10
Aug
Is It Normal For Dogs To Eat Dirt. When pooches eat non-food items whether dirt grass rocks sticks or garbage they may be diagnosed with a condition called pica which just means that your dog. He may be trying to eat a bit of buried food and the dirt is just in his way. Its normal for puppies to eat dirt socks toilet paper and other non-food items just to try it but they usually dont make a habit of consuming them once they find tastier alternatives. Naturally one would wonder if there is something missing in their dogs diet.
Luckily a dog is not likely pick human remains as their stress snack of choice though dogs with pica may eat anything from dirt to couch stuffing. Dogs have limited ways of communicating to us what and when they need things so they are excellent at figuring out which behaviors get them what they want Koval says. Dogs may realize that eating rocks or dirt is a good if gross way to get their humans attention and our behavior may inadvertently reinforce theirs. Dog medical problems such as inflammatory bowel disease gastrointestinal ulceration or gastric irritation are sometimes underlying causes for your dog eating dirt. However if your dog appears obsessive about it something more serious could be going on. However eating dirt is a fairly common behavior among dogs.
Why do dogs eat dirt.
Dogs may realize that eating rocks or dirt is a good if gross way to get their humans attention and our behavior may inadvertently reinforce theirs. This could be from a multitude of reasons such as lack of exercise being cooped up in a kennel during the day not enough playtime or a lack of proper social interaction. The next dirt-eating danger comes if your dog is simply eating huge amounts of dirt especially if the soil is really sandy. The main one being impaction of the intestine if your dog eats a lot at once. Impaction often means surgery. If your dog is eating dirt its important to know that this behavior is not normal.