Grass hound

[bcraig]

It has been noted in the forum that many Basenjis like to eat grass. As a side note, we love the way our Ella moves through very tall grass. It is almost 3 feet high here in places. It seems very much like a natural part of her hunting environment the way she swoops and scuffles and noses her way through. A little bit of the African plains in our backyard.

Ella starting throwing up undigested grass so we did our best to put an end to her grazing. My wife decided that she wanted to try growing wheatgrass both for ourselves and for the dog. We have a couple of flats growing off our back porch and started harvesting last week.

Ella LOVES wheatgrass. We put a little layer of short clippings on her food. We also give her a small amount of wheatgrass juice. She prances around when my wife goes outside to snip off another serving. She considers both items as top quality treats and gets extra excited when they are part of her meal. We keep the portions very small. It is just funny to see a dog so excited about grass.

We have always noticed the equine characteristics of the Basenji and now that she is a grass eater we call her our "house horse."

[nobarkus]

Mine started eating grass. No big deal, I let him eat it. My r/w Ringo had a digestive disorder so he would eat grass grass on our daily walks and then throw it up with yellow bile. As he got older it got less and less.

[noodle]

All my dogs love to eat grass - especially for 'pudding' after their meals. I just let them get on with it! It seems a perfectly natural thing to do to me.
They also like to harvest the wild strawberries we have growing in abundance this year. Strange thing is, they sniff out the ripest ones and only eat those. The puppies have learned to do it too. Very amusing to watch!

[wizard]

I don't worry about Gossy eating grass, which she does occasionally (we don't have wheatgrass here in MN but maybe I'll try to find some seed to grow just for her).
However, I do have to watch because the grass doesn't always digest in her and comes out as a stringy mass when she poops - or rather I should say it hangs off her rear end :eek:

[snorky998]

Oooooooo, cling-ons. :eek: My dogs HATE cling-ons!!

[dmcarty]

I now toss in some green beans and other veggies and that has seemed to reduce their need for eating grass a little.

[Basenjimamma]

snorky998 wrote

Oooooooo, cling-ons. My dogs HATE cling-ons!!

I never forget when our dachshund Gus had eaten a ballon, needless to say we didn't know it was a ballon until I had to help him get rid of it..I slowly pulled this red object out of his behind with a well rubbergloved hand..pop, out flies the ballon…gross, unbelievably gross, and my husband is on the floor laughing so hard, because apparently my face had said it all..I will never "rescue" Gus again, when he has eaten something questionable..

[wizard]

dmcarty - how do you prepare the vegies or do you just give them raw? Gossy won't eat raw vegies (but she will eat melon, apple, and well-cooked pumkin or sweet potato).

[Kananga]

@snorky998:

Oooooooo, cling-ons. :eek: My dogs HATE cling-ons!!

I had a fun experience with that the other week. Kananga decided to "scoot" his behind on the pavement to get it off. Highly illogical, as it simply smeared it allover his behind and tail. He looked at me like he had just won an Olympic medal.

He learned once I plopped him in the bathtub that it was not quite a success after all. :o

[dmcarty]

Well they are quite partial to the veggie medely from Applebees. But if it's green beans - I just open the can - heat it up a little - or pour a can in a plastic bowl and toss in a handful or two of minute oatmeal. I used to sprinkle some garlic powder on it but now all my dogs actually like it - and the Podengos - well if you looked at the flower video I posted - they like to eat their greens raw. Now if I could just get them to eat the weeds instead of the flowers.

[Basenjimamma]

Dmcarty wrote

Now if I could just get them to eat the weeds instead of the flowers.

[candiejohn]

I just love the way they bounce. We didn't know what we were getting into and we can just watch him bounce for hours. Boing boing. The taller the grass, the more we love to watch.

[bcraig]

I read somewhere that one of the other African natives names for the Basenji translates as the the "jumping up and down dog". Of course, we all know that Basenji means "wild thing of the bush."

[thunderbird8588]

M'bwa M'kube M'bwawamwitu, jumping up and down dog