Monday Mischief: This Dog is Nuts
The WienerDad has been traveling for work quite a lot this year, his most recent week being the third week of August. He usually flies out on a Monday morning and returns late Friday night. The Sunday night before is usually spent at home – doing laundry, packing, etc.
Well, on this particular pre-travel Sunday, we decided we’d go out to eat and just get out of the house for a while together – believe me, that doesn’t happen often around here. The wieners are left with free reign of the house while we’re gone, and this is normally no problem. We always return to the house and the dogs (and the house) are in the same condition we left them.
Not this time.
WienerDad had packed before we left to go out to eat, and he had packed several bags of mixed nuts in his suitcase for snacks throughout the week. Well, not exactly a suitcase… a garment bag, but you get what I’m saying. The nuts were in three Ziploc bags, each bag containing a combo of plain almonds, smoked almonds, and walnuts.
If you know what a garment bag is like, you know that it folds over and fastens together. WienerDad had not fastened it together yet, because there would be a few last minute items to pack right before leaving in the morning. He also left it lying on the bedroom floor. Not thinking, we left the bedroom door open when we left.
Somehow, even though we’ve had Austin since December 2012, we tend to forget his insatiable food drive and penchant for mischief. We are just too spoiled to what LittleBear was like… he had an insatiable food drive, but no penchant for mischief; and what Li’l Girl is like – sassy and bossy, but not a mischief-maker.
We stayed out longer than we usually do, which was still not very long. We came home, and the wieners were boundlessly happy to see us, as usual, but we knew something was up.
It took us a few minutes to find this:
(This is a later re-enactment, as we didn’t catch him in the act that night…
but it wasn’t hard to get him to do this.)
I get panicky and immediately start scouring the internet to see if almonds and/or walnuts are toxic to dogs. Well, almonds are not, but they cannot be digested and can possibly cause an obstruction. Super. Walnuts are also not toxic by themselves, but the husks/shells can be toxic if they are moldy. The mold contains mycotoxins that can cause neurological symptoms such as tremors, seizures, and vomiting. Well, he didn’t eat any shells, so that hopefully shouldn’t be a problem. There is always the possibility of trace contamination, but I’m not going to get too worried about that just yet. However, like the almonds, the walnuts are indigestible by dogs and have the possibility of causing an obstruction.
I knew the next day or two would consist of worry, waiting, and poop-watching. All dog owners understand poop-watch. Sometimes a particular poop-watch event is worrisome enough to be memorable, even years later. “Remember PoopWatch ’97, hon?” “Oh yeah, when Slinky ate a HotWheels. Sure, who could forget?”
This poop-watch wasn’t quite a monumental event, but worrisome nonetheless. I really didn’t want to be dealing with surgery for an intestinal blockage with WienerDad out of town.
Thankfully, it wasn’t necessary. Over the next couple of days, Austin continued to create poops filled with whole almonds. Completely whole. Not the slightest bit chewed or damaged in any way. And uhh… almonds are pointy at one end. He got very lucky that the pointy ends were faced inwards in the poop. The walnut pieces were there too, but were harder to distinguish. I know… disgusting visual. Be glad I’m not cursing you with photos of his PayDay bars.
Austin is fine, no worse for wear. He has simply taught us another lesson. If there is any kind of food… anywhere… in anything… it MUST be behind a closed door. All we had to do was close the bedroom door before we left and my husband’s nuts would’ve been left untouched. Heh.
This post has been included (quite late, I might add) in the Monday Mischief Blog Hop,
brought to you by Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, and My Brown Newfies.
Oh dear, that was not a good move! I guess that new garment bag will be coming out of the treat allowance which will really stink! Kind of like when I ate all the jellybeans at Easter last year…never ever touched them and then one day I ate them all. Sometimes the devil does get into us dogs but as long as no one was hurt, life goes on.
Yeah, WienerDad wasn’t happy. He’s had that particular garment bag for a long time and really likes it. He doesn’t want to get a new one, because he likes that one so much. I’m thinking that maybe a tailor could repair it and make it (mostly) like new.
But no worries, he didn’t stay mad for long. We can never stay upset those stinkin’ cute faces for long. Besides, it really was our fault for not thinking to shut the bedroom door.
You ate a whole bunch of jellybeans?? Yum!! Can’t say I blame you. Glad you were okay afterward, though! Probably just a *really* upset tummy.
Oh Oh what a cute faces of innocence. I say it happens. Happy Monday. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar
BTW: did you get your painting 🙂
Yes, these things just happen sometimes. Mostly we were worried because he ate SO many.
Yes, we did get the painting (thank you!!) and I’m going to try to get a good picture of it so I can share it on the blog this week.
If an event ends in Poop Watch, it definitely counts as serious mischief! Glad everything came out okay in the end, so to speak.
Adorable pics and the captions are too funny. 🙂
Haha… yep. And it was a gross poop-watch indeed… whole almonds, I tell ya!
It’s amazing how they just INHALE food, isn’t it? Whole almonds. Who’d a thunk it?
Right? I can’t imagine swallowing almonds whole! It’s a miracle he didn’t choke! But he inhales all food that way, so I’m not surprised he didn’t even attempt to chew them up.
Oh, hounds, noses, and appetites! Besides being an RN (meaning I’m rarely not on poop watch whether canine or human), I have 20 hounds of varying sizes here; 4 of whom are Dachshunds (Wyatt is an adoptable mix). I completely understand the worry and yet, yet….the image of them finding such a trove of treasure, left for them on the floor, noses twitching, teeth tearing….oh, dear. So GLAD all is well.
20?!?!?! I’m going to have to guess that you do rescue :). OMD, I can’t imagine having to worry about what 20 different dogs might ingest when I’m not looking.
Bless you, bless you for both passions! Rescuing dogs and being a registered nurse! But egads woman, when do you sleep??
Oh, the pictures add so much to this post! Mischievous little nuts! ;0)
My friend’s dog Jojo once ate an entire bag of cashews. She called me over to her place when she noticed he seemed really sick and wasn’t moving. I researched cashew consumption in dogs and turns out they paralyze a dog’s hind legs! Thankfully it’s a temporary side effect and he recovered just fine.
I definitely understand poop-watch! We’ve all done it many a time! Glad the babies are OK!
Oh no!! Thank dog the paralytic effect was only temporary and Jojo recovered okay! That would’ve scared the bejuju out of me!
There were no cashews in the bag Austin got into, thankfully… or macadamias or pistachios. None of the nuts that are known to be toxic. I was mostly worried about the almonds because he ate SO many… I was thinking, “Oh Lord, obstruction here we come!” But no. All pooped out, lol.
So did you only check one doggie’s poop? When you have more than one you can never be sure if one dog drew another into mischief. 🙂 We have done the poop watch. Far too many times….lol. Glad Austin is OK.
Ha! Yes, we checked both of their poops, just in case. And it was indeed ALL Austin. Never saw a single almond in Li’l Girl’s poops.
With retrievers out in the field, I bet you have REALLY watch what they might decide to chomp on out there.
Great photos, but how frightening! Reminds of of the time the kids left out a whole bag of M&Ms… Guess Sherman was not allergic to chocolate!
Oh no! I have always been afraid of that happening. We keep the chocolate stowed away up high, just in case! Glad Sherman was okay!!
Oh my word. I couldn’t stop laughing. Loved your descriptions.
At our house it seems we are almost always on poop watch with Delilah. You just can’t trust that girl. Monday night she got into a bottle of Jojoba oil. This oil was sitting on the counter in the bathroom for the last six months, with no issues. Tuesday night Delilah gets a wild hair across her ass and decides to destroy the bottle. There is Jojoba oil all over the dog bed and I’m calling the vet to see if it’s harmful. Like the nuts, it’s non-digestable, not like the nuts it’s liquid but I still have to watch her to make sure she isn’t lethargic or vomiting yada yada yada.
I hope your husband understands how valuable his nuts are and takes better care of them in the future. 😉
Oh no!! Oh hon, you might need to get ready for some loose poops, lol. Or no poop at all… just oil. To be extra gross, it’ll just slide right out of her. Seriously, you might have leakage everywhere if she ingested a lot. I do hope you’re going to post on this!