Paris Goodnight: dog treats of the rarest variety – Salisbury Post [Boss Insurance]

Even though we try to get our new dog to stop chewing things, it seems we haven’t been able to keep him away from anything interesting he can put his muzzle on.

His latest misdeed was getting into something potentially harmful, but what could be the appeal of a sealed packet of hand warmers? Although he never knew exactly where it came from, he nevertheless managed to open a few and swallow what he considered a tasty treat inside. Luckily he didn’t seem to like the content enough to eat it all, so when the call was made to emergency vet poison control, which I think my wife now has on speed dial, the verdict was just watch it and to make sure he hasn’t started acting like something’s wrong, which he never seems to do, no matter what he snacks on. I’m just glad they didn’t ask us to make sure her bottom wasn’t too hot to the touch.

We have to try to find something to laugh about after so many times we’ve walked in to find shredded paper or plastic wrap in the floor and figure out exactly who the culprit is.

One of the craziest items I always thought he could find appealing were the TV remotes, which we have on the speed control as he went through at least a few that were left too low . What could be tasty for a dog in such a gadget?

There was also a pack of hooks, but it was so long ago that I blamed Jojo when it was actually Kygo, our daughter’s dog, who got into such a thing and had to have his stomach x-rayed just to make sure there wasn’t any. stuck inside (they weren’t). I guess in my mind it sounds like something Jojo would have done since he never seems to learn from any of his pseudo-culinary mistakes.

When my daughter left a bag full of dog food on hand once when Jojo was younger, he decided to finish the whole supply. Apparently you could see evidence of this escapade by looking at his stomach and it led to a real trip to the vet.

It was around this time that we decided to get pet insurance, which is not a term that I even less imagine being a paying customer, but since then it has paid off , if only for online support on occasions where we need to ask something like, “Is it harmful if a dog eats a 90-day supply of dog vitamins all at once?”

This plastic pill bottle was still unopened when he bit his teeth into it one day recently while we were out (the answer was that at his weight, none of the amounts of vitamins would turn out to be toxic) . Again, it didn’t seem any worse for wear after finishing that little treat, plastic cap and all.

And I’m still convinced that pet insurance may have been one of the best investments we’ve ever jumped on, although I considered it a bit crazy at the time – and I only heard that “we” had paid for it afterwards, of course.

All of these escapades reminded me of Dr Steinman from the Salisbury Veterinary Clinic who showed me years ago what the insides of a dog looked like after swallowing a container of Gorilla Glue, which contained something that seemed very attractive to dogs. It was quite the mass and had the exact shape of a dog’s stomach as it expanded to fill the area.

I can’t imagine any of the items Jojo has tweaked have anything tasty inside. I think it’s more that he shows us that he’s not happy to be left alone with all the potential playthings to sniff out, not that he doesn’t have a lot of acceptable chew toys to reach that would suffice for most other pets. One trick my wife has tried is putting decoy items in trash cans to see if it can trick him into trying something he might think is misbehaving but really isn’t. It works sometimes.

We’ve all heard that chocolate isn’t good to feed dogs, but who could imagine you had to go through the stages of researching things like vitamins, hand-warming ingredients, and electronics.

Now when my co-workers hear my cell phone ring and then my “oh my god” response tone, they start laughing and know exactly what it is. Maybe one day he’ll get over such shenanigans, but until then, if someone walks into our house and notices that any item smaller than a watermelon is on top of the refrigerator or on a shelf outside of range, you will know why.

Paris Goodnight is the Post’s editor.