Some years ago when I had a horse boarded at a horse stables, the owners there had a Dalmatian that had the name of Lightbulb. When I inquired as to why this dog was named so, the owners told us that the dog loved light bulbs and if any were left laying around, the dog would take it in its mouth, break it and proceed to eat it! WOW! Kinda scary. The dog was in good health and I learned that he had been lucky and had not been harmed by this and they were now very careful not to leave any light bulbs lying around.
I once had a Labrador Retriever who was fond of chewing rocks. If she swallowed any, she must have passed them in her stool as there was never a digestive problem. The big problem was, though that after a period of time, she wore her teeth down to nothing. As an old dog, she was literally toothless. Once we discovered this problem, she had already done severe damage to her teeth and there was nothing I could do about the problem but watch to see that she didn't get to any more rocks - not always an easy task, considering that there are rocks everywhere outside!
While visiting one of my clients a couple of months ago, we got to talking about our dogs. He is a resident of a gated community with a clubhouse and common recreation area along their private man-made lake. He proceeded to tell me that he walks his dogs around the community every morning early before he heads off to work. One day he chose to stroll in the common recreation area with his dogs, enjoying the view and the well-manicured grounds. Before too many days had passed, he saw that one of his dogs was acting oddly which made him think that the dog had some pain, probably in the stomach area so off they went to the veterinarian's office. After examination and a full set of x-rays, the vet revealed the problem to this gentleman. The dog had ingested a fish hook, barb and all and it was embedded in the dog's stomach lining. Of course, my client suffered a large veterinary bill for the surgery - fortunately the dog has fully recovered. Needless to say, my client no longer walks along those common areas where people fish from the lake.
Years ago, I had a standard Black and Tan Dachshund named Andy Do VonSchnappen. At that time we lived in a two story house with very steep stairs. Andy Do quickly learned that he could easily go upstairs, but when he came down, his short legs couldn't handle the descent and he would slide all the way down on his chest - Andy Do didn't like this at all! So rarely would he go upstairs and if so I would have to carry him down. Andy Do was an inside dog. One day while I was at work, Andy Do forgot about his trouble with stairs and climbed the stairway to see what was upstairs. When he wanted to come down, he was terrified and nobody was there to rescue him. The landing at the top of the stairs had beautiful gold carpeting. When I arrived home from work that day, I found a very distraught Andy Do at the top of the stairs, lying on a wood floor. Andy Do had ripped up all of the carpeting and from what remains were strewn around, it appeared he had ingested a good portion of that carpeting. Yes, Andy Do managed to pass the carpet without any bodily harm. Where the harm was inflicted was to my wallet.
There was once a white Maltese Terrier named Ace, who when his master was at work, pulled a potted plant out of the planter by it's stem, and proceeded to run around the whole apartment while shaking the plant furiously as he ran. You can imagine the shock when his master arrived home to find potting soil covering every square inch of the living room floor, with plenty strewn around in other rooms as well! What a mess!
The Poodle that I now have has a deep affection for upholstery. She has chewed the stuffing out of three dog pillows, started pulling the stuffing out of my old couch (I replaced it with a leather one), picked the batting out of a home made quilt and pulled the wool out of my Uggs slippers. I can't even begin to think what she'd do to my auto upholstery, so when she rides with me, she goes into a crate. I realize that I'm with her in the car, but if she's in the back seat, she could do some damage before I could get the car stopped to stop her! She stays in the crate!
With all those stories being said, the point is that the dogs just don't know what's good for them and what's bad for them. If it appears to be a curiosity, or smells good, or maybe just because it's there - they will have a tendency to mouth it, chew it, and/or eat it. That doesn't make them bad dogs, what it does is make it our responsibility to keep these temptations out of their reach. We need to find out what their passions are and if we can't correct and teach them not to do these things, we need to make their surroundings safe for them.
With the Dalmatian, his family makes absolutely sure that burnt out light bulbs are disposed where he can't find them. My business client doesn't walk his dogs where there is a possibility of hazardous discards being ingested. I purchased a gate to block Andy Do from the stairway when nobody was at home. The Poodle, while in the house is with me in the same room at all times where I can keep an eye on her. Further if you have a dog that has a passion for chewing water hoses - keep the hoses put away and out of reach when you can't monitor the dog. If he loves chewing shoes, keep the loose shoes in an enclosed closet, out of reach. If he likes stuffed animals, keep them in a closed room when the dog is in the house - you get the idea. We are blessed to have dogs as man's best friend, let's return the favor by keeping them safe from harm!
