# how many lives can dogs have anyway

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lives-can-dogs-have-anyway/21848>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 9, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lives-can-dogs-have-anyway/21848 "2000-06-09T05:29:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![learae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@learae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/learae)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lives-can-dogs-have-anyway/21848/1 "2000-06-09T05:29:47Z")

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I just read the columns about chocolate being toxic to dogs. Well, I’ve had several dogs in my lifetime, so far, and I’ve given every one of them chocolate. In fact, when I was a kid, we had a dog…mutt probably weighed about 15 lbs., and every Thursday evening, my dad and the dog would share a bag of chocolates. The dog lived to be 13 years old. I’ve never had any dogs show ill effects from chocolate. And I’m not a lucky person. How can this be?  
learae

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lives-can-dogs-have-anyway/21848/2 "2000-06-09T06:06:03Z")

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Thank you for posting your comment.  
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.  
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL).

Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:  
[Is chocolate toxic to dogs? (01-Dec-1995)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_158.html)

The column ( **including** Slug Signorino’s illustration) can also be found on pages 211-212 of Cecil Adams’ book “[_Triumph of the Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)”.

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**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-lives-can-dogs-have-anyway/21848/3 "2000-06-09T15:31:39Z")

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I had a lil terrier mix who was tiny. She couldn’t have weighed more than ten pounds. One Easter, my mom hid all kinds of chocolate and candy in her closet, and my dog found them. She ate every single piece. It seemed she took the wrappers off some chocolate, which was bizarre, because the wrappers were literally unwrapped, not shredded or anything. Some she ate the wrappers too.  
She never got sick. At all. This wasn’t the first time she did that either. She also ate all of Halloween candy one year. I think that dog would eat anything that didn’t eat her first.