Social component to grass eating

Question

I am aware that pretty much all dogs eat grass. Some say they puke from it, while mine eats it to soothe her belly when she feels sick. It actually prevents her from puking. My dog will eat pieces of grass pretty much every time we are out and I know dogs who go to a specific place on every walk just to eat grass, so there seem to be plenty of reasons why dogs eat grass.

What I've been wondering is: When we meet dogs that my dog likes (one specifically) they will run and play and then stand next to each other and eat grass together. This made me wonder if there is a social component to grass eating. I've never seen other dogs eat grass together and it usually is my dog that initiates this behavior. As I've now searched the internet for quite a while and came up with nothing on this....

Have you ever experienced this behavior in a dog? Is there any evidence that grass eating can have a social component?

Answer 1

There is not really a social behavior to dogs eating grass per-say what you are seeing is one dog eating grass and the other thinking one of the following:

• "That's a great idea!"
• "He's eating it, I want it!"
• "If he thinks it's good maybe I should try it too!"

It is not a bonding activity it's just one trying out what his friend is doing. However if you consider dogs eating together in general to be a social event then yes you could consider this to be as well.