I have 3 dogs - Huck a Great Dane, Zeb a German Shepherd, and Rigatoni a boxer. I get ready for the day every morning in our upstairs bathroom. All three dogs follow me up the stairs and then lay on the spare bed. When I’m done, they all follow me down the stairs. The other day, as usual they followed me up. I went into the bathroom and closed the door (otherwise some or all will try to get in there with me.) When I opened the door to get something out of the hall closet, Huck and Zeb were standing in the little hallway. They got as close as they could to me and kept looking at me. I tried to shoo them away. I told them to go lay down, but they wouldn’t budge. I looked into the spare bedroom from the hallway and could see Rigatoni’s outline on the bed (it was dark). Again I tried to get them out of the hallway, but nope they wouldn’t move. So finally I went into the spare room and turned on the light. There was Rigatoni methodically eating a Christmas candy bar (cardboard and all). He looked at me like, “yea, what?”. So the other two dogs must have been horrified by the naughtiness that was going on in the bedroom and wanted nothing to do with it. They did not want to be blamed or implicated!
Is Rigatoni okay? Chocolate’s bad for dogs!
Good story.
Sometimes dogs don’t get the memo about chocolate being bad for them. I had a cocker spaniel who on two occasions scarfed down batches of chocolate brownies and had nothing worse than revolting chocolate diarrhea.
Dogs can definitely sense misbehavior by their own kind. One time our Lab, Bessie (a chocolate Lab as it happens) began barking indoors for no apparent reason. We discovered that our other dog, Bubba the Cavalier had seized one end of a toilet paper roll and was parading through the house while the roll unraveled, and Bessie was tattling on him.
I just told this story to my partner. She speculated that maybe Huck and Zeb were running interference for Rigatoni. If they pulled it off, tomorrow Rigatoni and Zeb would delay you while Huck enjoyed some forbidden fruit.
That’s why we only have two dogs at a time; my wife and I tumbled to that little dodge ages ago.
Once I threw a birthday party for a small welsh corgi named Heidi. It consisted of a half bagel with cream cheese studded decoratively with cat kibble, and singing Happy Birthday. We humans had ice cream and Dove chocolate sauce. Then we wandered away, and when we came back in the room we discovered that Heidi had jumped on the table (she had never to my knowledge done this before, I didn’t know she could even jump on the bench next to it), and was licking out the jar of Dove chocolate sauce as far down as she could reach. Deeply alarmed, I gave her ipecac to make her vomit but all she did was drool copiously.
So then I called Poison Control. Their first question was have you given her ipecac yet? (this was not my first rodeo with Poison Control). I explained. The man sighed and said, "well, the truth is, there isn’t very much chocolate in Dove chocolate sauce. I wouldn’t worry. "
She was fine. It’s dark unsweetened chocolate that usually kills dogs, and it also depends on the dose per pound of dog.
Cocoa bean hulls, sold as mulch, kill dogs every year though.
Yeah, on a per-weight basis, theobromine (the relevant substance in chocolate) is only about twice as dangerous to dogs as it is to humans. The risk comes from the fact that, first, most dogs weigh less than most humans, and second, while most humans won’t usually binge ten pounds of chocolate at once, most dogs will if given a chance.
He’s fine. When he was a puppy he jumped up on the table while my husband was outside shoveling and ate my Valentine candy. I called the vet and he said he should be fine, just keep an eye on him. If it had been a block of baking chocolate that might have been a different story. Milk chocolate is mostly sugar.
I wouldn’t worry about Huck. He’s very particular in what he likes as treats. Cheese is his favorite, he turns his nose up at just about everything else. Zebby might indulge. I think Huck and Zeb consider Rigatoni to be a PITA most days and wanted no part in what was going on.
Isn’t it against board rules to tell funny or cute pet stories without supplying pictures of the pets to be admired? 
There’s a new (to me) trend, where the high end chocolatiers are making milk chocolate at just shy of 50% cacao. I love it.
Glad all the doggos are ok.
Is there as significant difference between US chocolate and European (specifically Belgian) as far as being bad for dogs?
I’m glad Rigatoni is ok. I was worried that maybe he pasta way.
mmm
Both American and European chocolates come in dark and not-so-dark varieties. The darker ones are more dangerous.
Good one!!
I’ll work on it once I get back to work and can use my desktop.
My sister and I once took my dachshund Mauser on a short trip. On the way back we went into a restaurant and when we came out my sister said, in a strange voice “Oh Baker” Mauser had got under the front seat and found the package of mint filling Oreos I’d forgotten. He didn’t get sick either, but for the next couple of days his poo was…interesting.
My favorite dog story actually belongs to my friend.
He has two dogs, one of which got loose one day. He drove around the neighborhood in his car looking for the runaway, calling his name repeatedly, but did not find him.
So he went home and picked up his other dog, loaded him into the car, and again drove the neighborhood. The dog in the car had his window down and was barking. The other dog heard him and came running from behind a house.
mmm
Here are the boys!
Huckleberry (Huck) - Great Dane
Zebadiah (Zeb) - German Shepherd
Rigatoni (Riggs) - Boxer AKA Candy Bandit!
Not sure why the picture is smushed 