The Ides of March had great significance long ago for the Roman Empire, and specifically for Julius Caesar, but let us not ignore the Easter Bunny of current times!
Carol, being generally the last one to go to bed, will go out with Ray so that he can do whatever he needs to do before settling down for the night.
I am usually the first one up in the morning, so I take him out for his morning pee, and then chase him around the garden for a while… which usually results in his first poop of the day!
Because of that “scheduling”, Carol will often leave a note for me. Perhaps she had reason to believe that a skunk was hanging around and wanted to give me advance notice. This morning, I was greeted with a note.
When she was out with Ray last night, the flashlight reflected off something. We have had isolated cases of bits of glass coming to the surface so reflections are always investigated. This time it was a chocolate egg wrapping! Her note detailed the location so, before I let Ray out this morning, I went out and started looking for possible chocolate pieces in among all the brown leaves that are currently covering the planted areas… which is where Ray does everything that he needs to do!
Either I overlooked them or there were none there but, based on Ray’s behavior, I am comfortable with the conclusion there were none there.
Given that it is quite common for homes with children to have the Easter Bunny visit and hide eggs around a garden, and given the instincts of an average squirrel, it is probably not unusual for an isolated egg to be overlooked and a marauding squirrel take care of it and bury it for later. That immediately presents the possibility of a dog coming across it, or bits of it!
The hazards of dogs eating chocolate is well documented, and there are varying degrees of risk depending on the chocolate and the size of the dog.
http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/dog-care/nutrition-feeding/is-chocolate-bad-for-dogs
Our perspective on this is to minimize the risk to “0” if possible, rather than deal with regrets later.
Beware the Easter Bunny – It knows not what it does!
Always better to be safe than sorry. 🙂
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Absolutely! Why take a chance.. even a minimal chance? It makes no sense to me! 🙂
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We had a small dog eat some chocolate once. That was a long week with a very sick little thing.
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I can imagine that was a very long week.
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My Rudy had no interest in chocolate, but a couple of my other canine friends got very sick from it – it was really the equivalent of canine flu for output!
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Your canine friends were perhaps lucky to get away with flu symptoms. 🙂
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Maybe the Easter Bunny doesn’t know the risk of chocolates to dogs. My first schnauzer ate a pound box of chocolates while I was downstairs grooming dogs for Christmas. She puked a lot, but was ok. She also survived eating rat poison, but that’s a story for another day.
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Sadly, a lot of dogs have either not survived poisoning, or have incurred huge vet bills. Due diligence is the key! 🙂
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That is true. But how was I to know that someone (still don’t know who) opened my front door and snuck a present of chocolates – wrapped – under my tree while I was indisposed? It was supposed to be a nice surprise, I’m sure.
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Sometimes the best of intentions………………..! 🙂
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Wow, lucky dog twice! I would love it if you would consider sharing that story with me for one of the “Tuesday Tales” on my blog.
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Sure. Just tell me how to reach you. My info is on my blog, lexitheschnauzer.com.
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My neighbor’s lab found an open box of Godiva’s chocolates and devoured them, foil wrapping and all while neighbor was at grocery store. The dog was taken to the vet who pumped Shasta’s stomach and all was well. However, under each bush in my yard, Shasta’s “gifts” had silver linings!
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Shasta was a very fortunate dog! 🙂
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Yes Chocolate, peas and grapes/ raisins /sultanas all very poisonous to dogs as we have discovered!
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Got to keep spreading the word… and we mustn’t forget Xylitol which is being added into so many products (e.g. peanut butter) and can be fatal!
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Yes it is scary!!
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Yes! I still can’t believe the magic of my (semi-shared still) ex-husband’s lab, who ate an entire pan of chocolate cupcakes made with Xylitol – unbeknownst to us. Who offers to make kids bday cupcakes and makes them with chemical sugar instead of the real thing?!?!?!
Luckily, she knew that it was poisonous for dogs and ex-h whisked lab off to vets where, after a two-week stay in which he really didn’t look like he was going to make it, the miracle dog survived.
Wouldn’t want to test it ever again.
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You have to be so careful. With all the potential problem foods, and people who discard them anywhere they like. We watch Ray carefully when he starts tracking and, if he gets too enthusiastic, will leash him in close to us until we can identify what he was after! 🙂
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So glad the dog survived!
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For a minute there I thought you were going to explain the Ides of March. My mother always used to say “beware the Ides of March”, of course I had no idea what she was talking about. Ah well…
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Hi TC. The “Ides of March” was March 15th on the Roman calendar, and is generally accepted as the date that Julius Caesar was assassinated. He was apparently forewarned about it by a soothsayer (“Beware the Ides of March”) but he did not take it seriously. Caesar’s assassination resulted in a civil war and major changes in the Roman Empire! 🙂
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Thank you, very interesting.
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And now you know, so if anybody ever asks you about the quote “Beware the Ides of March”… you can explain it to them! 🙂
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Our Mikey (our dog before charlie) once ate an entire pound box of chocolate that was wrapped as a gift in a pile of gifts under the christmas tree. He expertly removed the box from the middle of the pile without disrupting any of the others, unwrapped the gift wrap and cellophane and box and ate them all. Thankfully never got sick! Scared us, but we were lucky.
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Hi Jodi. Mikey was indeed a very lucky dog! 🙂
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Lucky and very smart, if a bit naughty!
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🙂
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