Of all the animal stories I have read, not one tells of a pack of wolves that burst out of the forest to ravage a pumpkin patch. Nor do any tell of their close cousins, the coyotes, slinking through the fields to devour vines of hubbard squash.

No, wolves traditionally run down large deer while coyotes fall upon rabbits, groundhogs and mice. Vegetarians they are not.

So, why is our older dog Augusta, who can pass for a wolf in the dim light of evening, ecstatic with a meal of squash and spinach, or pumpkin and cabbage, or broccoli and kale?

A good question with a long answer: Augusta either has a genetic condition or allergies — take your pick; and when she was about two years old, she began to seriously scratch herself. She opened bare patches on her neck and front legs and infected both ears. This sent us on a round of veterinarians.

Perhaps the food she ate gave her skin problems. As a puppy, we had fed her puppy chow and various table scraps. Surely, I thought, table scraps should be good for a dog. I mean, what makes a dog as happy as access to a bag of well-rotted garbage.

Table scraps were out, said the vet, and Augusta began a stricter diet. First it was kangaroo — readily available in large bags. Then it was potato and duck. Then, it was special (and more expensive) food for dogs that might have liver problems. None of it did much good.

Then we took her to the dog dermatologist (and now we are talking serious dollars) who gave us a series of shampoos and skin lotions. We put Augusta in the bathtub three times a week and first applied shampoo No. 1. We left it on for 20 minutes; and because we couldn’t have a wet soapy dog rampaging around the house, she and I spent those minutes together in the bathroom. Then we washed off that shampoo and applied shampoo No. 2; and again she and I spent another 20 minutes waiting for the magic to happen. Then, we washed that off, dried her a bit and rubbed in another lotion — after which she dashed into the living room to roll on the carpet.

That might not have been such a good idea because one school of veterinary thought felt she might be allergic to carpet fibres. And possibly allergic to wood and quite likely allergic to grass. These are all awkward allergies, especially the last one, because we live in a house in the middle of a large field.

Now, let’s get back to vegetables. I can tell you that none of Augusta’s treatments did much to help her scratching and we felt we would just live with it. Then, while in a small town walking Augusta and her companion dog Sully — a younger, larger and scratchless almost black Lab — we stopped to talk to a woman who patted the dogs.

When she saw the bare patch on Augusta’s neck, she said her own dog had a similar problem and it had been cured by a dog psychic. Rather, a dog psychic who was a naturopath. It was a mark of our desperation that we took the name of the healer and tracked that person down. My wife then drove Augusta to the dog healer and she and Augusta communed.

Diet was the result. Table scraps were out; red meat was gone; wheat was finished; and large bags of commercial dog food were toast. Instead, we stocked up on pumpkin, yams, squash, broccoli, kale, cabbage and carrots. Not your average dog fodder. For protein, we threw in canned mackerel or sardines or some chicken — as well as an egg and a spoonful of yogurt plus a few exotics, such as a pinch of dried milk thistle or red clover.

And when my wife set those bowls of food before the two dogs — both had to get the same food because it wouldn’t be fair to favour the healthy one — they fell on it like, well, wolves. They scarfed it down and begged for more.

They have now come to think of a carrot or a spoonful of cooked pumpkin as a worthy snack, although their predator instincts remain high and they stand at alert under the barbecue when a hamburger is being grilled. And they still rush into the fields to chase rabbits and groundhogs.

@page_break@So, has this diet helped Augusta with her scratching? I was a skeptic when we started on this path, but it seems to me that she is looking better — although it is early days. One thing I can tell you for sure, she loves her pumpkin. IE