One of the great benefits of Dog-Wa is that it replaces or diminishes the need of many dogs to eat grass.  You may be wondering exactly what is wrong with allowing your dog to graze in your back yard.  After all, a grass-eating dog is exhibiting a ‘natural’ behavior, consuming green vegetation, and looks pretty content while chewing.  I understand the attraction.  Many pups love to eat the lawn. They look happy, so aside from ruining the lawn, what could be the harm?  Sure, a lot of dogs vomit up the just-eaten grass, but as long as they do this outside the house, the grass simply returns to nature and all is well. 

Or is it? Unfortunately, all is not well in the back yard, and you really do not want your favorite canine consuming greens from the un-mowed patch behind the woodpile.  In a different day and age, where man did not control the grasses and the buffalo roamed free, this might have been alright.  But today it is not. Come to think of it, it probably wasn’t a good idea even back then to eat the grass where the buffalo roamed.

You see, your yard and field grasses are perfect places for parasites and toxins to accumulate.  These parasites and toxins enter your dog and can cause harm if the grass is eaten.  Several common, well-known intestinal parasites spend part of their lives in the grass, waiting to be consumed by an unsuspecting mammal.  Roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms are all frequent parasites of dogs that can be spread when your dog eats the lawn.  The mature worms live in the intestines of your pets and other animals.  These adult worms lay hundreds of thousands of eggs each day, which are passed out of the body with feces.  The eggs sit on the ground, mature into larvae, and then continue to sit. 

Eventually, an animal comes by and accidentally consumes the larvae, causing the parasite infestation to spread.  The larvae hatch out in the dog’s body and start the life cycle all over again.  This is called an oral-fecal route of transmission because the worms leave the body in the feces of one animal and enter the body of another animal (or the same one again) via the mouth. 

If you think for one minute about all the dogs, cats, and other animals that defecate outside, you can get a pretty clear picture of how many billions of worm eggs are sitting on the turf, waiting for an unsuspecting animal to eat a little grass, chew a little dirt, and get a lot of worms.  This oral-fecal route is a major cause of parasite spread in our dogs.  Contaminated yards, dog parks, playgrounds and other grassy surfaces are the primary source of eggs available for consumption.  Preventing your dog from eating grass can help decrease the chances that the animal consumes these parasites and infests himself with worms. 

Toxins are another major problem on lawns and fields.  Yards are routinely treated with fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides.  This is really a problem with dogs that are attracted to fertilizers containing cow manure, peat moss, or bone meal.  The fertilizers taste good (to the dog), flavor the grass, and contain potentially toxic ingredients, such as phosphates, ammonium salts, and even metal salts.  You do not want to take a chance that your dog consumes enough recently fertilized grass and dirt to make her sick.  Of course, herbicides and insecticides are chemical poisons that can also make your pet quite ill. 

Pets may exhibit signs of digestive upset, such as vomiting and diarrhea, or have more serious problems from these toxins.  Insecticides worry me the most.  They often contain toxic ingredients that can cause great harm to your pets’ nervous system.  Keeping your pet away from potentially contaminated grass is a smart way to prevent consumption of these toxins.  Remember, even if you do not treat your own lawn, run-off of fertilizer and insecticides from adjacent lands can contaminate your lawn, allowing toxins to accumulate in unexpected places.

We aren’t certain why dogs eat grass, although we know that the vast majority of dogs do.  Some of us hypothesize that the animal innately recognizes a need for minute quantities of nutrients missing in the diet.  If this is the cause, feeding the cold-pressed, fresh herbal extracts found in Dog-Wa is a much better means of supplying the needed nutrients than allowing your pet to eat contaminated, parasite-laden grass from your yard, school, or even the pasture. 

Intestinal parasites were a problem even when the buffalo ran free on hundreds of miles of prairie grass.  Imagine how much greater the problem is today when millions of dogs walk on leash on miles of paved streets and the adjacent lawns.  Do your pets a favor:  avoid the lawn grazing and offer Dog-Wa as a logical, beneficial alternative.  The herbs in Dog-Wa are a great source of micronutrients, contain valuable vitamins and antioxidants, and taste a lot better than the grass.

Copyright 2009 The Hitchin' Spot, LLC d/b/a Dog-Wa