Poison for Pooches

I spent the afternoon at a vet clinic with my doggie, who had a bad case of chocolate breath. She was pretty happy, maybe even proud of herself when she arrived. She was less enthusiastic about her visit after being given the drugs necessary to rid her of her stolen treats.

While I was out, my beloved pooch gobbled down 50 bucks worth of chocolates. Not the cheap boxed-up kind from the department store, this was the good stuff. Dark and Belgian, from the lovely shop on the main street of Collingwood.

The thing about chocolate is, the better the quality, the worse it is for your puppy. The very very good stuff is basically poison for pooches. The vet said to bring her in immediately for a purging.

I wasn't there for the... shall we say, emptying, but I'm told it was a dark and disgusting mess, and the vet techs were shocked at the sheer volume of it. Further, my doggie had also managed to gulp down, seal-like, a package of wee rawhides meant for my sister in law's new puppy. Some of the knots at the ends were intact when they, ahem, saw the light, but some were missing, which means they might still need to pass.

And so, lucky me, I'm to inspect her backyard .... packages for scary rawhides for the next few days.

Before you think I'm a negligent doggy parent, be aware the chocolates and other goodies were not actually under the tree. They were behind the closed door of the spare bedroom. At least, we sure thought it was closed. How she managed to get in, I have no idea. The replacement chocolates are now in the closet of said bedroom, whose door swings out. So unless the dog is going to remove the hinges, I think we're safe.

One surprise from the adventure: my puppy doesn't like the booze-filled chocolates. Each of them was squished but left dripping on the duvet. Even doggies have their preferences, I guess.

A huge Thank You to the lovely owner of the chocolate shop who gave me a discount on my replacement goodies when she heard my tale of woe. Also thank you to Drs. Bell and Gilpin at Bellbrae Animal Hospital. Sorry for the mess.