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Cancer Sniffers | Doggie Dishes | What Do Dogs Feel? | G.I. Spot | Doggie Glasses? | Heavenly Dog
The Intelligence of Dogs | Women, Dogs, and Spiritual Beliefs | The Left-hander Syndrome
Why We Love the Dogs We Do | Dog as Machine? | What Do Dogs Sense? | Sherlock Dog | Sigmund Dog
Sleeping Dogs | Sleep Thieves | Noah’s Ark and the Wet Nose

 Excerpted from "What Do Dogs Know?":

Compared to their sense of smell, dogs seem to pay a lot less attention to their sense of taste Apparently they believe that if something fits into their mouths, then it is food, no matter what it tastes like. In this, however, they are wrong. Several common forms of people food are bad for dogs. Probably one of the worst offenders is chocolate, in part because people think that they are being nice to their dogs by giving them a bit of chocolate as a treat. (In addition, chocolates are everywhere during hoiliday seasons, and it is easy to leave an open box of chocolates on a low table within easy reach of a dog's mouth.) The caffeine and theobromine (a related compound) contained in a single milk chocolate bar can make a ten-pound dog very sick. Because darker chocolate means a higher concentration of these compounds, an equal amount of baker's chocolate can kill that same ten-pound dog. Onion and garlic are also on the banned list of dog foods. The large amount of sulfur in these vegetables can destroy red blood cells in dogs, causing severe anemic reactions.

Even things that are not food can be tempting to dogs. In Australia, an eighteen-month-old boxer named Kitty had been eating poory, and the medications prescribed by her veterinarian didn't help. Kitty's owners brought her to another veterinarian, who decided to operate. He re removed a twelve-inch bread knife from the dog's belly! Amazingly, there was no serious damage, and at last report Kitty was recovering well.