A Dog's Grass Habit

My name is Miles. James and his family are my friends. They give me a warm place to sleep, cuddle with me, let me run around outside, and feed me daily. I wouldn’t necessarily say we are all “best friends” though, because I have a scavenging eating habit that doesn’t agree with James or his family. I am constantly being told I can’t eat certain things. The kitchen is off limits to me- though occasionally I can sneak a bite behind that forbidden cupboard or the kids will drop a tasty morsel that I can quickly scurry to. James’ wife doesn’t like me in her garden, either. But why would you restrict me from such tasty treats such as carrots, radishes, tomatoes, lettuce, and corn?

Anyway- there’s one eating habit that only seems restricted to a point. I can basically eat all the grass I want. Whenever my stomach is a bit queasy from sneaking into the compost bin, I may walk on over and find some wonderful spring grass to wash it down with and make it come back up. (See www.petmd.com: “A dog will seek out a natural remedy for a gassy or upset stomach, and grass, it seems, may do the trick. When ingested, the grass blade tickles the throat and stomach lining; this sensation, in turn, may cause the dog to vomit, especially if the grass is gulped down rather than chewed.”)

Some grass I enjoy eating, even though I’ve almost died from eating it before, is that grass that’s been piled up for a long time after James goes over our yard with that big machine. It’s been a quite a while since he’s had that available- pretty much since that scary incident I went through from eating it- but if I find it laying around someday the scavenger in me will probably tempt me to eat it again. I know the vet I had to go to a couple years ago said that there’s some sort of bacteria in the rotting grass that just doesn’t agree with me and it made me very sick. I guess James must love me and that’s why he makes sure the clippings are spread around and dried out so they don't have a chance to rot. At least then I can roll around in the soft padding. I still get yelled at when I do that though, because apparently James’ wife uses it to cover her potato hills and mulch into her strawberry patches.

What can I say, I have a grass habit. J Happy Spring Everyone!