Spring has sprung in the woods and my doodle is eating it.

[Gail and Bailey]

So...spring is a month early here in the woods of southern Indiana and all the falling tree blossoms and seed pods and twigs are a banquet lying in wait each time I take my doodle outside.  We like to spend time on our back deck and my doodle loves to eat the fallen debris.  So far I have let her eat some very small maple tree seed pod things, a few tiny twigs and some flower petals and she is so happy finding them in the cracks of the deck and nibbling away. She has had no adverse reactions from this. My question is this....is there any reason she should not consume "nature" while outside?  We have maple, oak, tulip poplar, gum, dogwood, and a few others I don't know the names of.  I sweep the deck but there are always things caught in the cracks! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There are a lot of plants and trees that are toxic to dogs:

http://www.petamore.com/Dogs/Veterinary-Issues/Toxic-Plants-Flowers...

In addition, I'm not sure you want to let a dog get the idea that it's okay to eat anything she picks up from the ground outside. This might be a good opportunity for teaching the "leave it" and "drop it" commands.

 

[Gail and Bailey]

Thanks for the link,  Karen.  Yikes...I will make sure that I don't plant any of those! 

I do use the "leave it" command with her when she picks up icky things (dead worms, etc.) and she is good about dropping them.  It is sometimes hard to catch her as she is close to the ground and pretty quick.   

[F, Calla & Luca]

Hopefully your doodle can tell the bad from the good but I don't know for sure. I have many poisonous things growing, yews, and  monkshood come to mind but the dogs seem to leave them alone. They really only chew twigs and grass.

[Pat and Traveler]

Add rhododendrons to the list--I have a big rhody in Trav's part of the yard, and there are daffodils there too.  He's never been interested in eating them, but I wouldn't want a chewy pup in the yard!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yeah, rhododendrons are highly toxic, and I'm surprised they aren't on there. Must not be a very comprehensive list. I think there's a list in the Danger Group.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a link:

Danger Group

There's a link there to the Wikipedia list of poisonous plants, which is very comprehensive.

And while we're on the subject, hopefully by now everyone knows that cocoa mulch is extremely toxic to dogs.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Please be careful! There's a lot of things in nature that are toxic to dogs. The small amounts probably wouldn't be TOO harmful.