Fukuoka Seed Turds

I honestly don't know where to put this, but while comical I think it has some potential.

I got back from work this morning and per custom went around to check on some of the growies before bed. As everyone knows, dogs will eat about anything. A couple days ago ours got into a bag of birdseed, mostly millet and some black oil sunflower that I have been spreading and making the birds work for their dinner. The idea was they are pecking all over the place and will eat the leaf- and grasshoppers which are already emerging due to the mild winter.

Since dogs don't really grind food, the seeds in the turds are completely intact. I haven't seen the birds working them over, I am not sure if this is due to the stink of carnivore or what. I know some seeds may not be good for dogs to eat due to a chance for compaction (like I wish he hadn't eaten sunflower), but dogs are basically the tiger shark of the land. What seeds do you guys think I could use to start in the field? I suspect this birdseed is not Permie-kosher, but I am thinking of things like Sunn Hemp and chicory. This dog likes to spread his work around about a three acre area so it could be useful. What about iron clay peas? I don't like the idea of legumes in his diet but he just bolts this stuff and tries to sneak it without getting caught, and transit is about 40 minutes from stem to stern so I doubt he would absorb much if anything. That being said dogs are dumbasses and will eat stuff, throw up, get the runs and generally make you wish they hadn't done it.

Clever and slightly perverse - I love it.

If the seeds take root, doggo should get a special treat.

I'm giving a thumbs up just for the included photo of the turd.  Where else but Permies is the cycle of life so celebrated?

I was setting up to make seed balls this weekend in bulk and try to make my spreader chuck them out, and this just struck me as a very permie moment. "You are working too hard!" I was reading the dog park thread and thought Paul and Jocelyn might get a chuckle out of it. Or maybe figure out how to make it awesomer! I am actually looking for advice on what seeds definitely to avoid, and I don't trust vets, because they generally give out advice that anyone who has dogs knows is ridiculous.

My dogs vet (wife trusts this guy implicitly so I am kind of stuck) said not to give him bones or fat. Anyone who has seen canids in the wild knows they freaking live on those items. The dog got the runs from eating a skank piece of dead deer or something and my solution was "don't let him in the house" and let him adjust to the addition of skank deer to his diet (he was recently a city dog). Vet put him on THREE medications one of which was an anthelminic (why???) and then they were shocked he had the runs for a week! He has found many more disgusting things to eat since and has no issues.

So I am looking for advice on what definitely to avoid. I have even heard that grapes are a no-go, but I have had dogs eat grapes (modest amounts) for decades and never seen any kidney issues with free water available.

I am intrigued in the possibility of seeding via LGD in the sheep prison. Has built-in fertilizer!

Your post made me laugh out loud!

I had no success germinating seeds of wild caper plants (in the high desert) one year. The next year while I was collecting the black seeds from the bright pink fruit-pulp, I found some small dry turds that I assumed were fox scat, but might have been from the feral dogs in the area. They were bright pink, with black seeds. So I planted some of my containers with fox-scat, some with soaked seed, and some with dry seed. And all three types had some success, less than 50% but much more than the previous year. The fox scat had similar rates as the soaked seeds.

Some seeds prefer to pass through an animal's gut. I guess it's a form of scarification (damaging the seed coat to allow moisture in). Considering natural selection, it's likely to be hard-shelled seeds embedded in fruit that is eaten by animals or birds large enough to swallow the seeds whole.

This is actually a good thread because it gives some enlightenment on how nature works.

Yes there are many seeds that benefit from passing through an animal's gut, one of these is the pawpaw and yes passage through the gut is what scarification is supposed to mimic.

Pumpkin seeds, squash seeds and others like them sprout much faster when they have passed through a gut system.
Since they are pooped out, they also have the benefit of having the fertilizer already seeping into the soil where they will sprout.

Basically, if the seed has a thick and or hard seed coat, it was designed to pass through prior to sprouting.

Redhawk

as an aside, the bird seed does not appear to have sprouted (very likely terminator genetics) but I have squash all over the place, which means he has been harvesting the compost pile...

Definitely the persimmons have been getting spread by the deer. They are coming up where they start their grazing. They must have a gastrocolic reflex. Or maybe I scared them over there one time!