shiba eating off the ground

Niko

My Shiba has been eating things off the ground lately. She would constantly eat grass, leaves, bark, and anything small on the ground. I would try my best to stop her, but she keeps doing so. Is this normal behavior!?!?

I understand eating grass or leaves are probably okay since they're natural and digestible, but it makes me worried when she tries to eat bark, pebbles, and other non digestible objects. She doesn't seem ill or lethargic also... She's always active, eating, drinking, and her poop is normal. I also feed her well. I'm just worried there's going to be blockage in her digestive system if this continues on, so any feedback or advice will be greatly appreciated! :)

AkiraleShiba

Sometimes Akira becomes like a cow and starts eating grass, plants, flowers and aromatic plants I let him eat the stuff I know like grass and aromatic plants but I try to refrain him from chewing on the other stuff since there are so many toxic plants. Maybe you could teach her leave it so that she does not eat pebbles and other stuff.

JessicaRabbit

Assuming your shiba is young, this is normal, not okay, but normal.
I have a 7 month old pit who is doing the same thing right now.
Honestly it is rather maddening. I went through this with Moto and Miko too.
Now is the time to learn and teach two very important commands, "leave it" and "drop it".
There are a few threads that offer descriptions on this, the eating dead baby birds thread being the most recent. Get in the habit of bringing treats with you on walks. Teach Niko to leave it by preemptively offering the treat and saying "leave it" when you see something get your pups interest. And when Niko has grabbed something, offer a trade with treat. It will simply take patience and consistency but you can do it.

tjbart17

uggghhhh I'm going through this exact same thing. Walking Koda is difficult the last couple of days cause all he wants to do is pick up leaves, pine needles, small sticks, baby pine cones, bark, grass etc. and try to eat them. It's normal behavior, not ok but normal

I'm going to take Jessica's advice. Please let me know if anything works for you.