He wasn't outside alone. But I couldn't see at the time to know he ate something. Even if I had had him on a leash inside my fenced in yard, if I couldn't see there was something that didn't belong on the ground, I wouldn't have been able to stop him in time from going from sniffing to gulping.

That's why I will NEVER again neglect to train for poison proofing! And hopefully will never run across another dog poisoner.

Makes sense, especially considering your circumstances. My paranoid statement wasn't referring to you specifically.

Around here, every once in awhile dogs disappear or die suddenly without an apparent explanation, especially in rural areas. It always seems to happen to bigger dogs that are left tied to trees or in outdoor kennels when nobody is home.

I've had a lock on a gate broken while I wasn't home, and rat poison left under my back porch. Fortunately all my dogs were safely locked in the house (as always) and the broken gate gave me the heads-up to look around and make sure everything was copacetic before my dogs had access to the yard. I have no clue who did it because I had no beef with anybody at the time, and no clue as to motivation. I just know that it happened with some regularity in the area.

It's made me uber-paranoid and hyper-aware of all the things that can happen to a dog left out alone, so supervision and leaving the dog indoors are always the first, most basic preventative measures I think of to avoid poisoning or theft.

I agree with you.