BEARY'S PAGE

FOR DOG LOVERS! 

The saga of the 

Best Dog-Gone Dog in the West.

LEAVE THE LEAVES ALONE!
 First Published 11-14-11 in my blog Postcards From the Heartland:

 My 4-year-old German Shepherd, Beary, is a great dog, don’t get me wrong. He’s smart, happy, energetic, loyal, obedient (when he wants to be) and beautiful. But he can also be a royal pain in the butt.  This week he started his old habit of eating leaves again.

When he was a wee puppy, he liked to eat leaves. Not green leaves off living plants (thankfully), but the brown, crispy ones that fall from the trees in autumn. So when we first fenced in his play-yard, I raked up every leaf to stop this nonsense.  Eventually he outgrew it. But now, he’s back at it again, and it’s driving me insane.  When I let him out to play, I have to continually go to the window to make sure he isn’t lying around chewing his cud.

A couple weeks ago he had to have a cortico-steroid shot because of a skin condition that makes him itch and lick and causes hot spots, which requires a trip to the vet for a shave and a round of antibiotics. The shot cleared up the problem and is supposed to last 3-4 weeks. The side effects are increased thirst and increased appetite, which involves more frequent trips outside to do his business.

While this shot is in his system, I’m not supposed to feed him any more than I have been. But he’ll sit and beg with those sad, puppy-dog eyes until I get up and get him another dog biscuit “cookie”, and another and another. The leaf-eating may be because he thinks he’s starving.

When I go out to pick up his poo-pettoes, they look like hand-rolled cigars. Apparently leaves are indigestible, but that doesn’t stop his craving.

WHAT am I supposed to do???  We live in the middle of a forest, for cryin' out loud; it’s fall, and I can’t pick up every leaf in the yard. All I can hope for is a lot of snow this winter to cover them up…. 

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