Earlier this evening I had Aja (8-month-old GSD) loose in the house for a bit while I was taking care of the rabbits.
I obviously wasn't watching her the whole time, but she was laying quietly in the next room so I didn't think she was getting into trouble.

Once she got up and started sniffing around I put her back into her crate.

A bit later my mom goes through one of her bags (on the floor) and discovers that the 3 chocolate cookies she had in there are missing. Yes, she left the open bags on the floor and had forgotten that they contained large chocolate cookies (wrapped in a paper towel).

Aja could've just inhaled them as she passed by there and I never would've noticed. I knew it wasn't my other two 'cause 1. Moka doesn't move from her bed unless it's feeding or walking time and 2. Taro was right by my side the whole time, as usual.

I immediately panicked - and proceeded to make a 1-1 hydrogen peroxyde (3%) and water solution as I'd read. Grabbed Aja from her crate and squirted 7 tbsp of the solution down her throat (I read 1 tbsp per 10 lbs of body weight, hope that's correct - Aja's between 70-80 lbs).

I took her outside and walked her around the yard for about 15 minutes but she wouldn't throw up. Thought it might help induce vomiting if she had something in her stomach (she hadn't been fed yet today) so I grabbed some bread and fed her some of it.

Sure enough, she started vomiting (copiously!) within a minute of eating the bread (I've never seen a dog throw up so much before!). I was able to account for all the missing cookies in her vomit so it was a relief. They still had their shape, as did all the chocolate chips, so it seems unlikely that she absorbed any of it.

Turns out the third cookie wasn't chocolate but was oatmeal and raisin. Yes, raisins. Found a whole bunch of them intact in the vomit

Needless to say I won't be winning any puppy-raising awards anytime soon. I feel pretty lousy - my pup managed to consume chocolate and a bunch of raisins in the same day. UGHHH!!!

Anyway, she threw up 3 times. The first one was huge and contained LOTS of yellow bile plus the cookies & bread that she had eaten. The second one was pretty much the same, but smaller.
The third one came later and was mostly a lot of water (she did drink after throwing up the first two times).

I made some beef broth for her but I haven't given it to her yet. I want to make sure she stays well hydrated (she's fine now, checked her skin & gums - perfectly normal) but I don't want to cause her to throw up more by giving her the baited water just yet.

How long should I wait before giving her water?

She seems to want to drink a little but she throws up as soon as she does.

Did I do everything I was supposed to? She's acting just like her normal self now. Happy, energetic, hungry for food (ugh, how can she still have an appetite after all that).

Should I feed her at all tonight or fast her until tomorrow?

I still can't believe I let this happen. I'm just glad I found out before she'd digested anything. What a scare though, first time I've ever had a pup eat something it wasn't supposed to - that's what happens when you get lax on the supervision. I'm a neglectful puppy mom

Lesson learned!!

You are NOT a neglectful mom, Yuko.

This kind of thing happens...even to the most vigilant owner...and it comes with puppy territory. I know you know this

You did everything right. She'll be OK.

Give her tummy a rest for a few hours and then give a small amount of water or broth and see if she'll keep it down. If she does keep it down, offer small amounts frequently.

If she does well tonight give her a smaller-than-normal breakfast and see how that goes. I'll bet she'll be back to normal tomorrow.

 Quote: Sarah Morris

You are NOT a neglectful mom, Yuko.

This kind of thing happens...even to the most vigilant owner...and it comes with puppy territory. I know you know this

You did everything right. She'll be OK.

Give her tummy a rest for a few hours and then give a small amount of water or broth and see if she'll keep it down. If she does keep it down, offer small amounts frequently.

If she does well tonight give her a smaller-than-normal breakfast and see how that goes. I'll bet she'll be back to normal tomorrow.

DITTO...DITTO...DITTO

When I was young and naive, I had a Dalmatian that ate a WHOLE bag of Hersheys kisses, FOIL and all......she had the serious runs by the time I got home, I took her to the vet, and about two days later, she was back to her ole self.

You are a GREAT owner Yuko. No serious worries since she sounds like she hacked most of it up and it had not been in her system very long.

Let me also add that I've seen plenty of dogs who managed to get into the Christmas or Valentine's box of chocolates.

Rich, dark chocolate...and they'd eaten a pound or more! They had queasy stomachs from the induced vomiting but they all were fine after.

Yuko,
Relax, I'd say the dog will be fine. For my self I remember the bad old days. I used to feed my dog all kinds of garbage, some of it now known be be very bad for dogs in general, chocolate, raisins, cooked onions, name it I probably gave it to them. They all lived to a heathly ripe old age.
Give him some kibble (if you have any) and a couple of heaping table spoons of yogurt or cottage cheese for his stomach.
Get a good nights sleep. He'll be fine imo.

Ha, bet he tried to eat it again.
Randy

I can't agree with everyone else more. This post is great, it combines the search terms "chocolate" and "Vomitting" along with a perfect set of instructions for dosing a dog in this scenario.

You were aware of the situation and you handled it. How many owners wouldn't have the presence of mind or know-how to take care of this type of thing?

Did you read the post where I talked about Macy pooping part of a sock? when your dog poops a sock that you didn't know was missing, you're allowed to feel bad about yourself. Not before then.

This is not based on anything medical, but I would fast until tomorrow morning. I would wait until right before bed to let her have some baited water. Let her tummy calm down a bit. As long as it is not comming out both ends , she is probably not in immediate danger of being too dehydrated.

I know you will keep and eye on her and make a move for help if anything changes.

I think your dogs are some of the luckiest around! Lucky because they have you We all knoe you are not neglectful. S**t happens

Yuko, fret not. I happen to have a vet staying with me for a couple of weeks (yes, he's pro-raw...would I have it any other way? ) and he says you don't need to worry and you probably didn't need to make her vomit (not that you did a BAD thing, at all)since she didn't eat that much.

Dogs have to eat a really decent amount of chocolate to have any serious effects, and it does depend on body weight. Also, baker's chocolate is way more intense than the chocolate in cookies. Some dogs have a hyper-sensitivity to chocolate, but they're really uncommon.

I double checked with him, but I know from experience that Carbon is capable of eating almost an entire chocolate cake with very mild effects. Just mild loose stool. I also gave him peroxide, the max dose because he wouldn't barf. He never did throw up, so THEN I started panicking about the fact that he now had chocolate AND peroxide in his belly.

Ultimately, he never barfed. And he was fine.

So don't worry---your pretty little girl will be fine. And you are a FANTASTIC mom.

 Quote: David Eagle

Did you read the post where I talked about Macy pooping part of a sock? when your dog poops a sock that you didn't know was missing, you're allowed to feel bad about yourself. Not before then.

How about this...

The former tenant of my house apparently liked his booze more than he wanted anyone to know. Idiot buried something like 2 tons of wine bottles in the upper portion of the yard.

We THOUGHT we had dug all of them up...until the day I found True playing with a big piece of sharp glass Really, really stupid on our part.

(Do you feel better now, Yuko )

Thanks so much for the reassurance guys.

I'd probably be saying the same things if someone else had posted this, but it's scary when you think you've poisoned your own dog! To be honest, all I could think of after I found out my pup had eaten chocolate was "theobromine is toxic to dogs... seizures... death".

I realize it's very unlikely that the amounts she consumed would've been enough to hurt her, but there's always the chance that your dog is the one out of a thousand who's highly susceptible to the particular substance!!
I know I would not have forgiven myself if she had ended up with brain damage or worse as a result!

Thank you all for the advice too. Her skin & gums still look great so she doesn't seem to be dehydrated. I think I will fast her until tomorrow and then start feeding her gradually again.

I just gave her a bit of the broth (she stuffed her whole head into the bowl and scarfed it all up - I think she's hungry) and she hasn't thrown up. I'll keep offering her a tiny bit of broth at a time till bedtime.

Thanks for making me see reason, I needed it