A little scare earlier in the week sure has shown me what I’m thankful for this holiday season.
While cookies and candy are great for Santa Claus, they aren’t so great for puppy paws, and my 6-month-old Chihuahua apparently has a massive sweet tooth.
Bella’s decision to sample a bag of chocolate fudge cookies landed her a first-class trip to the vet.
I came home from work on my lunch break Monday afternoon to find the evidence strewn across my black suede chair and a smiling dog sitting atop a pile of shredded plastic. She still had half a cookie in her mouth.
Don’t get me wrong, Bella is a very intelligent dog. In fact, she’s too smart for her own good.
The cookies were sealed up inside a plastic zip-lock bag, which was inside a zipped duffel bag that was on top of the black suede chair.
Evidently, Bella smelled the cookies from inside the duffel bag, unzipped the duffel bag, and dragged out the zip-lock bag of cookies where she proceeded to chew through the plastic and eat the cookies.
Believe it or not, this is not the first time Bella has unzipped a bag. I’ve seen the little devil do it.
She puts the zipper in her tiny mouth and pulls with all her strength until she gets some movement out of it. Once she gets it started, she continues until she has whatever it is unzipped. Sometimes I think she’s more determined about doing things than I am.
My first mistake, of course, was not putting the cookies in the cabinet where they belonged.
My second mistake was putting the duffel bag in Bella’s favorite chair. Now that she’s big enough to jump up in the chair, she has claimed it as hers and I often find her curled up in it with a toy of her choosing.
My third mistake was underestimating the intelligence of my pint-sized dog.
When I noticed the half-eaten cookie in her mouth, I tried to take it away. Apparently she knew she had done something wrong, so she jumped off the chair and ran under the couch where I couldn’t get the cookie away from her.
She continued to gorge on her stolen bounty while I surveyed the damage — permanent fudge stains ground into my chair, shredded plastic bag littering my carpet and a possibly dead dog.
I’ve always heard that chocolate is poisonous to dogs, so I immediately called the vet to see what I should do.
It appeared that Bella had eaten about half a dozen cookies, so I knew the vet would probably request that I bring her in immediately.
And that’s just what he said.
Before I even got off the phone Bella had finished the cookie and darted out from under the couch. She made around continuous circles around my kitchen table. Hyperactivity is one symptom of a dog overdosing on caffeine. I knew I had to get her in quick.
I loaded Bella up in her pet carrier and rushed to the vet’s office. She had no idea what her bad decision was about to cost her (or me.)
Luckily, the vet took her immediately once we got to the office.
Once we entered those doors, Bella knew she was in trouble. The vet technician tried to take her out of her carrier, but she threw a nasty little fit and I had to take her out. She scrambled to jump out of my arms and run away, but the vet got a hold of her and I was able to go to the waiting room.
If Bella could detail the rest of the story, I’m sure she would not have nice things to say about the nasty medicine they gave her to make her throw up all that chocolate — and the vet said there was A LOT of chocolate.
I came back to get her at 5 that evening.
Bella must have really made a spectacle of herself because when the vet technician brought her out to me, he placed her in my arms and said “Here’s your evil little dog.”
So I not only own the smartest dog in town, but also the most terrifying.
With that said, Bella and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.
nContact Beth Thomas at bthomas@gwcommonwealth.-com
