Polar ate some chocolate this morning

[aikibujin]

So I had my back turned for a minute this morning, and one of the guests tossed a whole bar of Dove dark chocolate to Polar and Luoxi. I managed to get the chocolate out of Luoxi's mouth, but Polar ate a chunk of it before I even knew. I, in my politest voice possible under the circumstances, told her that she shouldn't give dogs any chocolate. After I already told them last night they shouldn't give my dogs any snacks, it wasn't easy to control my anger. I said I wasn't going to use any harsh training methods to get Polar to do food refusal, and I don't plan to. But situations like this really test my resolve.

She shouldn't have had any chocolate in the first place, but now she had, would a small chunk of chocolate cause any health problems?

[KSNS]

Different dogs can handle different things as im sure you know but chocolate is no good for any breed of dog.

Can't see there being any long term effects as sakari wasgive by a twat on a bus a bit of yorkie. I politly told him to take his chocolate an shove it where it belonged befor he chocked on the wrapper.

But for her she was quiet ill as in (sick) after following meal. and had diarrhea.

I gave her my normal stop diarrhea food of boild egg in boiled rice mashed up just absorbs all the rubbish in her stomach and norm sorts it with in the day she was ok after that.

Can imagine that was temper trying for you mind.

[maggie84]

I know its annoying when guests feed the Dakota, I've told everyone not to feed her, but I've caught some people still doing it - they get an ear lashing from me . Dakota has sneakly robbed a chocolate cookie off the coffee table from me when I wasn't looking, she took it and ran . Did the same over easter with a friends choclate egg, I managed to get it out off her mouth before she ate it. She's sneaky and now obviously loves the taste so we have to keep an eye on her and our chocolate!!

[Rosemary]

Boer, a lot of guesthouses and hotels here have a list of 'Instructions' on the the back of the front door to the suite - can you not put 'Do NOT feed the dogs' on the top of the list in red caps in each suite/room. In one of the small villages in our area there is a fantastic restaurant. The owner's dogs (two beautiful labs) roam around freely - on the Menu at the top of each page is a notice to guests that they can pet the dogs but not to feed them. The dogs lie at the feet of guests, but I have never seen anyone feed them. Maybe you should hang a note from their collar saying "Do not feed me" This must be soooo frustrating for you.

[Andy]

Keeping fingers, paws and eyes (lol) crossed that Polar is ok.

Some people are ignorant.

Some people are idiots.

Feed thier hildren laxatives see how they like it. . . .

[aikibujin]

Boer, a lot of guesthouses and hotels here have a list of 'Instructions' on the the back of the front door to the suite - can you not put 'Do NOT feed the dogs' on the top of the list in red caps in each suite/room. In one of the small villages in our area there is a fantastic restaurant. The owner's dogs (two beautiful labs) roam around freely - on the Menu at the top of each page is a notice to guests that they can pet the dogs but not to feed them. The dogs lie at the feet of guests, but I have never seen anyone feed them. Maybe you should hang a note from their collar saying "Do not feed me" This must be soooo frustrating for you.

My biggest obstruction is the total disregard for rules in China, written or otherwise. If you've ever been to China, or even have seen how they drive in China on TV, you'll get an idea. In China the general mentality is that, rules are written to cause them inconvenience. Anyone who go by the rules are "suckers", and anyone who doesn't go by rules automatically is better off than everyone else. So people will all crowd around a ticket counter with total disregard to lines, people will move their car forward an inch if there's space, even if it means blocking the whole intersection so no one (include themselves) can move.

Another thing is, in China people don't see dogs as human companions, but animals and sometimes (sadly) food. In most of their minds, dogs are just scavengers and should eat table scraps that they tossed on the ground. I live in a rural village in China, all of the dogs in the village just roam around free and feed on what they can dig up in the garbage and what their owners have leftover from a meal. It's beyond their comprehension to keep a dog as a companion, to buy special "dog food" for them, to train them, to take them exercising. So the tourists who are used to the local village dogs who pick up their leftovers from the ground don't think twice about tossing a dog some food they're eating.

Every foreign traveler I've had at my guesthouse gladly cooperate with me when I explain to them why I don't want them to feed our dogs, but many (to be fair not all) Chinese guests will feed the dogs even after I made the rules very clear. If I'm back in the US, the signs will work. But in China, people won't even notice them or read them.

[davidjk]

a small square of chocolate is very unlikely to cause any health problems. read up about dogs and chocolate.

[Rosemary]

My biggest obstruction is the total disregard for rules in China, written or otherwise.

But in China, people won't even notice them or read them.

Very interesting post. The disregard for rules is the total opposite of what I would have expected from the Chinese people - I don't know why. Good luck with the training, I will be very interested to know if you are able to train a Husky not to take food from anyone.

[mbb23]

Hope Polar is ok! I dont think it will do to much harm but just keep an eye out incase polar is sick x x x x x

[jelharou]

My biggest obstruction is the total disregard for rules in China, written or otherwise. If you've ever been to China, or even have seen how they drive in China on TV, you'll get an idea. In China the general mentality is that, rules are written to cause them inconvenience. Anyone who go by the rules are "suckers", and anyone who doesn't go by rules automatically is better off than everyone else. So people will all crowd around a ticket counter with total disregard to lines, people will move their car forward an inch if there's space, even if it means blocking the whole intersection so no one (include themselves) can move.

Another thing is, in China people don't see dogs as human companions, but animals and sometimes (sadly) food. In most of their minds, dogs are just scavengers and should eat table scraps that they tossed on the ground. I live in a rural village in China, all of the dogs in the village just roam around free and feed on what they can dig up in the garbage and what their owners have leftover from a meal. It's beyond their comprehension to keep a dog as a companion, to buy special "dog food" for them, to train them, to take them exercising. So the tourists who are used to the local village dogs who pick up their leftovers from the ground don't think twice about tossing a dog some food they're eating.

You can replace China with Morocco and all of this will hold true (except for the dogs as food part). I'm a sucker too every time I go back to Casablanca and try to stay in my lane while driving =). I think this is what differentiates developed from developing countries: The belief that rules are meant to be broken and that if you are important enough you are above the law.

[debs]

hi, i hope he is ok, should be if it was only a bit, keira got my cupbourd open while i was upstairs the other day and when i came back downstairs there were 2 wispa gold wrappers on the floor and she had eaten both bars! she was fine, she must have an iron stomache.

[Sarah]

Hopefully she should be ok, every dog is different, keep an eye on her stools - you will probably notice a difference in them because of this but shouldn't last more than a day or two x

I didn't realise about how the rules were taken in China, I naively presumed people were rather tollerant of them - you learn something new everyday, this is one thing I love about this forum - it gives you an insight as to what different countries are like all over the world

[meeshsalts]

Hi

Dark choc is worse for dogs because of the high cocoa content. Buck my first Husky to be honest ate lots and lots of choc over his life and never a bad reaction to it.

Shaer & Talon are the same and had no ill effects. But as others have said some dogs are made ill by eating choc.

Michelle

[Sqwidge]

I should think he would be ok...Eika ate a square of 70% cocoa dark chocolate once and after i called the vet, she did some calculations and said she should be fine, but if she seems to get sick or whatever to take her in...luckily she was fine!

[Shura100]

Hope Polar is ok. Shura and Lola managed to escape out there cage one time when we were not in and ate nearly a whole tub of cadburys celebrations while we were out. They both had diaorea this cleared the day after in Lola but Shura ended up very hyper active. But they were both fine afterwards xx

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

just keep an eye on polar - if u notice her not eating/drinking normally seeming unlike herself not wanting 2 play or go for walkies ect then i wud worry and ring the vet - if shes still her usual self i wouldnt worry too much - keep us posted

[aikibujin]

Very interesting post. The disregard for rules is the total opposite of what I would have expected from the Chinese people - I don't know why. Good luck with the training, I will be very interested to know if you are able to train a Husky not to take food from anyone.

China is a country of contrasts, opposites, and things that just don't make sense. There are benefits and disadvantages of living here for me, a Chinese American, who can understand a lot of things in China, but who may not be able to go with the flow that well.

I don't think I can train Polar to the point of refusing food from strangers, I don't think I have the needed commitment, the energy, and the time. The best I can hope is to train her with a command to eat, so she will pause when someone offers her food, long enough for me to catch the act and correct it. I have drilled the "leave it" and "release" commands in her so well that even if she sees a bone or is chewing on a bone, she will drop it when I say so.

[aikibujin]

The belief that rules are meant to be broken and that if you are important enough you are above the law.

That really sums it up nicely.

[aikibujin]

Thank you all for the well wishes for Polar. I did look up the toxic level of chocolate for dogs, I think what Polar ate was way below that, but it is still very much reassuring to hear from so many who had similar experiences, and also a good way to vent my frustration.

Polar seems to be doing ok, normal energy levels, stool is normal, so I think she should be fine.

[Mazz]

We had this happen to the family dog when I was about ten. We had a Sussex Spaniel and my cousin gave the dog half of her Hershey bar. My mom knew that chocolate can be fatal to dogs, so she called the vet at home. He told her to get a full glass of water with 3 to 4 tablespoons of salt down the dog's throat. Within ten minutes of the chocolate going down, it came back up as the dog heaved the contents of her stomach as a result of the salt water. Hope Polar is OK. Give him plenty of water to help flush that stuff out as quickly as possible.

[Sarah]

glad he seems to be ok