A tree that feeds your dog without asking
A guava tree overhanging the fence changes the question from whether to share to how much he is helping himself. Guava flesh is not toxic to dogs, and many love its sweetness — which is precisely the problem with a tree that drops ripe fruit into his garden all season. Left to graze, a dog will eat windfall after windfall, seeds, rind and all, including fruit well past its best. The owner's job is less about the shared cube and more about managing a fruit supply he can reach on his own schedule.
Preparing the guava you share on purpose
Take a sound, ripe fruit — ideally picked or freshly fallen and unbruised — wash it thoroughly, then cut away the rind and scoop out the seedy centre. What he gets is the soft flesh, cut into small cubes: for a medium dog, a few cubes as a treat or scattered through his food; for a small dog, one or two. The rind is tough and bitter and can carry whatever the garden has sprayed or settled on it, and the hard seeds, while not the dangerous kind, are an unnecessary strain in quantity. Fruit from your neighbour's side deserves the same wash as any — better still, a friendly word with the neighbour about fallen fruit keeps relations and gardens in good order.
The windfall problem
Fallen fruit deteriorates fast in warm weather. It ferments, grows mould, draws wasps, and gets colonised by bacteria long before it looks truly rotten. A dog snacking unseen on fermenting windfalls can end up gassy, loose and distinctly unsteady if the fruit has been down long enough to turn, and a wasp sting inside the mouth is a genuine emergency rather than a wait-and-see. A daily garden sweep during fruiting season — five minutes with a bucket before he goes out — prevents most of this, and any fruit with mould, a sour smell or insect damage goes to the bin or compost he cannot reach, never onto his menu.
Portion sense for a sweet, fibrous fruit
Even perfect guava is sugar and fibre in a fragrant package. A few cubes occasionally sit comfortably alongside a balanced diet; daily grazing does not, and dogs who are overweight or whose blood sugar is watched by their vet should get guava rarely or not at all. After his first taste, check the next day's stool — guava's fibre announces itself clearly when the portion was too generous. Repeated vomiting, a swollen mouth or face after garden grazing, or diarrhoea that does not settle are the points where the vet hears about the tree, promptly in the case of any swelling.
Because windfall season means the whole household is finding fruit, stepped-on fruit and a dog with suspiciously sweet breath, a shared note keeps everyone aligned. Recording the daily sweep and any raids in KinsLe through Care Teams means the evening feeder knows his fruit intake before adding treats, and the family can spot the pattern if his stomach troubles line up with the tree's heaviest dropping days.