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Each year we go through a phase where the dogs go outside, and come back in limping and nursing their paws. We can't seem to find information on these in a book or the net, so my niece (the vet tech) asked me to ask the experts here.
It only seems to happen when these weeds are noticeable in the yard.
Any kind of weeds that have burrs or sticky seeds can get stuck in dogs' paws, it happens to my dog all the time, we have lots of weeds like that out here. Any time he comes in limping, I always check his paws and every single time I find some kind of little burr or sharp prickly weed of some sort stuck in his paw. I've never seen anything where just walking on a weed that didn't have burrs or prickers would cause irritation though--some plants do have irritating sap but dogs' paws are pretty tough, I wouldn't think it would cause problems that way.
it could be stinging nettle although the pictures aren't what mine looks like. that first one looks like wild strawberry. i would do a walk through your lawn barefoot. do about ten foot at a time, then wait a while and see if you feel anything. by doing a small area at a time you can narrow down the area if you happen to feel something.
We have a chihuahua now and a Large chicken? hawk in the area. I saw a squirrel plucked right off the wooden fence by one so I now go out with them during the walks . With the weather being so nice, most of the time I am barefooted, and have covered all of the yard following them.
I am no expert, either in plants or dogs, and sometimes even if I can give some advice, I lack vocabulary... For some reason, I think some things that hurt us don't hurt the dogs, and the reverse... and dogs can have allergies too, not necessarily common with yours...
Anyway, I remember recently reading an article by "palmbob" (Geoff Stein) about dangerous plants in his garden. I'm checking to give you the link in a second. the article is full of picks of plants (some very surprising to be found in a "danger list"). Check his pics, maybe you find some common ground with your plants, any plants in your garden.
In addition, he is also a vet, if I remember correctly.
Maybe D-mail him, with your suspicious plant pics and ask him if he knows of any harm. Ah, and he also has dogs! He seems very friendly, judging by his articles.
I'd recommend posting them in the ID forum and finding out what they are before you dmail palmbob about them...he lives in CA and grows palms and succulents and some other more tropical-ish things, I'm not sure he'd be familiar enough with Texas weeds to know what they are. But I'm sure someone in the ID forum will recognize them.
The berry and flower are both Mock Strawberry [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com] My yard is half covered in the stuff and my Chihuahuas don't have any problems with it. Maybe you have a fire ant mound nearby?
