Per Home Guides.... Non-toxic Hibiscus Most hibiscus plants, such as the Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), which thrives in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, or the rose mallow (Hibiscus lasiocarpos), growing in USDA zones 5 through 9, are safe for canine consumption. In fact, hibiscus flowers are used in the making of many herbal teas sold in the U.S., according to WebMD. You aren't likely to make tea for your pup, but there's no need to worry if you see him tasting the sweet blooms or other parts of a safe variety of hibiscus. Toxic Variety While most hibiscus pose no threat to canines, a couple do. The ASPCA lists one main hibiscus variety in its database of varieties toxic to dogs. The rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), also called the rose of China, grows in USDA zones 5 through 8. It blooms all summer and into fall, traditionally with pink blooms or blooms that are pink with red centers. Modern cultivars create other bloom colors including blue, white and red. As a deciduous shrub, it loses its leaves for the winter and grows new ones -- which might look tasty to your dog -- in the spring. It can grow up to 12 feet tall, but it creates blooms and leaves all along the branches, meaning there will be plenty at your pooch's eye level to tempt him.

I have a story, but it isn't funny. We have a little yorkie-poo. She was less than a year old when she got sick. She had a few stomach issues and they did a poop culture (sorry!), and found some type bacteria. Treated that but within a couple of weeks, she started vomiting one evening. She had never done this and after a couple of times I called our vet. Because of her small size (she's only 9 lbs. now fully grown) they had us bring her in so she wouldn't get dehydrated. They examined her, pumped her full of fluids and suggested we watch her closely overnight. The fluids and some meds helped with the vomiting but by early morning she was vomiting again. We got up, dressed and ready to get her to the vet their opening time. They did an x-ray and showed us that something was showing in her digestive track. Something she had ingested. I remembered that she had torn one of her little toys and although I never saw any stuffing out of the toy, I knew there was stuffing and we just assumed she had eaten that. They had to do emergency exploratory surgery. I bawled my eyes out. The next day when we were allowed to *visit*, the vet showed me the PLASTIC MEAT WRAPPER that she had eaten. It was to a pretty critical point, it had started through her intestines. The vet was wonderful, even took our little baby home with her overnight to keep a close eye on her and the pup came through the surgery with flying colors. And a nice little *zipper* down her belly. Hubby and I both felt awful. We didn't know she had gotten the wrapper. We figured that she had quickly grabbed it out of the garbage (which was behind a closed door, but if she saw us put something in there she'd jump up to investigate) and gotten away with it without us seeing. The stick on label on the plastic wrapping was what we were seeing on the x-ray. Alot of tears and $$$ over a meat wrapper! She's not interested in the garbage anymore (she was just a puppy then) thankfully, but we are even more cautious when throwing something away! I never throw away a meat wrapper now without putting it in another bag and tying it up first. Our pup too watches tv. It's hilarious. There was an M&M commercial that she didn't like. Now she doesn't like the Weight Watchers commercial where they have the little orange monster (hungry). She knows by the very first sound of that commercial that it's THE ONE and immediately starts barking. She barks at most dogs she sees on tv, other than cesear. Maybe because he's little like her. tina

My dog, a Jack Russell Terrier, was doing the same thing and we tried the Adolf's Meat Tenderizer and she wouldn't eat the food, and also tried other store bought pills and they would work for a couple of months then she would start eating it again. I changed her food to Iams and started feeding her baby carrots everyday, on the request of my vet. This seemed to start working for a bit, she loves the carrots, and they work nice to keep her teeth clean. I did some research and found that adding canned pumpkin and sweet potatoes (can use fresh also) is supposed to make the poop taste bad to them. I asked the vet and he agreed, so we have been doing this for about 3 weeks now and she has stopped eating her poop. She is litter trained, because she is scared of outside and people. Shortly after I got her from a rescue place I found out she was a puppy mill dog. In the mills the dogs keep their young clean as well as their cage. This is something she has been doing her whole life (she just turned 5 in February). It's a hard habit to break and takes work to do so. She now gets her Iams dog food for small dogs, about a cup of baby carrots a day, as well as about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin, sweet potatoes, squash or carrots a day mixed with a little applesauce. This is working great and she seems to be healthier and happier to be getting her "treats" everyday.

If you have a BIG tree in his yard I'd plant St. Augustine grass stolons, plugs, sod or seed underneath per mfg. directions. It needs shade so it won't spread to non-shaded areas readily in PHX climate (since you didn't indicate where in AZ you live. Good cover crop for the tree too. Dog will love rolling in it. Just let it grow tall.