# I dodged the bullet! Playing with matches.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 23, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768 "2012-02-23T20:44:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/1 "2012-02-23T20:44:55Z")
I came home after work this afternoon and found a box of wooden matches spread out across my carpet. The box had been sitting beside my television and somehow must have been knocked down. I have two cats and a dog.
The dog had obviously been playing, literally, with the matches. He does love to chew on stuff. So, most of the matches were scorched, the box itself was blackened, and there is a burned spot, about the size of my palm, in front of one of my chairs.
So I guess somehow the box was knocked down, the dog started playing with it, and matches rubbed against each other and were lighted.
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
I could have had my house burned down. Sure, there’s a smoke detector, but what good is is when nobody is at home?
I could go to church and “light a candle” in thanks for the close call, but maybe just a prayer would do!😃
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### Author:  [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/2 "2012-02-23T20:46:52Z")
:eek:
That’s worse than eating your homework- “the dog burned my house down!” Maybe you could do what I did with my son that liked to play with matches when he was 10- take the dog to the firehouse for a program that teaches firebugs (firedogs?) the consequences of their actions. It worked!
Oh, hey, there’s always the possibility that the cats did it and framed the dog. Do they look guilty?
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/3 "2012-02-23T20:50:09Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> I could go to church and “light a candle” in thanks for the close call…
Seeing as he’s capable of doing the same, I’d just send the dog.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/4 "2012-02-23T21:06:54Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Seeing as he’s capable of doing the same, I’d just send the dog.
😛
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/5 "2012-02-23T21:53:16Z")
Wow, all jokes aside, that’s really scary.
Keep your matches somewhere else from now on, OK? Or use safety matches.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/6 "2012-02-23T23:09:36Z")
I can’t decide if your dog is really, really smart or really, really dumb. Most dogs are way too untalented to pull off shenanigans on this level!
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### Author:  [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/7 "2012-02-24T00:48:50Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#):
>
> I can’t decide if your dog is really, really smart or really, really dumb. Most dogs are way too untalented to pull off shenanigans on this level!
My dog makes long distance phone calls! Are you kidding? Untalented? I was thinking of having him handle my retirement planning! 😃
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### Author:  [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/8 "2012-02-24T00:50:43Z")
Wow, good thing for you dogs try to put out small fires, or you might not have had a home to come to. (At least in my experience they try to put them out.)
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/9 "2012-02-24T01:30:50Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#):
>
> Wow, good thing for you dogs try to put out small fires, or you might not have had a home to come to. (At least in my experience they try to put them out.)
Well, **Baker** didn’t mention any damp spots on the carpet or smelling any urine, so bow would we know if the dog tried to put it out? 😃
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/10 "2012-02-24T01:36:22Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> Well, **Baker** didn’t mention any damp spots on the carpet or smelling any urine, so **bow** would we know if the dog tried to put it out? 😃
Perfect typo. 😃
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/11 "2012-02-24T02:13:44Z")
I wouldn’t take that dog camping if I were you.
Sure, he could get the campfire started, but a forest is no place for dogs to be playing with matches.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/12 "2012-02-24T02:46:02Z")
No, when I felt for it the carpet was perfectly dry, and it wasn’t smelly either. Nathan is trained to use a puppy pad if he absolutely can’t hold it until his walk when I get home.
I checked his tongue and gums and whatever went on he wasn’t burned.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/13 "2012-02-24T03:57:09Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> No, when I felt for it the carpet was perfectly dry, and it wasn’t smelly either. Nathan is trained to use a puppy pad if he absolutely can’t hold it until his walk when I get home.
>
> I checked his tongue and gums and whatever went on he wasn’t burned.
See? I told you he didn’t try to put it out. 😃
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### Author:  [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/14 "2012-02-24T06:04:42Z")
The dog wasn’t playing with matches.
He was lighting the cats’ cigarettes.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/15 "2012-02-24T06:17:29Z")
You shouldn’t let your dogs watch Bevis and Butthead.
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### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/16 "2012-02-24T09:47:33Z")
I woke up the other day to the sheets next to me smouldering, kiddo had unnoticed grabbed a incense stick from the front room and tried to kill me.
Ok I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying to kill me but still.:eek:
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### Author:  [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/17 "2012-02-24T10:13:04Z")
Wow, thank goodness nothing horrible happened. I can’t imagine how devastating it would be to come home to discover your house (and even worse your pets) destroyed by fire.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/18 "2012-02-24T14:27:46Z")
Matchplayer, Matchplayer,
Strike me a match,
Fry me a cat,
Burn down my couch
Matchplayer, Matchplayer
Chew through the box,
And strike me a glowing match
Other that that, I got nothing. . . .
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### Author:  [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/19 "2012-02-24T19:57:43Z")
Some friends of ours had their dog set their kitchen on fire. They’d left some chicken and rice on the stove; the dog apparently jumped up on the range to try and get to it, and managed to turn the (electric) burner underneath it on.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dodged-the-bullet-playing-with-matches/613768/20 "2012-02-24T20:03:47Z")
> [@Runestar](#):
>
> Some friends of ours had their dog set their kitchen on fire. They’d left some chicken and rice on the stove; the dog apparently jumped up on the range to try and get to it, and managed to turn the (electric) burner underneath it on.
Were they asleep or something? Was it the pan that burned, and then it spread?
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