Just a friendly reminder that chocolate is poisonous to dogs – so no matter how much they plead for some of your Easter eggs, don’t let them have any at all. Give your dog some doggy chocolate or other treats instead. We can help you with proper training that’s vital for your dog to leave forbidden foods alone.
Why you should never give chocolates to your dog
Did you have a good Easter weekend?
Who got an Easter Egg? I did – and I’m proud of myself for not eating it all yet! I also made crème egg brownies – a totally indulgent treat and something you can’t eat too much of at once. I dread to think how many calories there are in each bite – but they are delicious!
But Gus didn‘t get any chocolate. Not because I didn’t want to share my goodies with him, but because chocolate is poisonous to dogs.
How is chocolate bad for dogs?
Chocolate contains a substance called theobromine, which we humans easily metabolise. But dogs can’t. (Dog chocolate is safe because it has had the theobromine removed.)
Theobromine stimulates the heart and nervous system. Dogs are more sensitive than humans to the effects, and chocolate can cause seizures, coma and death from heart failure.
Plain and dark chocolate contain more theobromine and are more dangerous than milk chocolate if your dog ingests it. Theobromine stays in the dog’s system for a long time and is a cumulative poison, so chocolate poisoning can occur if small amounts of chocolate are fed repeatedly.
Cocoa powder and baking chocolate also contain theobromine.
And it’s not just food stuffs – the cocoa husk mulch sold in garden centres is highly toxic to dogs.
The best way to keep your dog safe if to keep all chocolate and cocoa products out of reach of your pooch.
Proper training is vital for your dog to leave forbidden foods alone
Teaching your dog a solid “leave it” cue is also vital so you can call your dog away from anything they should not have, chocolate or not! If you want to know how, why not join the next Perfect Pet course starting next Saturday 10th April?
It will be online again as we still aren’t allowed to run in person classes, but we have added an additional Q and A session each week, so you get 12 sessions in the course, plus access to a private webpage where you can rewatch all the sessions again and view the videos of the games we teach as many times as you want.
Below is a list of most dangerous to least dangerous chocolate to dogs:
· Cocoa powder
· Unsweetened baker’s chocolate
· Semisweet chocolate
· Dark chocolate
· Milk chocolate
· White chocolate
Enjoy your own Easter Eggs but give your dog some doggy chocolate or other treats instead.
There’s more information about foods poisonous to dogs on our Freebies page.
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
