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Border Collies or Holsteins?!?


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I could have sworn I have two border collies....
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but I'm not so sure...they are black and white like BCs... but Holsteins are black and white too....and every time I take these two out they take to grazing on grass like cows...what is up with that?!?!? They will eat grass till they start gacking. Any one else have Border Holsteins that do this..?? :P

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Both of our dogs love to graze, so from now on out our BC shall be nicknamed Holstein and our black lab Angus. We do discourage both of them from eating grass because I've heard that it isn't good for them. No clue if there is any validity to the claim but since it sometimes causes them to throw up, we stop it.

 

I've also heard that grass eating is due to a vitamin deficiency, again I don't know if this is true or not. A few of our dogs have been grass eaters and a few have not been so IDK. As long as they aren't eating poo, I'm happy.

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My dogs graze and I do nothing to discourage it. I figure that if they are seeking fiber, they know what they want and need.

 

The interesting thing is that when I was growing up, the dog we had never ate grass unless she had an upset stomach, and it would quickly result in her vomiting up whatever was bothering her. We lived on Long Island, on very sandy soil that had once been a potato farm, and I can't say what kind of grass we had or what she picked out to cause her to vomit.

 

The dogs I have now obviously prefer certain grasses, and the favorite is quack grass, which used to also be known (years ago) as dog grass. Apparently, it's been a canine favorite for a long time! They will settle for orchardgrass or aother alternatives but only if quack grass is not available. It is the obvious choice and winner.

 

My dogs almost never, ever vomit (except for an occasional bit of bone that was too big to digest, after a day or two) but they do seem to get a queasy stomach on rare occasions - a good graze almost always puts them good to rights and settles their tummy. If there is not suitable grass, as in the depths of winter, I will give the dog some unsalted green beans (or other similar green veggie) and/or pumpkin, and that will do the trick.

 

And that's why I never stop a dog from grazing - unless, of course, we are somewhere where the grass may have been sprayed.

 

Smalahundur - cow manure, horse manure, deer manure, rabbit poop, all favorites. We don't stop them from those, either, although I do like to make sure they don't pig out and eat an excessive amount. Full of good fiber and vitamins!

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Interesting info...we will start letting them graze and see what happens. They do love green beans and other veggies but I've always thought of it as the love of table scraps thing.

 

The fox terrier I had as a kid ate nothing but table scraps, whatever she killed and who knows what else and she lived to 16.

 

Maybe it's that city dog versus country dog mentality. Our first lab was raised in the country and who knows what that dog ate when we weren't looking. Or maybe as we've gotten older, we have become way overly protective of the dogs.

 

I suppose as long as they are healthy and happy, we are happy.

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Most of my dogs have eaten grass on an intermittent basis. They seem to especially enjoy fresh young grass in the spring. Throwing up afterwards has been pretty uncommon, and when it has happened I've noticed that the purged grass tends to be large, tough blades rather than tender new growth, even when the new shoots are available.

 

Here's an interesting popular science article on the subject by psychologist Dr. Stanly Coren, who's turned his attention to studying dogs for the past 20 or so years. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201412/why-dogs-eat-grass-myth-debunked

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Welp, I'm standing here watching Jack eat grass and I'm not stopping him. No signs of digestive problems and he just ate. Orion has now commenced grazing as well...Holstein and Angus experiment is beginning.

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I think it just tastes good. Its clear my dogs enjoy some kinds a lot and ignore others. If it was because they were sick they would probably not be so picky.

 

There's a big woody grass that grows on the banks of the creek in the park we run in that must be especially amazing when its first sprouting, I think they can smell it. As soon as we get close they run to it and chow down. Then it gets bigger and they lose interest.

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Gibbs is eating grass every time I take him on a walk these days. It used to be a now-and-then thing, now it's all the time. He's got a good appetite for his dog food & treats, his poops are normal. I figure it just tastes good to him, for whatever reason.

 

Dogs. Sometimes they just do stuff.

 

Ruth & Gibbs

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First, my dogs occasionally 'graze'. I am OK with it up to a certain point - which is when I think that maybe they have eaten too much so I call them off. Actually, now that I think about it, it is only one of my 3 dogs that will occasionally do more than taste a bit of grass. I notice that tender, growing spring grass is more 'tasty' than the barely growing, drier late summer grass.

 

Having said that (and I do not want to alarm anybody because I think this is very much of an outlier incident), I know of someone's border collie who had stomach issues. IIRC, nothing on the Xray or other tests, and the only thing the vet could think of doing was exploratory surgery. I think they found a mass of grass, but about a week later, the dog was back in to the vet's after not eating, no energy, etc. (This owner is an ex-emergency room nurse and very, very protective of her dogs.) Another surgery found a very small clump of grass in the intestine which had begun to destroy that area of the intestine. I think it took another 7-10 days after the 2nd surgery before the dog was considered to be on the road to recovery. The only explanation the vet could come up with after examining the 2nd small clump was that the type of grass was very sharp and had 'curled' into a small mass that got caught in the intestine.

 

Total bill was over $7000, but luckily, she had fairly good pet insurance. I am seriously thinking of insurance for my puppy.

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Total bill was over $7000, but luckily, she had fairly good pet insurance. I am seriously thinking of insurance for my puppy.

I was incredibly relieved that I had insurance on Tess this year. Especially since her accident came 6 months after Kenzis ortho surgery. Weekend emergency requiring hospitalization for pain control + ortho surgery was about $4500

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