ummm..... eating dirt

[ledhed]

:confused: My dog has taken an unhealthy interest in eating dirt, but... interestingly, only the dirt in my houseplants. He has no interest in eating dirt outside. He'll disappear for a couple of minutes and I'll find him standing over one of my plants with a muddy face and a mouth full of gravel, looking at me like, "What?" :lol:

Wondering if anyone else has seen this... could it be a dietary deficiency? Some special mineral that's only in potting soil? :p This is so wierd to me...

Anyway, he's happily getting about 1.75 cups of Canidae dry a day, plus a few treats tossed in, and an occasional little bit of fruit or a raw bone.

Just curious mainly....

JL.

[Carolyn]

I went out and googled about why dogs eat dirt and didn't find anything informative from a reliable source. Some say it due to a mineral deficiency but I don't is that is true. I'll try to remember to ask my vet. Personally I think that Frenchies are just little devils with no taste....looking for trouble.
Ferris has always had an appetitie for wood. I thought this was just a puppy thing but sometimes I still catch him chomping on wood chips. :confused:

Carolyn

[ledhed]

Just curious if you have recently fertilized the houseplants as the smell is very attractive to dogs?

Now that you mention it, I did put some miracle grow sticks in there... maybe 3 months ago.... I've already put the plants out of his reach... could the fertilizer be toxic to him??? I had thought it probably just a nuisance at worst, but now I'm wondering if it's something that I should be worried about in the future.

Carolyn- Napoleon also has a taste for wood. Also dirty socks, cardboard, shoelaces (but not shoes luckily), ants, junebugs..... I don't know if this happens everywhere... but in Michigan around the end of may/early june these great big fat brown beetles come out for a few weeks at night (We've always called them Junebugs but I have no idea if that's what they're really called). They congregate around the lights. He was having a field day chasing those things around and gobbling them up every time I took him out to go pee. I would have to physically drag him back inside. He is a great hunter of insects. :p

[Carolyn]

:lol: :lol: :lol: We have what we call "stink bugs" here in California. These nasty things will put their butts into the air and generate a very offensive odor when they feel they are in danger. Abby ate two of these when she was very young. Why would she do this???? BAD taste followed by a learning experience in my humble opinion! :lol: Just the other day I found Abby and Ferris tormenting a stink bug with their paws...but neither one made the bug a meal!

Your pup likes dirty socks???? Yikes!! Now that is BAD taste!!

Not sure about plant furtilizer.....check the label carefully or better yet...ask your vet. Carolyn

[Snowblind]

About socks.. To the dog they don´t smell bad, they smell of you. A standard poodle came to puppy class and had no interest in his toys. Just whould not play with the toys that usually whould have been good ones. Until the owner took her sock! He went bezerk and whould do anything to play with that. It is just so YOU!!! And YOU is what he loves :) I know even that people clicker train dogs to scent by holding their stinky socks in water for a few days and then sray a track with the water and the dogs love it. It is nit just a matter of taste but a matter of love :rolleyes: