One of my favorite things about being a dog mom is rewarding my pups with a treat when they do something good.  My boy dog, Vino, lives for treats.  Lola will take treats, but she is not nearly as much of a die-hard fan of treats as Vino.  Over the years I have grown and learned so much about my dogs and dogs in general.  I remember when I first got Vino.  I was around 20 years old and had no idea how to take care of a dog, much less myself some days.  But he was so cute, and I had to have him.  Selfish, I know.  I remember I would get Vino the cheaper food and treats because that was all I could afford at the time.  I started getting him rawhide chew chips and he loved them.  But soon after Vino became sick.  Nothing serious at first, but after time it became more serious.  He was having loose stool very often and eventually stopped wanting to eat his food, which is not like him at all.  I took him to the vet and we started to narrow down what could have caused this.  Finally, I mentioned the rawhide treats, and the vet stopped me right there.  She started to explain that rawhide does not break down easily and can tear apart the lining of a dog’s esophagus, can tear apart their stomach lining and even worse get lodged in places throughout the digestive track.  She thought this was what was happening to Vino.  So, after some IV fluids she sent us on our way.

Vino was okay after a couple of days and I NEVER touched rawhide treats again.  Things like this you just sometimes find out through experience unfortunately.  After this incident I started reading up on things that could make a dog sick that I might have not known.  By the time Lola came around, I had a pretty good grip on things.  No chocolate, grapes, raisins, raw meat, garlic, onions, salty foods or snack and no peanut butter.  The peanut butter one was weird to me.  As there are lots of treats that are now replacing raw hide with peanut butter-based substances and some chew toys have a place for the owner to put peanut butter.

I think all the listed items above are meant to not be eaten in excess and can differ from breed to breed and their size.  I know that Lola, my tiny chihuahua, does not do well with the peanut butter treats.  She loves them, but her stool is usually softer after she eats one.  But she will chew on a chew stick as Vino will not.  Keeping an eye on your pups and noticing and change in behavior is key.

One funny story on the raw meat thing…..When Vino was around 2 years old, he somehow figured a way to jump from the top of the couch onto the kitchen counter.  I left a personal size raw pizza on the counter while the oven pre heated.  When I came back to the kitchen the pizza was gone.  I thought someone was playing a trick on me.  But no one was around.  I couldn’t figure out what had happened and was completely freaked out.  Well I caught Vino trying to do the same thing a couple weeks later.  I was thankful he didn’t get sick and that there was not some crazy ghost in my apartment stealing my food 😊.  Thanks for dropping in this week.  Please share any food or treat that you know can be potentially harmful to a dog.  Or a funny story you have of your dog and food!