Lately when I’ve taken Oscar out to the play yard, he will chase and fetch the ball for about 10 minutes but then he starts eating something on the ground and he totally loses interest in the ball. When he starts eating whatever it is, I put the leash on him and we go back in the house. Last night I was telling a friend about it and she said “I hope they aren’t toxic”. Yea . . me too!
I asked Vince what kind of trees those are and he said he thought they were Elms. I googled Elms to see if they made fruit and they do but they get ripe in the spring. Then I came across this article where the person thought they were Elms but they’re Hackberries and these are the berries Oscar seems to love. Who knew Hackberry trees make berries that are edible and actually seem to have good nutritional value? We had Hackberries in Texas but I’m not sure if they made berries or not.
I think the berries are falling off kinda early this year because of the drought but I’m not sure. I would never have noticed them had Oscar not been eating them.
I’m glad to know what they are and that they are edible. Some day if we have to forage for our food, at least I’ll know about the berries of the Hackberry trees.
Helen, the friendly puppy mom from Ohio says
Our Sunny is a forager, too! ARRRRRRG!
Started with mushrooms in our yard. She would find them even before they emerged from the ground. It’s disgusting to have to pry her mouth open and remove, but we have so many varieties that were coming up we didn’t know if they were poisonous or not. Sometimes she would barf and sometimes have a touch of diarrhea. We had a battle for sure.
Now we are battling wild cherries from the neighbor’s tree. She eats them whenever she can. (I sure hope the pits come through. I don’t check fully.). What a mess those cherries make.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Except while in the play yard, Oscar is on a leash even inside the back fence. We’ve been careful to not plant fruit trees in the back yard and during elderberry season, we keep him on the other side of the yard. Oscar will eat anything too. We have lots of weird mushrooms too and, since he’s on a leash, I can keep him away from the ones I see. They can be so difficult! 🙂
Sandi B says
Bubba has been eating and/or mouthing EVERYTHING he can get his mouth on. Watermelon vines, rotten watermelon, green tomatoes, jalapeños, black walnuts, acorns. We’ve dealt with the purging/cleansing twice with the mushrooms. Then, one day he snatched up a medicine capsule hubs dropped on the floor. I have the vet on speed dial. Hydrogen peroxide to force vomiting on that one.
He is one fast and determined pup!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Oh, goodness! That is so hard. You have to watch him every minute, don’t you. When we had Speck, we learned to keep activated charcoal and hydrogen peroxide. When we got Oscar, I made sure Vince knew where I kept both!