Roxy loved her time with Nana and Pop, though. The cousins were in town and there were lots of people to play with and shower her with attention.
She eats it up.
That's not all she's eating up lately either.
Roxy has discovered a taste for dirt.
She may have done it before, but I've really noticed it since we got back in town. If I leave her out for longer than it takes her to do her business, she starts munching. Her tongue will be black and there will be mud in her teeth. There's no doubt that she is chomping soil.
It could be that she's done it before. Before we got our fence, Roxy was always on the leash or supervised in our neighbor's backyard (they let us "borrow" it).
There are other potential factors, as well. A good experiment would isolate variables, but that rarely happens in real life.
Roxy acts like she's starving 24/7. She loves treats, she loves food, and she tries to eat chew toys and anything else she thinks may be food. She was starved, so it's likely to be psychological. Roxy had to have surgery to remove some sort of plastic disc she tried to eat before we adopted her.
Is Roxy eating dirt, because she thinks she's hungry and starving?
Roxy came to us skin and bones. She's filled out well enough that we recently cut back on fattening her up. She switched three cup and a half meals a day to two meals of two cups. She gets treats in between, but the switch in meals could be why she's acquired her mud-philia (the taste at least...she's always liked jumping in it).
Is Roxy eating dirt, because we changed her meal times and worried she'll go without? Or did that just make her hungry and starving or at least think she is?
Roxy's always been a compulsive drinker. She drinks her bowl dry and then drools half of it back out. We've taken to only filling her bowl part way. She'll drink what's in it, lick the bowl dry, and swallows before she walks away. The skies poured buckets on us this past month and Roxy's mini-pool is still full with no lifeguard on duty.
Is the mud eating linked to Roxy visiting her pool? Is it something compulsive she learned when she was locked up?
A quick internet search yielded a name for dogs eating things they're not supposed to: pica. It mentions that it can be caused by all sorts of things: typical puppy behavior, boredom, anxiety, lack of minerals, behavioral, or even parasites.
Did going away for the weekend scare Roxy? Does she need to see a vet? Or is she bored and getting into mischief as puppies (and kids) are bound to do?
All things to think of. Roxy seems healthy as a horse to me and she didn't eat any mud when Shane and I threw the ball for her. She did try to eat some rotted berries (prevented!) and there was something under the porch I didn't get to identify in time (not prevented!), but that's typical dog in my experience.
For now, it's something I'm going to monitor. If it keeps happening, I'll get worried. For now, it's an annoyance and hopefully a semi-exciting blog post.
I can't always write "Things are good!" It'd get boring! The truth is there's always some problem or some situation to deal with.
Roxy has discovered a taste for dirt.
She may have done it before, but I've really noticed it since we got back in town. If I leave her out for longer than it takes her to do her business, she starts munching. Her tongue will be black and there will be mud in her teeth. There's no doubt that she is chomping soil.
It could be that she's done it before. Before we got our fence, Roxy was always on the leash or supervised in our neighbor's backyard (they let us "borrow" it).
There are other potential factors, as well. A good experiment would isolate variables, but that rarely happens in real life.
Roxy acts like she's starving 24/7. She loves treats, she loves food, and she tries to eat chew toys and anything else she thinks may be food. She was starved, so it's likely to be psychological. Roxy had to have surgery to remove some sort of plastic disc she tried to eat before we adopted her.
Is Roxy eating dirt, because she thinks she's hungry and starving?
Roxy came to us skin and bones. She's filled out well enough that we recently cut back on fattening her up. She switched three cup and a half meals a day to two meals of two cups. She gets treats in between, but the switch in meals could be why she's acquired her mud-philia (the taste at least...she's always liked jumping in it).
Is Roxy eating dirt, because we changed her meal times and worried she'll go without? Or did that just make her hungry and starving or at least think she is?
Roxy's always been a compulsive drinker. She drinks her bowl dry and then drools half of it back out. We've taken to only filling her bowl part way. She'll drink what's in it, lick the bowl dry, and swallows before she walks away. The skies poured buckets on us this past month and Roxy's mini-pool is still full with no lifeguard on duty.
Is the mud eating linked to Roxy visiting her pool? Is it something compulsive she learned when she was locked up?
A quick internet search yielded a name for dogs eating things they're not supposed to: pica. It mentions that it can be caused by all sorts of things: typical puppy behavior, boredom, anxiety, lack of minerals, behavioral, or even parasites.
Did going away for the weekend scare Roxy? Does she need to see a vet? Or is she bored and getting into mischief as puppies (and kids) are bound to do?
All things to think of. Roxy seems healthy as a horse to me and she didn't eat any mud when Shane and I threw the ball for her. She did try to eat some rotted berries (prevented!) and there was something under the porch I didn't get to identify in time (not prevented!), but that's typical dog in my experience.
For now, it's something I'm going to monitor. If it keeps happening, I'll get worried. For now, it's an annoyance and hopefully a semi-exciting blog post.
I can't always write "Things are good!" It'd get boring! The truth is there's always some problem or some situation to deal with.
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