Hi dib,

Believe it or not, that dog chewing the willow stick story is not all that implausible. Many modern medicines are derived from plants in the rain forests, and sometimes the only clue as to their medicinal properties is watching animal behavior.

Certain monkeys in Brazil will chow down on a certain leaf when they appeared to be distressed; later, when chemically analyzed, the leaf was found to have sedative properties. Many natural remedies have been discovered by observing animals in pain (i.e. wounded), and what they seek out and eat in the wild.

My memory of this tidbit goes back to college, too many decades ago to admit to publicly. Still, there is substantial evidence to support the dog and willow theory.

I've noticed that when my dogs feel sick (and have been vomiting), they eat grass. They must know something (a lot of things) we don't.

Just my .02.

Cathryn