We don’t have any counter surfers.
I should probably knock on wood as I say that.
I can leave dinner or some freshly baked goods on the counter without fear of them being stolen.
The floor, however, is fair game.
Anything dropped on the floor has the potential to be hoovered up in .02 seconds.
I wish I could say that we are extremely cautious with what we use around the house. That we ensure to only cook with pet friendly foods and utilize pet friendly household products. That isn’t the case.
A few months ago, I was baking some yummy treats to share with neighbors. The fluffies were in their usual spot; at my feet while I baked. I must have dropped something because both dogs sprung up from their napping positions and dove toward the same area. I was a too slow on my ‘leave-it’. Thankfully, I was able to recover the item (a piece of uncooked spaghetti) before it was swallowed.
The fluffies have also gotten into their fair share of snacking mischief as they’ve gone through their puppy stages. Between underwear, socks, squeakers, stuffing, and even fur, they’ve chewed through it all.
Thankfully, swallowing a foreign object doesn’t seem to be on their agenda.
Do you know what to look out for to ensure your pup hasn’t consumed something they shouldn’t?
Petplan recently released “Eat This, Not That“, a guide on pet health hazards. This comprehensive, easy to follow guide lists foods and household objects that are unsafe for your four-legged friend. They also ensure you know what to look for to avoid a potentially scary situation.
This guide is a great resource for new pet owners or for those of us who want a quick refresher every now and then.
Has your pet ever snacked on anything they shouldn’t? How did you handle the situation?
BOL! Well, as you recently read on my blog, I know all about counter surfers!! No food gets left on my counters! 😉
The floor is always fair game for our pups I think! They are pretty quick on the draw.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I do remember your counter surfers 😉
We don’t have any counter surfers, but the three of them will eat anything that is dropped on the floor or anything that’s not food! We have to be very careful around here and not leave anything out that they can destroy!
Thankfully, non-food objects haven’t been too tempting, but I can never be so sure!
I had one fosterr puppy several years ago who loved electric cords, How he stayed alive I’ll never know.
Oh no! That’s a scary snacking habit.
Love “the floor is fair game”. So true, any dog owner knows this one. Great post.
It’s so true! Every dog owner certainly knows 😉
First of all – Harley can’t really reach a counter BOL but Leo could, yet he didn’t. Like you, the floor is an entirely different subject. I’ve taught Harley to look at me first for approval. If it’s something on his “menu” that he enjoys (a piece of fruit, veggie, etc) then I tell him “help yourself” If it’s something he shouldn’t have I scream “leave it” and run to try and beat him to it BOL
BOL sounds like my leave-it tactic 😉
Having corgis, I’m fairly safe from counter surfing, although one time Wilson moved a chair so he could jump up and get the cat food. My guys have a fairly good leave-it command so stuff dropped in the kitchen is usually retrievable. However all bets are off outside when something delectable like deer poop is available. They quickly forget what leave-it means! And Jimmy could find a single chicken bone in an acre of land! Those are tough to get back and are a lot more dangerous than deer poop!
So true! People used to throw chicken bones in the grass outside our apartment. I always had to be super careful that Mauja didn’t grab one.
Mr. N isn’t allowed in the kitchen and I make sure he’s occupied with something else if I’m baking (baker’s chocolate!). He generally has a good leave it though which comes in handy. He found a dead cat/dog(?) on the beach the other day. It was so bloated it was hard to tell what it was….
That’s really sad 🙁
I can’t believe those big dogs don’t counter surf, you are so lucky!
Harley and Shasta are too small for counter surfing but garbage diving is a whole different story. Harley’s disgusting habit involves feminine products. Thankfully this has not led to any emergency surgeries or vet trips prior to me smartening up and making sure each has lids. We are also grateful they haven’t learned how to open the lids!
Thunder was a terrible counter surfer and he was tall enough to get all the way to the back. Luckily he just liked to take things and run around with them in his mouth. He never ate them and one day the behavior went away. 🙂
When Haley was young and before she was trained not to counter-surf, she ate a whole plate of dark chocolate brownies off the kitchen counter. Luckily we discovered it not long after she ate them and called our emergency vet. After giving her some hydrogen peroxide and taking her outside to ‘get rid of the brownies’, she was fine. Very scary though.
She’s trained now not to take anything off tables or counters and if something falls on the floor, she’ll wait and ask before she eats it.
Jack is a hoover to anything on the floor, so I have to be careful too. Maggie examines everything thoroughly, so I don’t have to worry about her. Thanks for sharing this guide.
I’ve had to give Theo hydrogen peroxide twice to induce vomiting. The first time he swallowed the leg of a dog plush toy in one gulp. The second time he had the empty bag of grapes. He swallowed at least 50-60 of them. Since I am uncomfortable forcing something down his throat, I soak a small piece of bread in the correct amount of hydrogen peroxide and he gobbles it down. (He isn’t a picky eater.)
Leo is a total countersurfer. And he’s tall, so he can pretty much reach anything. We stash stuff in the microwave to keep it from him.
Last week we started our older dog, Mia, on arthritis medication, which I feed her in a piece of string cheese. Yesterday, she wasn’t coming in from the backyard to get it, so I set it down on the kitchen counter. See where this is going?
I went in the other room to finish getting ready for work and I heard Leo on the counter. Totally spaced that I’d left CHEESE out there. So… Leo got a little dose of an anti-inflammatory. To think, some dogs need to be coerced to take pills.
Luke is giving us a run for our money where this is concerned. We are currently having our porch finished, and do you know how sloppy contractors are? I am out scouring the yard for debris daily, because even when I think I’ve found everything, Luke will find something else. We are working hard on “leave it” but we still have work to do!