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Thank you jacque. Tootie has been gone about 6 or 7 years now and in my grief I replaced her immediately. We have oak trees but it was not the time of year for the acorns to fall. I had mulched the azaleas and some of the mulch was too fresh and had gotten moldy. I remember seeing her stay in the flower bed eating something. I had just had surgery and was afraid to go out in the back yard for fear of falling so I didn't stop her. The next day she started throwing up and that was the beginning of the end.

What I noticed, before switching to Tom Lonsdale’s advice on proper feeding - by that I mean when my dachsies were on the best kibble my vet recommended -

They would desperately eat all sorts of junk outside. Mulch, mowed clumps of grass, flowers, sticks, and all sorts of animal poop.

After switching, they stopped all that. I figure they were trying to get some nutrient that the super-heating and extruding of kibble destroyed, something they could only find outside, in nature.

But, feeding them raw, with the proper percentage of organs, they don’t seem very interested in eating junk. Sure, there will be the odd stick picked up, but it is usually more for a game of chase than consumption. My big dogs did love to snitch veggies from the garden, though, and I always let them have what they wanted - cherry tomatoes, a freshly dug carrot - my female Malinois learned to spot/smell carrot tops, and would dig her own.

I love dogs, in all their dogginess. We humans are so blessed by their constant love and devotion to us, and my heart breaks when I hear of them being mistreated.

I pray for the day when vets realize that dogs do not thrive on kibble. But, given the kibble lobby that infects vet schools, I expect my prayers won’t be answered anytime soon.