I hate being angry with Zoë. She's cute, and fun, and warms my heart. Today, though, we went out in the car and I made two stops. The first was Wentworth's, the local grocery store. I picked up a few vegetables for dinner, and at the last minute grabbed a package of four chocolate chip cookies, and ate one when I returned to the car. A few minutes later, I stopped at a neighbor's house and was there about 10 minutes. In the meantime, Zoë was scarfing down the other three cookies--and then returned to the back seat by the time I got back.
I realized as soon as I got in that something was out of whack. Cookies! Right! Where are they? No sign of them...and then I saw the empty container. Oh, no! This was not good. Chocolate can be poisonous to dogs, and I didn't know what the limit would be for an 18 lb dog. I was so angry, I smacked Zoë on the rump and told her in no uncertain terms that she was a BAD DOG!
As soon as I got home, I put her in "her spot" (her bed) and called the vet. . Thankfully, the quantity she ate wasn't enough to seriously harm her, just give her a bad case of diarrhea. Even so, I wanted to make an impression on her. Every time she tried to leave her bed, I ordered her back there, telling her sternly that she should STAY. Poor Zoë, she slunk back to her bed on a couple of occasions, on too many more, I dragged her back by the collar. You STAY, you BAD, BAD dog. Finally, after two hours, I let her come downstairs. I don't know if it will help, if she'll connect my anger with her eating the cookies. I hope so. I don't want to lose my Zoë to chocolate, raisins, grapes, or any of the other things that can prove toxic to dogs.
Fox Terriers are normally pretty active little dogs, but her energy level tonight was higher than normal. Shawn took her outside and threw the squeaky ball for her until she was exhausted. As I write, she's crashed out on the floor. I'll have to keep an ear open during the night to let her out if she needs me to, but that's a minor inconvenience. I'm just very thankful tonight that Zoë is okay. I've made myself and her a promise: No temptation left in the car when she's along.
I realized as soon as I got in that something was out of whack. Cookies! Right! Where are they? No sign of them...and then I saw the empty container. Oh, no! This was not good. Chocolate can be poisonous to dogs, and I didn't know what the limit would be for an 18 lb dog. I was so angry, I smacked Zoë on the rump and told her in no uncertain terms that she was a BAD DOG!
As soon as I got home, I put her in "her spot" (her bed) and called the vet. . Thankfully, the quantity she ate wasn't enough to seriously harm her, just give her a bad case of diarrhea. Even so, I wanted to make an impression on her. Every time she tried to leave her bed, I ordered her back there, telling her sternly that she should STAY. Poor Zoë, she slunk back to her bed on a couple of occasions, on too many more, I dragged her back by the collar. You STAY, you BAD, BAD dog. Finally, after two hours, I let her come downstairs. I don't know if it will help, if she'll connect my anger with her eating the cookies. I hope so. I don't want to lose my Zoë to chocolate, raisins, grapes, or any of the other things that can prove toxic to dogs.
Fox Terriers are normally pretty active little dogs, but her energy level tonight was higher than normal. Shawn took her outside and threw the squeaky ball for her until she was exhausted. As I write, she's crashed out on the floor. I'll have to keep an ear open during the night to let her out if she needs me to, but that's a minor inconvenience. I'm just very thankful tonight that Zoë is okay. I've made myself and her a promise: No temptation left in the car when she's along.
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