My dogs, adults and puppies alike, have made a hobby of ripping out bits of the lawn (as they would fringe on a rug) and chewing holes into it.  I believe they must consume some soil as they do this.  My question is:  "Why?"  Everybody I've ever asked hastens to claim that they are surely "missing some vital elements in their diet", but I can hardly imagine that, being fed, as they are, on such high-quality food (Orijen, for the main thing).  I also cannot imagine that they are so desperately bored that they do this out of sheer frustration.  Any ideas?

They are digging for and eating slugs.

One of ours does it but she is not digging for slugs and eating them!

She pulls at the shorter grass roots with her teeth, digging shallow holes/scrapes and then sometimes desperately trying to get the
tangled roots and grass from in between her teeth, (maybe her way of flossing).
She will quiet obviously consume some of the soil of which her mouth is full of, we are on the south downs so the soil is quiet chalky.
This seems to be a pleasure thing for her, if we throw a ball she will often start digging and scratching the soil where the ball landed, leaving one of the other girls to fetch the ball while she carries on !

One of mine eats soil and she is very clearly eating soil, she's not digging for slugs!  She scrapes at bare soil with her teeth then chews and swallows what she's scraped off.  One of my oldies did it too but as to why, I've no idea.  River started doing it a year or two ago, Tia had started sometime in the 5yr gap between when I lived at home and when I then adopted her.  She was 12 then, River was around 8 when she started.

Missing something in the diet may be a factor, even fed on Orijen - all dogs are different so perhaps your line/breed needs more of a particular something than others (no idea what though) than others.  Or maybe it just tastes good!

My oldie has just started eating the compost from my planters so have to keep him out of that area now otherwise he wouldn't stop. It's a recently acquired habit and no idea why he does it at all. Mine are raw fed and get plenty of variety.

A possibility of something missing or not being absorbed in adequate amounts in diet maybe? Is there a multi vitamin for dogs?

> My oldie has just started eating the compost from my planters so have to keep him out of that area now otherwise he wouldn't stop. It's a recently acquired habit and no idea why he does it at all. Mine are raw fed and get plenty of variety.

Possibly there's a taste element with that one.  I have a big lawn which results in far too much grass waste to use my brown bin, so I have piles of it dotted around the garden.  The moment it's gone black and smelly inside (4-5 days after piling), my guys will eat it like there's no tomorrow because they just love the taste - and that's every single one of them, regardless of health or diet.  It's like the very freshest version of horse poo!

If it appears to be eating soil then it is probably after slugs and/or other micro organisms, the human eye & mind cannot conclusively conclude exactly what is after at any given moment in time.

The fact is that what you outlined in your post (eating soil) is a high risk & potentially life risking/threatening behaviour. Its your dog so therefor it's your decision as to what you do about it. I did a short post on soil eating about 2 days ago, there is a link to follow on it which is about slug habitat & habits, it's very short & nothing really to add to it except to re-emphasis slugs can transmit heartworm & maybe other things I don't know about.

and by the way......I also mentioned in that post that ticks were on the increase as well as slugs, since then, in fact yesterday, I found a tick on my dog, only the second in her 13 year 8 months life, see that tick video at link 1.

I can only repeat, with the current slug & tick increase eating soil or any behaviour whereby ingestion is probable is high risk, which is why I posted on them on 11th.

Live tick vid, v short 11th June 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wbSzXDdMFI

previous champdogs post on slugs
http://forum.champdogs.co.uk/topic_show.pl?tid=147473
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In the soil are the eggs of the those long-legged flying things that wasps will kill but there aren't many wasps now.  So not only slugs or woodlice are hidden.

Soil has a lot of natural minerals. Calves will consume soil to help with stomach issues.
I wouldn't want dogs eating 'bought soil' from planters, as that has other things in it for instance water retaining gel.

I currently have 4 soil eaters all of whom are fed on different diets.

lots of fertiliser contains bone meal so it might be residue of the bone stuff that attracts the dog to eat it.

Apart from the slug issue, soil contains an incalculable amount of pollutants which always, eventually, fall to ground or sea level the surfaces of which are bombarded with pollutants 24hrs of every day.
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> They are digging for and eating slugs.

God I hope not.   Slugs and snails carry lungworm.

Bone meal - especially so if the soil is bought in planting soil.   And even non potting soil can contain minerals the dog could be missing in the diet.

Just shown these posts to my husband to prove that it's not just our pup that does this!  He pulls the grass up by the roots and then scrapes the soil with his claws, leaving bare patches on the lawn.  He doesnt eat the soil, doesnt eat the grass, just chews it and spits it out.  It drives my husband mad but I keep telling him we were never in the running for "Lawn of the Year" anyway!

Well I just changed one of vid links 'cause the other was blurred, it's the one with tick photos on it, you'll be able to tell hubby that he is the chosen one to remove them when (as opposed to if) your dog picks them up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX43ILySYgI
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I completely agree about bonemeal.  My last dog was crazy to get to soil where blood fish and bone fertilizer had been used several years before he came to live with me.  And my old Lab, many years ago, would seek out rotting logs (had to be the "right" ones) to snuff and bite - never got a definitive answer but it seemed to be that she was after a fungus.  (Sadly, there were never truffles ... )

Your description of what your dog does is exactly what my old lady does. Pulls up the roots scratches around pulls up more,
it is not eaten other than what is on the tongue and around the mouth. And grass and roots are spat out all around the area.
I am not going to get worried about it she has done it for years. It is a game of hers after a ball or stick has landed.
Raw fed with plenty of variety.

One of mine is exactly the same - I always put it down to boredom or possible lack of exercise, even though I try to make life interesting

I don't worry about it, unless I fall into a dug-up hole when it's dark.