Something to chew over

Many foods are toxic to canines, and most owners know to avoid feeding them to their dogs. But when accidents inevitably happen, common sense is key, says

- David Tomlinson

EASTER bunnies, made from chocolate, are not normally the concern of this Sporting Dog columnist: after all, proper sporting dogs much prefer proper bunnies. That’s at least what I thought but now I’m not so sure, having heard the story of a friend’s labrador. The dog not only stole his daughter’s chocolate bunny but ate the whole thing, paper and all. No evidence remained of the crime, just a guilty-looking dog. While the daughter bemoaned the loss of her Easter chocolate, her parents debated whether the dog should go to the vet for stomach-pump treatment. However, as the dog showed no signs of any ill effects, it was spared a visit to the surgery.

My pal was well aware that chocolate can be poisonous to dogs but he did his homework. Such chocolate Easter bunnies are invariably made of cheap chocolate (connoisseurs may dispute it should even be described as ‘chocolate’), which means that instead of the main ingredient being cocoa beans (which are toxic to dogs) it’s a mixture of vegetable fats flavoured with cocoa powder. It’s not something that will do a dog any good but it’s not likely to do much harm to a big, healthy labrador either. The chief concern was the foil the bunny was wrapped in but labradors have tough constitutions, and this didn’t prove to be a problem. The dog lost neither his health nor his appetite, and the foil just passed through.