# Potential obsessive problem??



## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Hey guys!
Hope you're all enjoying the summer so far, Liesel's 21 months old now, so nearly two... She's been mostly good with a few naughty habits returning, she's gone back to jumping up at strangers so we keep her on the long lead a lot when we're in public parks. Hopefully it's just all part of her teens!
The thing I was hoping to get advice about is that she's taken to eating clumps of freshly mown grass (not the fresh stuff so much, though she likes a chew on that now and again), and we're thinking it's becoming a bit of a problem. One of the parks we take her to regularly is like a huge football pitch type park, and the grass is very often cut which leaves lumps of the stuff absolutely everywhere. It's damp, sticks together and she seems to like it best when it's starting to decompose... that's another related thing, she likes to find piles of decomposing grass (which looks exactly like compost) and eat as much as she can.
We've tried correcting her, tried distracting her (nothing works, not treats, not whistling, not playing with toys etc) and it's like it's become a bit of an obsession. It started to seem like she was doing it purely for attention, because a few times I've ignored her and walked away and she came running after me (though only once she'd finished her mouthful)... but now this doesn't even seem to work, and she'll just wander around the field looking for sufficiently disgusting clumps. 

I'm worried she's bored, we take her to that park quite often and she's not showing much interest in chasing balls at the moment, so if there isn't a dog for her to play with (and there often isn't, in spite of the good weather) she doesn't feel like running around, and I guess she's found this to be another way of entertaining herself. It's weird though, it's like she genuinely thinks it's food - my partner tried to get some out of her mouth today cos it was a massive clump, and she was just frantically chewing and swallowing like it was the tastiest thing on the planet.

Any advice in this area would be much appreciated - should we be ignoring, finding new ways to entertain her on walks or just doing what we're doing (which is... keeping her on a long lead, then if she picks up some grass we give her one chance to come to us, then if she doesn't obey we stand on the lead and reel her in, make her sit and take the grass from her (if there's any left...).

Thanks in advance, hopefully someone has had a similar problem... is it just a phase or should we be addressing it before it escalates further?? The main issue with it is that it's all that's on her mind when we go to that park, she won't run around because she just wants to eat grass, so it's interfering with her exercise. It's also just a bit frustrating because she KNOWS we don't want her to do it, and yet she does it so persistently we feel like we can't just ignore it...

Hope you're all well, here are a couple of recent photos!


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Oooooo! Grass treats! Grass treats!

Savannah loves her grass treats. She especially loves the ones that fall off of the mower (electric - no gas residue). She listens for the lawn mower and waits patiently be the door until she can go to the area where I remove the bag of grass clipping to empty it. She sorts the clumps with her lips to get only the tastiest morsels. 

I'll be interested to see what others say about it, but I've always preferred her eating grass clippings to the long strands. The clippings get digested. The long strands of grass tend to go straight through her and are still long strands when they come out the other end. In one of our many compromises, I've encouraged eating the grass treats and tried to distract her from the long strands with varying degrees of success.

Savannah is going to be four this summer. She periodically has naughty habits resurface, but when I review the situation, it's always (and I mean always) because I stopped being consistent on something. Being a teen adds a bit more to the situation. Just go back to what worked to stop the jumping in the first place and reemphasize the consistency and patience with everyone you meet.


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## Mountain Man (Mar 29, 2013)

First off, she is a gorgeous girl!

Second, had a quick question: Does the grass induce any vomiting or otherwise have any G.I. effects on her? I've had several dogs that ate grass; however, never to the extent of obsession, and always within 15 minutes of yacking it back up.

I'm not qualified to offer any suggestions, other than it might be a good idea to take her in to your vet, who could analyze her stool and rule out any parasitic or malnutrition issues (for the avoidance of doubt).

Good luck!


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## Vizsla Baby (Nov 4, 2011)

I'm not sure how to stop it, but she'll probably tire of it after a while.

Maybe try bringing a squirt bottle with water in it and spray her each time she goes near it. 

In the meantime, she might be getting exposed to chemicals you don't want her to have in the grass - fertilizer and weed killer like weed & feed, etc.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

Hello Claire... so good to see your post, and the Beautiful picture of Liesel... she is such an elegant Pup!!

About the grass eating... In all the research I have done, I have found "mostly from experience" that it is Perfectly Normal.
I know both my girls were like a couple of cows when I took them to the play yard. They would spend their entire morning grazing, Peeing and pooping. Mostly just munching on the grass, and they too were very selective about the tender green, or fresh mowed bunches. My pearl munches a bit, but Fergy is another full on cow. He will even snatch long blades as we trot down the hill on our daily walk. The only problem I ever had with him is some of the grass he ate was so long, he had a difficult time eliminating it from the exit hole. and he had to fling it around some. 
In all honesty, I think the grass she is drawn to is safer for her, as it is cut and goes through with out difficulty. 
It is like roughage. in a human diet... salad so to speak.
I would not worry unless she appears ill, or is doing alot of vomiting. 
My dogs eat it and just poop it out, hardly ever vomit.


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## Idntnw (Mar 21, 2014)

Fresh grass, IMO, is normal. Fermented (rotting/decomposing) grass makes me think she might be getting a buzz off of it. Like a fermented alcoholic beverage. Does her tempermanet change after eating a good bit of it? As in more happy or more ditzy? It is common for animals to eat fermented (rotten) fruit and veggies. Search videos related to 'fermented pumpkin drunk squirrel' for a good laugh.


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## Claire (May 21, 2012)

Thanks a lot for your replies guys!
I'm glad most of you seem to think it's fairly normal and not harmful to her etc! Though as I said, the main issue we have with it is that it's interfering with her exercise, since it's become such a naughty habit, almost like a routine... Also maybe it's idealistic but we'd just like it if we could tell her not to do something and find a way to enforce that, whether or not it's harmful to her! Her cheeky behaviour can be pretty entertaining but I don't want her to learn that she doesn't need to listen to us if she'd rather not, that could lead to trouble in loads of ways...
Idntnw: that's really interesting... she does behave differently right after, usually goes skipping away from us very merrily, though that could easily be just a result of her getting away with the behaviour we are telling her not to do...


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