Toni, sweet potatoes are vines and become quite rampant, they don't just need lots of room, they'll take it. They're Ipomoeas, Morning Glories, in the Convolvulaceae family. Ordinary potatoes (Irish Potatoes) are Solanaceae family (I'd call them solenoids, but some electricians might object). Included in that family are some extremely toxic plants, like Deadly Nightshade, but also include tomates and eggplants. One of our locals, Solanum echinatum has fruits like small yellow tomatoes. If you eat that it ruptures the lining of your stomach and you vomit blood until you die, reasonably rapidly. Yet similar looking fruit off other solanums here are eaten as a healthy natural food. Those are fruits, though, tubers you can often cook to make them edible. It was interesting, some years back I was living with Aborigines in a remote part of Central Arnhem Land. Some times when the elders came across a plant they weren't familiar with and weren't sure of its edibility they'd try a bit. You could see they were checking for any telltale signs of substances that could be harmful. But they were tuned into that, much the same as people everywhere in old times before we became "civilised" (and less knowledgable). Now days we just trust the food processors, or our next of kin sue them. Sweet potatoes grow easily from vine cuttings. As I said, if you put them in a glass of water (in a warm place) they'll have a mass of roots after a few days. That's when I plant them in soil. The ones under the Acacia got there themselves from vines running from the garden. When I went to remove them a while later they'd already produced tubers, but on top of the ground, under the leaves. So I left them. Roots ran through the leaves and also into the ground.

Poor sweet potato! It has a serious naming problem. Not only does it get stuck with the name of some OTHER tuber that's not even remotely related either botanically or taste-wise (I too have tasted "real" yams, and they're not much like sweet potatoes at all)... ...but they also got their "proper" name STOLEN by a certain tuberous nightshade plant! I heard that the word "potato" originally referred to Ipomea batatas, then was later used used as a more general term for root or tuber vegetables, and then later somehow got stuck on Solanum tuberosa, so that people felt that the original potato had to now carry the qualifier "sweet", even though not all varieties of Ipomea batatas are sweet. Though I guess it's bad enough calling the other potatoes "Irish potatoes", when they're from South America, or calling them "white potatoes" when not all of them are white and some sweet potatoes are white. Basically... we need better words for things. :-P

I don't know where you live but most shelters/pounds will kill them if you call them to get the dogs. Some of rural pounds gas or kill by heart stick which is as bad as it sounds. If you don't want these dogs dead your best bet is to go to Petfinder and locate the rescues in your area. See if you can get one or more of them to help you trap these dogs. They may be able to take them but its more likely that they will be more open to helping you care for them. Once you have them is custody you will need to have a place to put them, so you will need a fenced area just for them, or crates if you are going to bring them into the house. You need to confine them so they can't escape but it needs to be located where they won't stress so badly that they freak out. Some dogs come around very quickly once they can't run from you and see that there is plenty of food and kind words. If they don't you can get some medication from your vet to calm them so you can get them in to be neutered and get their shots. They have rabies shots that last 3 years now. As the rescues for help in socializing these dogs. Post over on Petfinder and see if you can get any help there. You may be surprised to find there is a lot of help available to you. Or you may have to go it alone, its hard to predict the public, but at least you want to try to help these dogs. They sound like nice dogs who just haven't had the chance to learn that humans are pretty good company. I have one like this myself. She's slow to trust, but is so very sweet that I adore her. It's fun to show her that life has changed and that good things are now coming her way every day. You sound like the kind of person who would like to do this for your girls. I hope you are able to capture them and help them out. Peace, Jane and the Hole in the Wall Gang Here is a link that might be useful: Petfinder

Many of you evidently missed the sarcasm and irony in my question. Technically, canines are as much an omnivore as a carnivore. Of course dogs need/eat more than just meat. And dogs can be taught to eat odd things---I once had a dog that would eat almost anything I tossed to her---including onion pieces. I do not, and have not for many years, allowed my dogs to have treats. I do change their diet now and then, but getting treats is not something dogs get in the wild. Now, I train my dogs for good behavior, not to do tricks. Treat training for tricks is an accepted way to achieve the desired result. Good behavior is not an option, it is a requirement and requirements get no treats. And please do not berate me about being harsh to my dogs---they are happy, healthy dogs who obey because they are pack members---just as it would be in the wild. They just get much better living conditions than if they were in the wild. And better food and care. And both were once very undog like animals, in great danger of being euthanized because of their condition or behavior. All done with no treats, no harsh physical punishment, and no harsh training methods. Just requiring them to be the dogs they were born to be when in the same social environment as a pack situation. And---they are two entirely two distinct different temperments. One is super aggressive, the other the most submissive dog I ever saw. Now they are well adjusted, healthy, and quite happy. All with no treats. ;-)