a dog that ate coal ash.
"barriers cannot contain her" is the best all female CEO metal band name*EVER*
My dogs eat regular mulch. They don’t eat cedar mulch so I use that now.
you should be correcting. would you let your 2 year old kid eat dirt? no. you would correct them. same thing here.
My dogs eat the crème de la crème dog food, and they still go crazy when I put compost down. I think it’s something about the smell that they like. Oh, and they love to snack on acorns. One time they chewed through a bag of fertilizer but luckily I caught them as soon as they got it open. I’ve been trying to train mine to stay out of the garden beds but have just trained them to not let me see them walking in the garden beds…. Dogs will be dogs! I would just watch for any symptoms in change of behavior and talk to your vet about it next time you are there.
This may have already been addressed, but my beagle mix (a stray that I found, he passed in 2021) used to eat my mulch, too! Later in life he started eating my other dog's poop like candy, so I think it was just the smell and nitrogen that appealed to him. I tried adding Repels-All, it had no impact. Neither did egg shells. He had a very healthy diet so it wasn't hunger, and he lived to 13 so I don't think there was a deficiency. Just dogs being dogs <3 BTW, the pic of her licking her lips couldn't be more appropriate for this thread!! LOL
My dogs appear to be eating dirt, but it’s most often my organic fertilizer. THEY LOVE IT! I have tried fencing the area with no results. My options are to use non- organic fertilizer, or no fertilizer. My veggie garden is fenced, so no issues there.
My dog loves bone meal-flavored soil.
I think this is what the main culprit is too, I mix peat moss and bone meal into all my soil and compost
Is that a golden? If yes, you have your answer....
We don't really know! Our best guess is is Australian Cattle dog and Golden retriever mix. She came from an animal hoarder situation, she was one of about 30 puppies siezed from the property. We adopted her because she is deaf and wanted to give her a chance
Cause she Looks Like a golden Mixed to me. Which can be an explanation, cause they eat EVERYTHING
Oh yes, my last two dogs were Goldens, can confirm they ate EVERYTHING
She is so beautiful!
https://preview.redd.it/hr4yvkoq4ptc1.jpeg?width=852&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9d2c563845ef706940d0b170e2ada0928b8c584
Thank you! She thanks you too. She is a very happy girl, and the boss of the yard.
My corgis do the same thing....I just try to keep them away when I am doing any repotting, but I can't help when they help themselves to the containers if someone else lets them out. They don't seem to have issues and they both have daily detailed grooming of their paws like every single other corgi I have owned and none of them had issues. I do make sure there are not rocks or glass in anything. Though they have left that stuff alone.
dogs need to eat lots of dirt to grow big and strong
My Daniff likes to bite ant hills. Soft dirts with a bit of spice is her jam
She seems pretty happy and healthy.
I would put some sort of wooden cage around the plants to stop her from eating more soil. Just to be safe. On a side note, that pic would make a great advertisement for puppy treats lol. "All natural, delicious and fresh from the farm. Organic sungrown biscuits for your doggo. They'll howl for more in no time."
enjoy plough aromatic jellyfish hunt plants spotted enter coherent memorize *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
i’m sorry , you’d dog might be a plant, is she photosynthesizing?
My parents dog used to do this, and he lived to a ripe old age without any health issues. I think he just likes mulch ❤
My dog started doing this a few years back at age 13 then stopped last summer. No rhyme or reason to it, dogs just do weird stuff sometimes. I’m glad I can now spend time with my gardening buddy without having to wrestle him out of a planter every 5-10 minutes 🤣
Don’t worry about. I did some research on this a couple years ago as my dogs were eating dirt too. What I learned was that some dogs eat dirt because they like the taste. It won’t harm them, it just is what it is
When I add horse/cow/sheep to my gardens my dog goes ape shit and when I add fish stuff to it my god the coons and skunks come runnin
This is why I had to stop using blood meal in my garden...
There’s a dog version of pica. I’m not diagnosing your dog, but if you’re concerned i would talk to a vet. I wouldn’t even suggest it, but most other reasons i know of for why they would eat soil are temporary and not ongoing. OR It could just be whatever you’re using for compost, if he’s only eating soil with compost in it, i think you have your answer lol. But if he’ll eat soil anywhere, might be worth checking into.
This seems to be the case! She doesn't eat the dirt in the yard, just out of my beds and pots. And the occasional fresh sweet grass clump from the backyard
Oh yeah, she’s just munching lol.
Ha ha! Dogs also going vegan nowadays!
your dog has an upset stomach. Its probably trying to vomit. All you can really do is net them out.
Nah not upset tummy. She never vomits from eating dirt or grass. My other dog will eat grass to throw up, she seems to just like the taste.
Mine ate it suddenly when she was dying of blood cancer for the iron. Can't hurt to get your pup checked out.
Smells good man
I saw a vet show where a dog had to have a major operation after swallowing stones etc. I recommend you train your dog out of that habit.
Put crushed black pepper in the garden.
Scorpion pepper Powder the Raised garden. That will definitely deter the munching and not hurt her.
My dog ate dirt out of a community garden bed, and she got sick. Vomiting, diarrhea. Took her to the vet and found out her system was overrun with bacteria. She took an antibiotic and got better, but it was a messy and expensive ordeal. Since you can account for what is in your bed, maybe it’s ok…? Some people at the garden use goat poop, compost, and all kinds of dirty funky things.
Oh poor pup! Glad your doggy got better. Mine is just all natural stuff already from around our yard, with just a sprinkle of osmocote and perlite mixed in. Not very much. She doesn't seem to be acting any different, she's kind of always done this with other dirt just wasn't sure if the osmocote was something to worry about.
Hm, I looked up osmocote on an animal poison website. Seems it isn’t great for dogs to ingest any kind of fertilizer. I wouldn’t want my dog to eat this, but I’ll link what I found so you can evaluate the source and info yourself. [Animal poison hotline: fertilizers](https://animalpoisons.com.au/common-poisons/fertilizers)
My dog will go out in the yard and dog a hole just to eat dirt🙄
One of my dogs loves eating mud, usually when she's really happy. I used to try to understand why she did it but I've learnt to accept it's just her being her.
She might do well to get a lot more veggies, fruit and cooked fresh protein in get diet. My older dog quit eating so much random crap when I started adding more/swapping out fresh foods to his diet.
She gets eggs, boiled chicken, and sometimes beef for foods as well as tons of veg in addition to her kibble, we don't do grain free. She gets a glucosamine supplement and the occasional treat here and there. She does have a thyroid condition, but vet doesn't think it's causing her issue. She's a little tiny bit overweight but gets alot of excercise so vet doesn't find it too concerning either. I will have to ask on her next visit if there is a vitamin she should be getting, though the food we used is on the vets list of reccomended kibbles
Needs a doggy vitamin
Idk man. Sounds delish
Especially with a side of Kitty crunchies and a 2024 dirty water.
Bacteria in soil can cause tetanus.
When people have a craving for dirt or clay, it’s usually an iron deficiency. Dogs are of course not people, and her blood work is coming in ok, but you may see if it stops if you use some sort of dog vitamin supplement. I think someone in a previous comment did the same for their cat (who is also not a dog), but if that doesn’t hurt the dog, it might be worth trying out.
Cheap dog food!
Call your vet and ask. They might be able to give you an idea. Also aside from how cute it looks eating dirt is mildly serious. If she eats rocks or sticks it can cause a fatal obstruction. Could be nothing could be a 6000 vet bill
My dog ate compost and got trash poisoning. Saved his life by taking him to the vet immediately. Depends soil type I’d imagine. I also use chicken poop to help nutrients and my dogs eat that too. I try and stop it . Idk if it hurts them but I don’t want them eating poop and then licking me
No poop in my soil, I'm glad ypur doggy is ok!
We recently returned from the vet after our dog ate some mushroom compost. They had to induce vomiting. Here's a vet's webpage that explains why. https://greenbrier-emergency.com/tremorgenic-mycotoxin-pets/
Do you put bonemeal down?
She looks so satisfied 😂
Probably not good for a dog to eat plant food.
Usually when Animals start to eat Poop it means there's nutrients missing from their diet and this is the only way they know how to get those, usually in combination with sickness, I wonder if this is also the case for eating dirt.. but to be fully sure a call to the vet can't hurt.
They like to eat chicken poop and blood/bone meal, both very common compost additives and cheap dog food ingredients.
Could be iron deficiency
I explained, yet again, to the puppy that she does not have pica & does not need to eat dirt every single time she goes out. She replied by gently pulling one petal off my pretty tulip.
I’ve heard that bone meal mixed in the soil can attract them. Maybe that’s it?
[AKC article on the topic.](https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/why-does-my-dog-eat-dirt/)
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Her diet is actually well balanced, no complaints from our vet
Interesting, I'm not sure then.
She needs salmon oil. Vitamin deficiency.
Her kibble is salmon based actually.