# "Stress eating" grass



## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

Augie eats grass too, I think he's channeling his inner cow.

I get him to stop by squirting him with water from a little squirt bottle with the nozzle set on stream not spray. I don't say a word, just give him a quick squirt and act just as surprised as he is. After a few times, he stops eating the grass.


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## Oakleylove (Jun 30, 2012)

Dogs eat grass to sooth an upset tummy. That being said, I had my Golden at my parents' place to meet their Golden and he was munching grass like a lawnmower. 
Goldens always seem to be looking for something to put in their mouths! 


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

I heard recently, please correct me if my data is wrong, that dogs eat grass because they like it, not necessary for any other reason.

Maddie, as a pup, would pull huge clods of it out as she enjoyed doing so. 

It was suggested by a trainer, before he saw her yanking the grass out, that perhaps she was stressed or bored. After he watched, he revised his thinking. She just got pleasure out of tearing it up.

She still eats grass now, but not as much. Now, she also, is channeling her inner cow, but no longer her inner steam shovel.


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## Titan1 (Jan 19, 2010)

I swear Mighty is part cow... He scalps my lawn chewing.. hoping he forgot over the winter .....not likely but a person could wish!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I don't know if it is the same where you live, Marie....

But in spring when the new grass starts coming in, the dogs go NUTS eating grass. They will literally stand and zone out while nomming. My vet or somebody else told me ages ago that after a long winter, the dogs crave juicy fresh grass.  It's not illness or stress at all.


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## texasx96 (Mar 13, 2013)

My vet once told me that they often eat it just because they like to. I don't think Rowdy eats much of it, but he loves to start ripping clumps out of the ground. If he doesn't need to pee or anything too badly the first thing he does when going outside is to run and plop down on the grass where he begins ripping up clumps.


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## MarieP (Aug 21, 2011)

:HEW:: You all are making me feel so much better. I was getting worried that I was "worrying" him a lot for some reason. 



Megora said:


> I don't know if it is the same where you live, Marie....
> 
> But in spring when the new grass starts coming in, the dogs go NUTS eating grass. They will literally stand and zone out while nomming. My vet or somebody else told me ages ago that after a long winter, the dogs crave juicy fresh grass.  It's not illness or stress at all.


I can totally see this. There are a lot of patches of new grass coming in around our field. I guess I will just try to manage the behavior for now and work on the sidewalk when I can  

Riot says "MOOOOOOO" :wave:


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Flip is a huge grass eater. All my dog's enjoy walking the fence line and finding a clump to munch on, but Flip will eat it any chance he gets. 

He won't eat short mowed grass, only longer pieces sticking up.

As long as he's not supposed to be working I let him eat it.


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## GoldenCamper (Dec 21, 2009)

Something about fresh spring grass makes all the dogs around here go moo. 

When I meet up with other walkers along the paths and stop to talk for a minute, all the dogs start grazing. I've never bought the idea about the upset stomach thing. How all the dogs all have upset stomachs instantaneously seems illogical, and they certainly aren't stressed.

They just love it for some reason.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

OK my dogs all love to eat grass on their own time. On company time it is strictly not allowed. 
One of my training partner's dogs, has a TERRIBLE bad habit of eating grass as avoidance/stress reaction during field training. This has developed over the years. It started b/c he would do drills every day with his dog, and let the dog wander around and much grass and sticks while he set up and cleaned up. The dog learned that he could avoid work by not coming when called and eat grass. At this point, several years later, if the dog is stressed he will STOP AND EAT GRASS DURING WORK -- ie. when whistle stopped on a blind, between sends on multiple marks, upon entering the water will bite at weeds, etc. My friend is gun shy with the collar and let it go a LOOOOOONG time before trying to fix it and now it's a hangup. Yikes. I absolutely wouldn't allow it in a training setting. Either have the dog in a sit and reinforce that sit means sit, not grass eating, or have the dog tug on the leash or bumper between exercises. Best of luck, not a problem I would want...


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

Our Goldens have differed in their grass eating. Zeke definitely ate grass to sooth his stomach. If he didn't feel well he'd go out and eat grass franticly until he threw up and then would stop with the grass. Zoe just seems to like to graze. She's also been known to grab big clumps of grass roots, dirt and all, chew on them and throw them around. I've always viewed that as a sign of stress or boredom.


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

@mlopez

Dogs will eat the sweet new grass of Spring just for the heck of it.

However, some dogs will also eat grass if they are in a stressful situation. When we first started training for our TDX and had a particularly challenging track, I knew my dog was stressed when he started eating grass. We worked through it and saying "leave it" and "let's track" got him to stop quickly. It was a matter of him gaining confidence. Once he gained confidence after three training tracks the behavior stopped and no matter the conditions we trained under he didn't stress out.


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## MarieP (Aug 21, 2011)

K9-Design said:


> OK my dogs all love to eat grass on their own time. On company time it is strictly not allowed.
> One of my training partner's dogs, has a TERRIBLE bad habit of eating grass as avoidance/stress reaction during field training. This has developed over the years. It started b/c he would do drills every day with his dog, and let the dog wander around and much grass and sticks while he set up and cleaned up. The dog learned that he could avoid work by not coming when called and eat grass. At this point, several years later, if the dog is stressed he will STOP AND EAT GRASS DURING WORK -- ie. when whistle stopped on a blind, between sends on multiple marks, upon entering the water will bite at weeds, etc. My friend is gun shy with the collar and let it go a LOOOOOONG time before trying to fix it and now it's a hangup. Yikes. I absolutely wouldn't allow it in a training setting. Either have the dog in a sit and reinforce that sit means sit, not grass eating, or have the dog tug on the leash or bumper between exercises. Best of luck, not a problem I would want...


OK, this is what I was thinking! I'm glad I'm not crazy... I feel like it is an avoidance behavior. Even though it is only between exercises, I don't want it to go much further. I have also noticed (yesterday and today, because now I'm paying more attention) that he DOESN'T eat grass if I just let him out to potty. He sniffs around, but no eating. So that really makes me think that it is an avoidance thing. So today I tried tugging between. I also called him to me if he started to go for the grass, because come is an easy command to enforce with him, especially with the e-collar. During longer periods, I had him sit and wait for me to get set up. I'm hoping that I can nip it in the bud quickly. 

Thanks to everyone for your help!


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

If a dog is offering 'avoidance behaviors' (which are actually calming signals) he is telling you he is stressed. Why is he stressed? Not because he does not want to 'work' but because he does not understand what you are asking of him and he is trying to avoid the correction which he knows willl come if he offers the wrong behavior. If you are training a new behavior, consider whether the 'task' you are training may be too difficult for him to learn 'all at once', and maybe needs to be broken down into smaller steps. If you are correcting 'alot' then he doesn't understand what it is you want him TO DO.


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