Why Does My Dog Make Bad Decisions?
I sought expert opinions on a mystery that everyone with a canine companion must confront
My two-year-old basset hound mix, Major, explores the world with his mouth. He doesn’t always eat everything he picks up, but this process is essentially a way to determine if he can eat things. I imagine his mind working like this: There’s a thing on the floor! It must be food. Once the thing is in his mouth, his brain can fork in one of two directions: Definitely not food!!!! Nope. Or IT’S FOOD! I’ll eat it all!! Ironically, Major’s mind wanders down the former path when vegetables fall on the floor while cooking. The second pathway is much more common. (We’re working on it!)
So when Major first encountered an open litter box — my cat has a top-loading one at home — a split second decision had to be made. He decided that the cat’s poop and all the litter in the box was absolutely food. It took about 10 seconds for him to eat nearly ¾ of the box’s contents. He immediately threw up, and then ate his seconds before I could pull him away. Eating cat poop is gross, but eating a box full of kitty litter is dangerous. The stuff is designed to absorb liquids, and it’ll continue to do that in a dog’s stomach, which could likely cause a blockage. These are so obviously bad decisions to me, but clearly not to Major.
