On Q&A with Dr. Q., we talk a lot about the strange habits and behaviours of our pets. One of the stranger things you might see your dog do is eat grass. And you probably wonder why!
A common myth is that the dog eats grass to make themselves vomit. That's not true at all. Dogs are perfectly capable of consuming grass without making themselves sick. Pay attention to this habit, though, because your dog might be trying to tell you something.
Some dogs will eat grass because they developed the habit when they were small puppies. Many dogs, though, eat grass because they're not getting sufficient nutrition in their current diet. There are certain nutrients that they can sense they're deficient in, and they're trying to find ways to supplement these nutrients.
Generally you don't need to force your dog to not eat grass. But you do need to be careful that they don't end up eating grass with other contaminants, like pesticides or garbage tossed on the ground by other people. And bear in mind that the root cause may be poor nutrition, so you might want to re-evaluate their diet!