Why Your Husky Eats Grass (And How To Stop It)

It can be concerning for a lot of husky owners when their husky eats grass. This post will help you to understand why yours is doing it and how to reduce it.

So, why does your husky eat grass? Eating grass is common amongst all dog breeds and isn’t something to be concerned with by itself. Possible causes include boredom, forcing itself to be sick to relieve an upset stomach, to improve digestion, being an inherited trait and liking the taste of grass.

And how can you stop it? The only way to completely stop it would be to not allow it to have access to grass but this isn’t advised. Instead, you can reduce its interest in eating grass by feeding it more fiber (most dog foods have enough), giving it lots of exercise, giving it other things to chew on and training it to come to you when you call it.

The exact reason that huskies eat grass is something that gets debated but there are a number of proposed reasons that huskies (and other dogs) do it.

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Why Huskies Might Eat Grass

There are a number of possible reasons that your husky could be eating grass that I’ll mention below.

Boredom

Huskies are a very active breed that require a lot of exercise to be properly stimulated. If your husky isn’t getting enough exercise then it could be getting bored. Whey they become bored they find their own amusement by experimenting with the world and this could involve tasting grass. If you think that this might be the cause of your husky eating grass then you should make sure to give it lots of exercise on a daily basis.

Related: why does my husky eat dirt?

Nutrition

Some think that the cause could be to improve digestion due to the high fiber content in grass or to fulfill some other nutritional deficiency.

It likes how it tastes

It could just be that your husky likes the taste of grass. It could be that it wants to chew on something and grass is readily available to it and it’s not poisonous so it chooses to chew on that.

To make itself throw up

It’s not uncommon for dogs to throw up after eating grass. This leads some people to think that they eat grass due to having a stomach upset that they want to alleviate by throwing up. However, some people disagree with this saying that dogs aren’t smart enough to do that and that most dogs don’t actually throw up when they eat grass.

It’s an inherited trait

One likely cause is that grass was something that was readily available to dogs before they were domesticated by humans so they would get some of their nutrition by eating grass and this is an inherited trait that present-day dogs have.

How To Reduce How Much Your Husky Eats Grass

Since it’s unrealistic for you to be able to monitor your husky 100% of the time it will be very difficult for you to get your husky to completely stop eating grass. There are, however, a number of things that you can do to reduce it.

Exercise

By giving your husky lots of exercise you will be able to wear it out and reduce its curiosity in the taste of grass. You’ll also be able to keep your husky healthy and to reduce other unwanted behaviors such as destruction or attention seeking. If you don’t have enough time to exercise your dog or you can’t then consider getting a dog walker to do it for you.

Diet

Since some people think that dogs eat grass to get more fiber you could try giving it foods that are higher in fiber. Most dog foods will have a decent amount of fiber but you can see what other fiber foods you can feed your husky here.

Give it other things to chew on

Another option you have is to divert its attention away from chewing on grass. you can do this by giving it lots of toys that it can chew on.

Train it to come to you

In order to reduce how much grass your husky is able to eat you will need it to stop eating grass when you tell it to. This means that if you haven’t trained it to come to you when you tell it to then you should.

To do this do as follows:

Get some treats that it likes and a long lead if you have one
Tell it to sit then reward it with a treat. If you haven’t taught your husky to sit yet then you’ll want to do that first.
Then you say “Stay” then reward it if it pays attention to you for one second.
You then repeat the process each time getting it to keep its attention a little longer.
Then you tell it to stay then walk a few steps back then if it stays you walk back and reward it.
Continue to do that each time walking back a bit further and, when it gets good, wait for a few seconds before walking back to it.
Now you’ll say stay go back a few steps and then say “come” and reward it for coming to you
Repeat doing that until you’re able to go far away

Watch the video below to see how

Visit the vet

If your husky is being sick regularly when it’s eating grass then you should consider taking it to the vet to make sure nothing is wrong. This behavior isn’t that uncommon so it’s not something to be overly concerned about if it is an otherwise healthy dog but it is worthwhile to double check with a vet.

Things to consider

There are some things to consider if you’re worried about your husky eating grass or if you want to make it stop.

Risks of eating grass

Eating grass generally isn’t considered harmful but if the grass has pesticides then it could be. Be sure that your husky doesn’t have access to any grass that has been sprayed with pesticides or poisonous plants.

Sickness

It’s not uncommon for dogs to be sick after eating grass. As long as it goes back to normal then it should be ok. But, if you’re concerned you should take it to a vet.

It’s not unusual

Eating grass is something that has been observed by owners of all dog breeds and is seen in non-domesticated dogs. So, just because your husky eats grass sometimes doesn’t mean that something is terribly wrong with it.

Physical punishment doesn’t work

Some owners resort to hitting their dog when it eats grass. Don’t physically punish your husky for eating grass it doesn’t work. You can try saying no and teaching it to come to you when you call it instead.