VERY OT another silly QI story

Oh, Leslie, what a lovely story! Thank you for sharing........

Laurie G. in Ca

Leslie, have I told you lately how much I enjoy your doggie stories? They're just wonderful! :)

Wonderful picture story, Leslie. I love the way you get the four characters described so beautifully - individuals indeed - and that it is so easy to get a mind picture of the event. Thank you for a smile to begin the day. . In message , Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. writes

Leslie, aren't those QIs just like kids with fur! Each has their own personality.

Your story reminds me when I was training racehorses, of a couple memorable characters in my barn. Mohawk Hanover came to me in the middle of the night, literally. He had been put on a horse van in Chicago and slowly made his way out to California- it took ten days. Meaning he never laid down, never rested, never walked for ten days. He was a sorry, sick, lame and untrusting soul. He and I worked together for a year. His stall was right next to my tackroom where I lived. We grew to trust together, he and I worked and got him sound, his coat sleek and shiny again. [Yes, the owners went after the transport compnay in court and won for cruelty to animals] Mo liked whatever I was eating. Except tuna sandwiches. But he ate everything including pizza. Loved coffee. And each morning had orange juice and a plain donut. He had his regular feed and hay, but there was basically nothing off limits to "I'll have some of what you have" from him;)

Thanks for the memories G> I love fresh cherries. They are pretty dear this time of year, but I

What a lovely story Leslie. I do hope the "end" of the story doesn't include a roll of paper towels, a bucket of lysol and a mop! LOL

Merry Christmas

Great story! I could just picture the whole thing going on. LOL I had a German Shepard who loved olives. I'd toss him an olive and he'd be rolling it around in his mouth like an old codger trying to dislodge something from under his dentures. Then he'd tilt his head back and "THWOOP" spit the seed out like we did with watermelon seeds when we were kids, thump his tail and wait for another. Donch just love these HB critters LOL

Val

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My grandmother had a cherry tree, and we'd spend early summer sitting in her back yard, eating cherries.

One day, her beagle started picking up cherries off the ground and bringing them to us. This wasn't a fetching dog, so we weren't sure what she wanted. Finally my mom figured out that the dog wanted them pitted! We'd pit the cherries, and the dog happily gulped them down. Then she'd wander around the yard, looking for another cherry to bring to us. She never wanted the cherries we'd picked, just the ones she found herself. :)

Oh that's another lovely story Kathy! Clever little things aren't they? >g< . In message , Kathy Applebaum writes

Connie, I thought of you yesterday.... I was cruising thru WalMart and saw a red plastic chips and dip bowl that I bought for Hoover. It's fairly large and has a small bowl formed into the center of the larger bowl and cost only $2.50. That inner bowl was enough to slow his eating quite a bit. In another couple of days I can give you a 'toot' report and see if his slower eating slows down the other end as well!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

What a sweet story, Leslie!! You and your Furbabies never fail to give me a giggle, sigh or sniff!! :)

I do have one thing, though, and I *could* be wrong about *how* dangerous it could be ... cherry pits contain minute amounts of cyanide. I'm not sure how much would be dangerous ... and I really don't think that the odd pit would be hazardous to big doggies like the FurBabies ... but I thought it was worth mentioning.

I went looney-tunes looking up things that were bad for doggies after a friend told me that onions were VERY dangerous ... who would have thunk it? I've been givin' Buddy samplings of my spaghetti for YEARS now and one of the main ingredients is ... you guessed it! Onions!! So, I'm paranoid now! : /

Hugs!!! Connie

After 10 years of watching birds eat all her cherries before she ever got to pick one, Grandma chopped down her tree in a fit of rage while ranting at the birds that sat in the tree until it was actually falling down. She never had the pleasure of eating even one cherry from her tree no mater what methods of scaring the birds she tried.

Your story of cherries that ripen and fall from the tree actually amazes me. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Howdy!

Our spaniel, Freckles, loved to eat sunflower seeds; just like I do, she dropped the shells on the ground, ate the seeds inside. Stan used to beg for the sunflower seeds, too, until he realized they were more trouble than they were worth. He will accept shelled seeds from me but tends to lose them somewhere in his mouth before they get to his teeth, finding this very puzzling.

R/Sandy-- reminded to wash Stan's quilt which is kinda' muddy

Howdy!

Question about that chip and dip bowl: Does Hoover prefer the ready-made dip or does he like to prepare his own?

R/Sandy --trained to cater to Stan, who prefers bean dip

This tree was well over 30' tall, and about as big around. The birds probably got about half, and there were still more than the family could use. I'd spend the early summer picking them, and the local market would buy them from Grandma.

I figured the pits probably aren't a great dog's diet - but, my dog eats absolutely everything that drops on the floor - or in the yard. When the acorns were falling off the trees at the dog park, he spent half his time cracking the shells to eat the nuts! Who knew! The first day, I was sure I'd be cleaning up throw-up hours after we got home, but it never happened.

Onions? That's the first I have heard about onions being bad for dogs. Liam will occasionally pick up a piece of onion from the kitchen floor if I'm chopping & a piece or two goes astray. I think I read something about either French Fries or just potatoes being bad for dogs too. Of course, that was after Liam snatched a slice of raw potato that missed the bowl. I know about raisins, grapes & chocolate - what other things are bad for dogs? (Besides fist sized toys that they pick up at the dog park & swallow, only to present it to his mama at 4:00 in the morning - DH woke me to tell me that "my dog" had thrown up. At first, I thought it was part of his insides, it was so big, then I remembered seeing him running around at the park with a toy that looked suspiciously like what was now on the carpet! I was grateful it came out the front end though.)

Pauline Northern California

Leslie, I loved your story and shared it with my DH. I also have a story to tell about my little Corki (he's a one year old Corgi/Doxy mix.)

One night my DH couldn't decide what he wanted to eat. I named off a bunch of stuff from the other room where the pantry is located. Finally, I came to the smoked oysters and DH agreed on those. As I was opening the tin, I poured some of the excess liquid into Corki's dish. I was using a fork to remove the oysters from the tin onto a plate for DH when one of the oysters slipped down into Corki's dish. I decided I'd let Corki have at it. As I was leaving the room, Corki gently pulled the oyster out of his dish onto the floor. I stepped into the living room to hand DH his plate and turned around and headed back into the kitchen and noticed the oyster was still there on the floor and so was a puddle of piddle! lol I guess he really didn't like the oyster! He loves tangerines and my cashews though....Lord forbid I eat them without sharing! lol

Launie, in Oregon

Oh my gosh Launie - that is so funny. I guess he told you what he thought of oysters!

Ice cream, chocolate, antifreeze, mothballs, potpourri oils, coffee grounds, homemade play dough, fabric softener sheets, dishwashing detergent, batteries, cigarettes, alcoholic drinks. The stuff inside microwave heating pads. The stuff inside blue ice and other cold packs.

If a product is for use only on dogs, it should never be used on cats; if a product is for use only on cats, it should never be used on dogs. That includes flea and tick treatments.

Christmas tree tinsel and plastic Easter basket "grass".

Human medicines, prescription or not, that you may drop or spill on the floor. Painkillers, cold medicines, antidepressants, vitamins and diet pills can be lethal to animals, even in small doses

Mistletoe, most any lily, and a large number of other plants. There are toxic plants lists online for pets.

Mice or rats that have eaten D-con or other rodent poison. This sounds like a no-brainer but many people with pets, or pets nearby, will put out rodent poison thinking the rodent will eat the poison and immediately die but usually it takes a while and the rodent may wander into view of the pet. The pet will pounce on the rodent to kill it, and then the pet is poisoned. My brother lost a dog because because his neighbor put out poison and a poisoned mouse wandered into the dog pen. Brother saw the mouse go into the pen, but could not get to the dog in time to keep it from biting the mouse. Even the vet school hospital 5 minutes away could not save the dog. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Your "toy story" reminded me of something that happened the other day ... we came home from being out for about 3 hours (which to a dog, is a LOT of time to hunt around, I'm sure!) and find Buddy sitting in the corner of the living room, looking really downcast and guilty. So we look around the usual places for where he might have hwarked some kibble, peed, gotten into the trash (he especially loves my DS' bathroom trash - go figger), or what have you ... nothing. The big problem with that is that he is one of the friendliest dogs. We've taught him not to jump on friends or strangers, but he jumps up on us (since we actually enjoy it) and wags his tail and usually will go get his favorite squeaky toy, when we come home - after being gone for five minutes or hours.

So of course, his stupid humans had to discuss this. What in the world is wrong with Buddy? We talk to him for at least an hour, telling him he's a good boy and that everything's all right (in case he thought he was in trouble). Finally, my DD looks very, very carefully at Buddy and simply holds out her hand, saying "Give." Out of Buddy's mouth pops a seedpod (with burrs) the size of a child's fist. The guilty look is gone, and Buddy is once again wagging his tail, saying "hi" to his humans!

We have no earthly idea how long he sat there, waiting for one of his humans to play the game and say "Give." We also have no idea where in the world he got the seedpod, either. Though we ARE looking in DS' direction - he collects EVERYTHING and I can easily see the seedpod coming out of his collection. It wouldn't surprise me if he trolled it out of the trash later that evening!

But yeah, apparently onions are supposed to be bad for dogs (seedpods probably are too!). I think it's like chocolate, which I've heard is accumulative. A dog can eat a little bit of chocolate here and there, but it collects in his system until it's an "overdose." Apparently, from what I've heard, they can't process out the chocolate so it stays residually in their bodies until they get a "bit too much." I think Debi M would be the resident authority on this!

Hugs!! Connie :)

peppermints,