Grass eating patterns in the domestic dog, 'Canis familiaris'

Abstract

Very little is known about grass eating behaviour in the domestic dog, 'Canis familiaris'. This study is the first to investigate grass eating in dogs in a controlled experiment, and attempts to provide an initial understanding of this behaviour by describing the pattern of grass eating during the day and the relationship between grass eating and the ingestion of food. Twelve dogs were presented with both kikuyu and couch grass three times daily for 6 d and grass eating behaviours were observed using an all-occurrences sampling method. The results of this study suggest that grass eating is influenced by satiety and time of day. Dogs spent more time eating grass before ingestion of their kibble meal than after, and the time spent eating grass decreased throughout the day. Grass may be seen as a food source, as the subjects were less likely to eat grass when they were satiated. Couch and kikuyu grasses were equally preferred. We conclude that grass eating is a normal and common behaviour, as all dogs in this study were in good health and readily ate grass. As such, grass-eating should not be seen as a problematic behaviour for most dogs or as indicative of illness.