well, consider: you say she’s “aged”.
“aged” dogs need more protein and fat than non-aged dogs for a variety of reasons, and native #1 is well, too low in both for a senior dog. Possibly her ability to digest protein has dropped recently (common in older dogs), thus her body is demanding it, and since she isn’t digesting it well it’s coming out in the poop so she tries to eat it again, and forages for other possible protein sources (garbage, poop, whatever).
Senior dogs should be switched to high protein/ high fat diets (if they haven’t already been on them) so perhaps try putting her on Native #4 (an excellent food) and see what happens? you’ll need to cut back on the amount because it has slightly more kcal/cup than the #1 formula. If you’re concerned about weight gain in a senior dog, a better choice than a “performance” formula is a low-carbohydrate diet. Performance diets like Native #4 generally offer a 50:30:20 breakdown of calories (50% of calories from fat, 30% from protein, and 20% from carbohydrates) which is perfect for the active dog, but an inactive senior dog would do better with fewer carbohydrates and more protein; a typical raw diet will provide less than 10% of calories from carbohydrates and 40% or so from protein, which is perfect for a senior dog. The lack of carbohydrates helps the dog keep from putting on body fat, and the high protein level helps the dog (even with an inefficient digestive system) absorb enough protein to maintain a good level of lean muscle mass.
if a diet change doesn’t help, think long and hard about anything that may have changed shortly before her behavior change. And it never hurts to see the vet about sudden behavior changes in adult dogs.
