# Dozer is a hungry idiot



## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

last night was not fun 

I was in bed, playing on the internet with my phone. I couldn't sleep. It was getting late when I heard Dozer browsing in the trash can. He does this occasionally. He will check to see if any bits of food are at the top of the pile (he never goes for it if he can't easily reach the top). Its usually fine...pasta, bits of meat from scraping dishes from dinner, that kind of thing. Of course I yelled at him to stop. He usually respects the first yell and stops. But last night, he persisted. 

Let me just say that we have tried using trash cans with lids and he always rips the lid off when no one is home. 

I yelled again and he stopped but I did hear some crinkling. 20 minutes pass and its time to pee one last time before I go to sleep. On my way back from the bathroom I happened to gaze over the trash can (he sometimes pulls cans of empty cat food out and I wanted to make sure he didn't) and that's when I noticed something was missing. The HAM SANDWICH!!

My husband had left a half eaten sandwich in his lunch pail on the floor. Why he can't throw his garbage out at work is beyond me. So earlier, I had thrown it in the trash. And yes, it was at the TOP OF THE CAN! But, it was in a thick ziplock baggie so surely that was not an issue. It has never been before. Other than skimming the top of the trash for odd bits of food or the occasional Friskies can, Dozer is a pretty behaved boy (with the exception of his hatred for trash can lids). I have often marveled at the fact that even though he is tall enough, he NEVER counter surfs. I often leave his raw foods defrost on the counter, easily reachable to him and yet he never is tempted. 

But the fact remained, the entire ham and cheese sandwich was missing and so was the bag it was in. Doer must have eaten the whole thing. Out came the hydrogen peroxide. It was 1 am. We went outside and I tipped the bottle into his mouth. He didn't swallow much before heaving his giant head back and forth, covering himself and me in frothy mastiff foam. I tried again but now he was onto me and wouldn't let me near him. I was determined and a little panicky. I tried several times before realizing this was not going to work. I really needed a syringe but I didn't have any (its on the to do list to get some). I went inside and looked around for anything that might be easier to administer this nasty tasting crap to a resistant dog that outweighs me. I considered waking my husband up but that would have been a nightmare unto itself. I found an empty plastic water bottle and went back outside. I made Dozer lay down (not easy since his trust for me was out the window at this point). I rubbed his mouth (his achilles heel) and went for it, tipping the bottles at the corner of his lips. SUCCESS! Had THIS last ditch attempt not worked, I would have woken Gary up to lay on top of Dozer (its how we do his nails). I am not ABOVE waking the old man, just hesitant because he is grumpy to wake. 

We waited in the chilly night. I started seeing drool showstring out from his lips....YES! He walked away and out came a mess. I inspected it to find some bone fragmants from that night's dinner (I do feed raw with gusto but seeing those bone splinters always freaks me out a little) along with a part of packaging from a tube of ground venison (that was bonus as I hadn't notice that missing) and a whole ziblock baggie complete with a smooshed ham and cheese sandwich. It is hard to say if he would have been able to pass it. I am just glad I caught this when I did so I don't have to worry about paying a couple grand to have him opened up OR WORSE...losing my big lug!

Why is he doing this? I think I know. With his weight ever on my mind, I have been holding to a strict diet plan for him. He gets a smidge under 2 pounds of raw food a day. Any more and he will gain weight, any less and I fear for my life. He is showing more and more signs of being hungry all the time. I feel for him, I really do. But his weight scares me. He is overweight by at least 30 pounds or better. We walk almost every day and play in the yard. I have been trying to get him to lose weight since the summer and nothing is working. His thyroid is fine. Losing weight just sucks. SO...no more full trash cans...I may look into a better trash can if anyone has any suggestions. I am wiped out financially (thanks Christmas) so I can't buy a 200 dollar trash can but I may try another lid one and see if Dozer can destroy another one. 

So, Dozer shall live another day. And I get another grey hair or two. 


And in case you don't know who Dozer is, he is my English Mastiff. Here is is completely ticked off because I wanted to take his picture and he wanted to come inside and was tired of me taking his picture. It's all over his face how he feels about having to wait in the snow!











He only gets tied up to eat his dinner and do his business....otherewise, this is what he is normally doing. And he is quite good at it, I must add:


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

I gave up on having a garbage can out when Seamus around. I have pretty much tried them all. He will knock them over to get garbage, he's often hungry for whatever reason, probably all his meds contribute to it. In any case, I thought that about the time I felt like I had him trained to not do it anymore, that would be the time that something dangerous would be in the garbage. 
In your case, rather than worry about how to administer hydrogen peroxide if he gets something potentially bad for him again, I would just move the garbage to a new home. 

My garbage lives under the sink.



wolfsnaps88 said:


> l.I may look into a better trash can if anyone has any suggestions. I am wiped out financially (thanks Christmas) so I can't buy a 200 dollar trash can but I may try another lid one and see if Dozer can destroy another one.


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## EckoMac (Jun 1, 2012)

While it was no doubt a stressful situation when it occured...
this story cracked me up. Your desctiptions of his reactions. I'm still giggling.
I'm glad you got him to pass it, and thank you for making me smile.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

STDPOODAD....wait...your name is STD poo dad??? LOL....I know it means standard poodle but.....you know what? Never mind. I am just really tired and when I am really tired my sense of humor becomes one of a 14 year old boy. 

I appreciate your concern. I may move the trash but since I live in a small place, Not sure where I could move it to. Outside may not be a bad idea. I still plan on the syringes though. Even if I keep him out of the trash, poop happens. Better to be prepared. Who knew a ham sandwich lunch could be considered dangerous? Oh well, this is how we learn. Thanks for the tips. My under sink area is currently full of dog crap I don't even use anymore so maybe I will make it a point to try there!


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

SCARY! (and funny at the same time). Glad it all turned out alright!


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

True,a syringe is always something good to have on hand. I guess I have an advantage, I live by myself and really don't have very much trash. I recycle most things. I can't imagine throwing half a ham sandwich away...LOL, I'd eat it!





wolfsnaps88 said:


> STDPOODAD....wait...your name is STD poo dad??? LOL....I know it means standard poodle but.....you know what? Never mind. I am just really tired and when I am really tired my sense of humor becomes one of a 14 year old boy.
> 
> I appreciate your concern. I may move the trash but since I live in a small place, Not sure where I could move it to. Outside may not be a bad idea. I still plan on the syringes though. Even if I keep him out of the trash, poop happens. Better to be prepared. Who knew a ham sandwich lunch could be considered dangerous? Oh well, this is how we learn. Thanks for the tips. My under sink area is currently full of dog crap I don't even use anymore so maybe I will make it a point to try there!


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

You have a huge hungry idiot and I have a tiny hungry idiot! Last night Buster got on my table and ate 1/2 a loaf of banana bread meant for my son's teacher for Christmas. Since there were no dangerous ingredients I didn't induce vomitting. He had some nasty gas all night long but by all I could tell in the 5 a.m. darkness he did poop this morning so no blockages. Silly dogs.


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

Telling stories now. When Seamus was about a year old, my sister and I made butterscotch chip cookies, had a brain fart and left them on the counter cooling while we did errands. Her poodles Broghan and Tulie were home as well; this was pre-Teaghan. 
When Seamus and I went downstairs to watch tv, he looked like a beer keg on legs if you looked at him from the side. He got me up to go out about 6 times that night, but each time he came in he was a little bit skinnier and less gassy.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

I have a hoover dog so hydrogen peroxide has been a lifesaver, I bought some soon after we got her but it's only had to come out a couple times, she got into the trash and ate a bunch of cooked chicken bones and she's wrecked the trash a few more times. Last week I turned my back on her to rinse off my hands real quick and she helped herself to over a half pound of liver, she's only been raw fed for like 3 months but she must have a stomach of steel, didn't bother her in the least. I can't trust 2 of my dogs around the trash, I put it in the porch or basement (my kitchen is in the middle of these) if I need to stick a dog unsupervised in the kitchen for a bit. I wish we had the space to put it in the cupboards but I think Ripley would figure out how to open it anyways. 

Glad you got it all to come back up, dogs really are a headache sometimes! I don't really know what would help with the weight loss but I wish you luck, I have heard of dogs who's thyroid test came back normal but they actually had issues and improved with treatment so I wonder if something isn't up there anyways, seems weird he wouldn't drop weight on 2 pounds a day, what's he weigh?


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Ha! I suppose we all have "my dog is a hungry idiot" stories. 

Dogs are amazing in what they find to be a good idea to eat. Years ago my lab was outside pooping when I noticed him straining. I went out and (THANK GOD) he had passed a grocery store bag. I didn't even know he ate it! He has since wizened up in his old age. Luckily....

I think if a dog eats cooked chicken bones, wouldn't it be a bad idea to induce vomiting? Maybe slippery elm bark instead? No idea to be honest. 

My kitchen scale has broken so lately I have been eye balling it. I plan to buy an electronic one if i do not get one for Christmas. Dozer also finds things outside to eat. He actually brought home a deer head. A hunter around here somewhere (close...which is kind of scary) must have shot an illegal buck and cut off its head or something because Dozer took off into the woods and was back within ten minutes ( I was about to go after him with the quad as this is not his normal behavior...I do not allow him to just take off like that!). Must have been fueled by hunger and a strong sense of smell because he came back with a deer head! So He has been chewing it for recreation and I guess getting extra calories to boot. Sometimes he needs a good chew though. It's his "thing". He gnaws, Hunter retrieves, and Sargeant scents things out. I think every dog has a "thing". The dogs that are unhappy in this life do not get to do their "thing." So, I let him chew on things like this. I do try to even it out come dinner time but since I am eyeballing it right now...well, I think you get my drift. 

Plus we haven't been walking during hunting season. But now that it is pretty much over, we have started our morning walks again. So, fingers crossed that we all lose some weight


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## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

OMG! Geeezzz, Dozer, don't you just love to make your mama worry. Sounds like something my idiot would do! I've only had to induce vomiting with hydrogen peroxide once... it wasn't fun. Since he had never had it before, it luckily was easy. I put it in a tablespoon thing, and he was somewhat curious what it was, and before he had a chance to get a good whiff, I poured in back in his throat, LOL. Poor guy didn't know what was coming. Luckily he's 16lbs and a bit easier to restrain!


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

After Chimeras peach pit incedent, we simply got a tall childs chair and set out trash can in the same spot on top of the chair, where it has been ever since.

LOL funny about the trash bag though, Cesar did the SAME THING and i had no idea he had eaten it till i found the whole thing wadded up in his poop the next day and i was like 'WTF?" poked it around a bit with a stick till i seen what it was!


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## Felix (Oct 9, 2012)

Hydrogen peroxide soaked up with a slice of bread works like a charm. You can administer a lot and (if they like bread) they will choke it down willingly… well almost. Just use the ends of the bread, I usually throw those out anyway. I used this when my dog ate those face paints on a stick. He wanted to eat the bread right away, then I put the peroxide on it, he was like "what you do that for?!" I firmly said "eat it!" then 10 minutes later up come the face paints


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Oh I bet that was a colorful experience! Lol!


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Could you keep a can under the sink instead? We keep ours under there and have no issues.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Oh Dozer. <3
I think most pet owners have hungry idiots. LOL I'm glad I don't have trash surfers. A closed lid is enough to keep them out... granted it is one that snaps shut. 
Peroxide is a serious must have for all dog owners.


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## porchpotty (Aug 10, 2011)

Happy to have stumbled on this thread. Whew, this made my day! Glad all turned out fine.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

yup, been there, mine swallowed a pb&j sandwich wrapped in plastic, thankfully I had some peroxide on hand. 
I'm glad your pup is ok.


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