So I have had more than my share of food-loving dogs.
My cocker spaniel figured out how to open the refrigerator. On her first successful mission, she got into the fridge overnight after I had made a lovely meal for company. Leftovers in the fridge included chicken in white wine sauce, wild rice, and homemade chocolate cream pie. Three chicken breasts, bone-in. (not good for dogs) Homemade dark chocolate pie filling. (not good for dogs)
I learned to duct tape my refrigerator shut.
Visiting my sister one time, we were out shopping for few hours, and my cocker spaniel had gotten into the dry foods cabinet. Canned good remained unscathed, but she got into all the cereal. She also got into an envelope of dried stuff that turns into split pea soup when you add water. She got it open, but that wasn’t up to snuff so she scattered it all over the floor.
My little Henry figured out how to get into the stainless steel canister that holds the King Arthur Flour double-dark cocoa. That cannister is so tightly sealed that I can barely get into that when I am baking. But Henry is nothing but persistent, and he got it open. He had a chocolate muzzle when I returned home. He had dry cocoa caked inside his mouth, so I had the pleasure of wiping all of that out of his mouth with a wet rag. It was so dry that he hadn’t really consumed much of it, so at least I didn’t have to rush him to the vet.
I could go on and on with these stories – my pups are often food hounds.
Anyone else have anything to contribute on this front?
*No politics, no hot takes, no blaming, no predicting, no whining about emojis. Just petty thievery by our beloved furry friends. Kitties can get in on the action, too, if they are thieves. Mine certainly are!
Can we do it? I guess we’ll find out!
Central Planning
Our 1-year-old kitten will pull an empty cat treat bag out of a garbage can and bring it to us. Many times I have found a treat bag riddled with holes in my office. She showed that empty bag who is boss!
jackmac
Duct-taping the refrigerator? Man, that had to be one very determined doggo.
My story is minor by comparison. My dog, Bailey, had taken to inhale our cat’s kibble and the food dish was in the ground. Placing the bowl atop a 4 1/2 foot high dresser solved the problem. Our cat, Rocco, loves to leap and has had no issues with high-rise dining.
Chris
Well, my friends’ dog will steal any food he wants from anybody (and only food he wants; he’s a very picky eater and a total failure at being the organic vacuum cleaner that some people’s dogs are). But he only does it when the humans’ backs are turned. Except for one particular human, another mutual friend. He’s apparently decided that that human is below him on the pack hierarchy, so he’ll steal his food to his face.
(He also does that to their twins, but that doesn’t really count; half the time they’re feeding him on purpose).
Walker
We have two new kittens and this is their first Christmas. They have been climbing around the tree and pulling off ornaments. I have a pile of 20 or so ornaments I need to put back on the tree.
trollhattan
Have on occasion shared tales of Bruno the Very Tall Dalmatian, a counter-surfer extrordinaire until we remodeled the kitchen, including a counter height and depth expressly designed for his, uh, range.
His best score was a 2-pound frozen Chateaubriand steak, put in the sink to thaw and then grill. We had a couple “We put that out to thaw, didn’t we?” conversations while Bruno remained silent. Since it was not in the freezer we settled on blaming the dog, until the next day the paper wrapping appeared in the backyard proved the theory, if you know what I mean and you definitely do.
He once collected some puffballs from the same backyard and we had to take him to pet emergency because he was tripping and foaming at the mouth. They were lined up on a piece of lumber, each with toothmarks.
Bruno loved food and loved fetching and collecting.
trollhattan
I will never not love this beagle video.
hitchhiker
My beloved Utah — a mix that includes Great Pyrenees and Australian Shepherd and something else — never loses his morals when we’re around.
That only happens when he’s left alone for the odd hour or two.
Once when our son in law was visiting, he left his backpack on the floor of the spare bedroom. Utah went in there, unzipped the pouch that held a stash of weed, and scattered it all over the place. Very embarrassed son in law had to fess up in case the doggo ate enough to get sick. He didn’t. I laughed.
Once we took him to elder daughter’s house and left him there for an hour while we took the grandboy to costco. Got home to find a neat collection of candy wrappers where the Halloween candy stash had been.
And then there was the Christmas Eve when we all walked over to the local church for some Messiah singing and came home to find one of the presents had been unwrapped, opened, and feasted upon. Nothing was left of this box of chocolate except a collection of thoroughly licked red paper wrappers. The vet said not to worry, and I didn’t. Especially after Utah hurled all over the carpet in front of the tree.
He’s such a good boy.
Barbara
My little dog (dachshund/MinPin mix) tore open my daughter’s school back pack and ate a big mint dark chocolate bar. Given how dark the chocolate was and how small the dog was, we had her stomach pumped. The vet said contents had a very strong mint odor. We came downstairs once to find her on the kitchen counter eating an apple. She also ate an entire plate of cooked Brussels sprouts waiting on the dining room table.
She was very food insecure when we first got her. She definitely never got into our refrigerator.
NotMax
Dunno if it will fit your model fridge but they do make child-proof straplike thingies you can stick on to keep that door shut.
WaterGirl
@Walker: Guessing you don’t have many breakable ornaments? Or at least you won’t have many left at the end of the season. :-)
JPL
I had a shar pei that could open cabinet doors and baby locks work great. I used this drawer lock on the fridge because of the grand imps… Amazon.com: CUTESAFETY Child Proof Safety Locks – Baby Proofing Cabinet Lock with 6 Extra 3M Adhesives – Adjustable Strap Latches to Cabinets,Drawers,Cupboard,Oven,Fridge,Closet Seat,Door,Window (White, 6) : Baby
pat
Heard this story when I was talking to an employee in the local supermarket about crock-pot dinners (I was looking for Pacific Foods Cream of Mushroom condensed soup, which is great with beef stew meat):
Friends of his threw together a bunch of stuff in the crock pot, plugged it in and left for a few hours. When they came home, the entire house stank. Turns out the cat had peed in the heater, obviously while it was stored separate from the crock. Imagine the whole house smelling like hot cat pee….
They threw the whole thing out…
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: What is a puffball? The tripping and foaming at the mouth had to be distressing.
Derelict
My sister’s Great Dane once ate a 5-pound foil-wrapped chocolate Santa that was still in its cardboard box. He did so while wearing a muzzle.
But the greatest pet burglar story I have is from when we had mules. Mules are extremely smart. We had a two-level barn built into the side of a hill, with the stables on the lower level and store-rooms/workshops on the second. The first year we had the mules, we stored bales of hay in one of the second-level rooms. The room in question had a multi-pane window that looked out on the barnyard.
One afternoon, I came home from work and went to check on the mules and give them some water. As I was walking toward the barn, I noticed something odd about the multi-pane window–it looked like it was half open. Well, it turned out that the mules had seen the bales of hay through the window. So one of them carefully chewed away the glazing from each of the lower panes, then removed each pane one by one and put them on the ground leaning against the barn. Only the lower panes were removed because that allowed just enough room to get a head and snout into the room to snatch mouthfuls of hay.
If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. But they did it! It was the start of our rather interesting relationship with those critters, and they produced many many more oddball stories.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: That fridge is long gone, but good to know!
NotMax
Obligatory determined beastie.
;)
dexwood
Many years ago, I made a batch of hash brownies for the party my roommates and I were throwing that night. Before making a booze run, I placed the baking pan to the very back of the counter and piled a few things in front to block it. When we got home I found the pan, empty, under the kitchen table. My German Shepherd, Hogan, was sound asleep on my bed. He slept for nearly two days. I kept checking on him after I called his vet who said let him sleep it off. It was 1973 and I don’t think the issue about chocolate and dogs was much of a concern then. Hogan was a great dog and that was his one and only food theft incident.
WaterGirl
@JPL: This is what I use for Henry to keep him out of his favorite cabinet. Little kitty collars!
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
A type stalkless mushroom that can puff out spore clouds when disturbed. Some edible, some not.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffball
MagdaInBlack
I had an Airedale named McDuff (Dufferdog to his friends) who became the scarf ‘n’ barf dog after he scarfed an entire round-steak off the kitchen counter and then barfed it in the yard.
And the cat who loved butter so much she would knock the cover off the butter dish to get to it.
NotMax
Once had a doggo who loved nothing more than ripping open packs of trading cards to get at that horrid bubble gum.
anitamargarita
My dog Sugar, 80 lb black lab mix, was a blatant food thief. Straight to the cat or dog food bags when we’d visit friends. Swiped a pie shell off the table at a thanksgiving dinner. Stole the garlic bread that was being prepared for a bunch of hungry campers. He took my friend’s apple off the tailgate after a mountain bike ride. He discovered a half-eaten apple in a bush, which then became a place of hopeful veneration. He got into bad trouble only once, when he ate some steak and potatoes that had been contaminated with cooking fuel. Stomach pumped, fed charcoal, spent the night at the vet on iv fluids. I still miss that big doofus.
schrodingers_cat
If you don’t like dissent or discussion of politics why blog on a political blog? Or is this blog no longer a politcal blog? Asking for my information.
Thanks.
NotMax
Cannot get used to supermarkets and big box stores which let people bring dogs in. Unsanitary to da max.
Martin
Five large plastic bottles of vitamin E that we were serving as a passthrough for. Our corgi found them to be fun to chew through and ate maybe 400 capsules. You can’t OD on vitamin E, but they will cause you to continually leak oily discharge out your ass for several days. Someone spent a LOT of time outdoors and in his crate that week.
When my daughter was maybe 7 or so my mom gave her a butterfly kit where you would get caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies. Fun! When they all hatched we decided to go outside and let them go free, and the Corgi managed to chase down and eat every single one of them – a problem we hadn’t anticipated and which we were powerless to stop once he got going. Daughter forgave him for that after the tears ended.
TheOtherHank
When I was in junior high we had a Tibetan terrier (think 25-lb or so, black fuzzball). We had company over and everyone had left the living room where various gnosh-ables were left on a low coffee table. We heard sounds from the living room and upon investigation found our little black dog with an entirely white muzzle from diving into the French-onion-soup-mix-in-sour-cream dip.
MagdaInBlack
@schrodingers_cat: It is Sunday afternoon, we have 1 post to take a break from the dissent and politics. Seems fair, no?
JPL
@WaterGirl: Bells are great hung on the Christmas tree also.
raven
When we lived on Urbana and Vine Street’s Ralphie managed to get up on the counter and eat a pot of beans!
kalakal
I have a cat, Peaseblossom, who is ex-feral. Will eat anything. Her food is in a sealed tupperware type container, 3rd draw down, in a heavy set of draws. Leave that draw the slightest bit not fully shut, and she somehow manages to hang from the top of the drawers, open it while hanging upside down , and scarf the lot.
My favourite ever furry thief video
Steve the donkey
NotMax
@JPL
Well hung bells?
:)
Josie
I’ll put golden retrievers up against any dog for food thievery. One stole steaks marinating on the counter for our supper. Another got a stick of butter I had out in preparation for making cookies. I found the wrapper later in the dining room. There was more, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. They had such strong stomachs that nothing bothered them. Garbage dogs.
JPL
@NotMax: but of course.
pabadger
Mrs Badger saw our cat Rosario jump on the counter, walk over the stove, and go to town on our bowl of bacon grease. Obviously I am proud of him, but the bowl is now on top of the fridge (which he has never jumped on top of).
munira
My niece had a dog named Einstein who could open anything. They had to put a padlock on the fridge after he got a whole chicken out, took it upstairs and ate it on their bed. They left him in a kennel once when they went on vacation. When they got back, the kennel owner told them that Einstein had not only gotten himself out of his cage, but he’d freed all the other dogs, too. He definitely lived up to his name. When Einstein died, they got a new dog and often said, “The best thing about this dog is that he’s so stupid.”
Sandia Blanca
@kalakal: Oh my, that video made me laugh so hard!
NotMax
Then there are the Bumpus’ dogs in A Christmas Story.
;)
Gretchen
I wonder if your dogs are food hounds because your kitchen smells so good with all those white wine chicken sorts of dishes?
JPL
@Josie: My golden took two one pound packages of hamburger off the counter. I found the wrapper for one, but the plastic and wrapper totally gone on the second one. That evening when I went to climb into bed, the golden became very excited..yup second one under my pillow. The plastic wasn’t even broken.
Wapiti
My wife brought a mid-sized Yorkie into our marriage. He was quite clever and would unzip coat pockets, backpacks, ladies’ purse, etc. to get any snacks that might be inside. He was very neat in opening the wrappers.
When he ate a quarter pound of chocolate and started shivering from the caffeine we had to induce vomiting (he was small enough to hold over the tub).
dmsilev
Years ago, my parents’ dog ate an entire large block of cheese, wax and all. They called the vet to see if the wax was something to be concerned about and should they do anything and were told ‘well, you could give him some crackers to go with the cheese….’.
Sally
We have my son’s cat, again, this Christmas. He has only escaped the house twice so far, through husband’s legs. He is not a food thief at son’s home, but … I was preparing salad for dinner, and went to make the dressing, toss salad greens, etc. turned back to find large pieces of ham missing and cat scarfing it as quickly as possible. Even as quickly as impossible. Looking straight at me as he continued to stuff his very cute face. I had to wrench ham from his mouth (dog got a treat!). He now scours the kitchen benches looking for this delicacy. He also tries to steal ham from our plates as we eat.
The only other time he has tried to steal food was when son had Turkish kebabs. Cat went completely berserk. He was a street kitten, living near other son and a Turkish restaurant. We think he probably survived on their rubbish bins.
He is a very brave, curious, and beautiful, opinionated cat. I feel sad thinking of him on the streets trying to survive. He was in a really bad way when other son captured him, and nursed him back to health. Cat consequently gets away with a lot!
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Whoa. I am very allergic to mushrooms. I give them very wide berth.
pat
@JPL:
OMG, I am laughing at so many of these stories! So glad that our Suzy cat is …. not that bright?? Paws at the hinge side of a cabinet door and is surprised when it opens on the other side…
Sure Lurkalot
@hitchhiker: I loved your entire story about Utah the pupper, especially this:
Eunicecycle
We put hot dogs in the sink to thaw, and later discovered one was missing. Oreo the cat had hidden it behind the couch, which we didn’t find for several days. She didn’t eat it so I guess she was saving it!
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: You are generalizing far too much. I don’t want that in this particular post. There have probably been 50 posts this past week where you can do that, and there will probably be 50 more this week, some of them even from me.
You’re a smart person. I know you understand that. Your public disapproval of this post is duly noted.
WaterGirl
@JPL: I have mostly blown glass ornaments on may tree. The exception is a set of expendable ornaments around the very bottom of the tree.
WaterGirl
@raven: Beans, uh oh. I’ll bet that was fun.
Sally
We had a Brit years ago who would dismantle and lick the gravy off every leaf of a Brussels sprout, leaving the entire sprout. Meticulous.
Jager
Onza, our 89-pound German Shepherd pulled around 5 pounds of Christmas ham off the cutting board. While we were in the dining room eating, he was enjoying his Christmas ham on the kitchen floor. He was tidy, licked most of the ham grease off the tile, cleaned the bone up, and fell into a deep food coma for 8 or 9 hours. Frisky as usual the next morning, he ran his doggy ass off on the beach.
currawong
We had a baby gate which we used to keep visiting dogs separate when they fed. I’ve now had to use it across our walk-in pantry entrance as our kelpie started taking an interest in the food..
Miss Bianca
These stories are making me think that Watson and Susi, treat monsters tho’ they may be, are not nearly as relentless or resourceful as some other hounds. For the which I find myself truly thankful, all of a sudden.
WaterGirl
@pabadger: I have 5 fragile decorative glass pieces that I put on top of the top level cabinets so I wouldn’t have to worry about the cats.
Imagine my surprise when I saw Mr. Bear sitting between two of them. He leapt from the top of the fridge to the top of the cabinets. Yikes!
And not just once. So far so good, and it’s been years. I am happy that he can still jump like that. :-)
cmorenc
We had a much-beloved Italian Greyhound who was not quite able to jump up on the kitchen counter-tops, and so one Christmas when we were hosting dinner on Xmas Day in the dining room (standing rib roast) – we thought it was safe up on the kitchen countertop. Alas, someone had left one of the chairs that stay pushed up against the countertop out just far enough that she was able to use it to boost herself up to the coutnertop, and was having her merry way with some of the slices of roast beef already cut off. Fortunately, she made just enough noise to catch our attention in the dining room and cut her off before she ruined very much of the roast, but she got a plentiful share before we busted her.
She lived to the ripe old age of 19, but alas the final 3 years declined to a shadow of her vivaciously athletic, playful self. Eeverybody who ever met her was utterly charmed by her.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
We have a new kitten and a newish cat. We aren’t decorating the tree this year, just going with the attached lights. They’ve already knocked the tree half over a couple of times with their roughhousing. I’m not taking a chance with decorations.
As for food stealing, we had a cat who would steal cantaloupe seeds out of the trash any time we had it. She just loved cantaloupe! Our current 4 month old kitten has figured out how to unscrew the top of the supposedly raccoon-proof (HA!) kibble vault to steal kibble. The “adult” kitty (I don’t think Artie will ever really be an adult as long as Freddie is around) doesn’t really steal food, although they do a strange food swap halfway through each meal, but he does steal dryer balls. And hoards them. I think he wants them as substitute kittens. He keeps them in a nest in the basement until we find & collect them. He stopped doing it so much when we got Freddie, who was only 10 weeks old. He’s really mothered Freddie, and done a good job of raising him, but now that he’s growing up, Artie is starting to get empty nest syndrome, and is back to stealing dryer balls.
He’s getting his own set of gray dryer balls (with faces on them) for Christmas.
WaterGirl
@kalakal: I have seen that one before, but it’s so sweet that I had to watch it again.
WaterGirl
@munira: Freed all the dogs!!!
Suzanne
Our dearly departed Luna figured out how to operate the carousel cabinet in the corner of our kitchen. We had to buy a childproof latch for it.
Our new doggo Coco, who we adopted just over a year ago, routinely snorks food left by my kids. I keep telling them NOT TO LEAVE FOOD ON THE TABLE!!! The lesson has not sunk in yet!
MagdaInBlack
My Christmas trees must be damned boring, because in all the years of having cats, I have not had one bother the tree. My first cat loved to sleep under it, but that was it. This cat likes to bask in the glow of the lights, but never bothers things.
I am indeed fortunate. Or boring. Or both
Eta: this cat does not steal food either. There, I tied it in to the subject, sorta =-)
WaterGirl
@JPL: Oh, a present for you? Or he hid it for later?
At a friend’s house around 10 years ago, my friend’s husband gave Tucker a piece of a hot dog (which he would never get here, shudder).
(I should tell you that we were sitting at a table and chair set in the backyard at the time.)
Tucker thought it was SO GOOD that he took it gently in his mouth and walked around the yard until he found the perfect place to hide it.
So sweet!
DFH
One of our three cats drinks from the Christmas tree basin. Found some upchucked water and pine needles by the front door on the hard surface, thank god. We just finished wrapping, and have taken the wise move of putting vacuum cleaners by the stack. Yet to do: trimming the tree. I might set up a camera.
Dan B
Yesterday my partner made a burrito with shredded greens and some leftover lamb steak. He left it on the breakfast table and left l, for some reason. When he came back the burrito was open and the lamb missing. Our newest cat, Milly, had dragged it to the landing on the stairs. He picked it up, washed it, and put it back in the fridge. I ate it.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: Agree! That was the best part of the whole story.
Suzanne
I will also note that my kitty Nico (the best cat ever) loved bread. We came home multiple times and found chunks of bread and ripped plastic bags. SuzMom finally bought a breadbox.
pat
@Dan B: He picked it up, washed it, and put it back in the fridge. I ate it.
Another LOL. Thanks for this post!
Dan B
@pat: You’re welcome.
Milly is very sweet. She was abandoned by her owner and left in a homeless encampment, hanging out with other cats in some thickets for months. Her owner OD’d so my partner brought her here. She’s learning the rules and what being loved is like.
kalakal
@Suzanne: Our Peaseblossom will do that. She once ate half a packet of flour tortillas, just ripped through the plastic.
BretH
Growing up we had a beagle/terrier pound mutt. One Christmas Eve my Mom made a rarity: roast duck. There was some left over and on the high counter when we went caroling around the neighborhood for an hour or so.
We come back and the duck has vanished and the dog is visibly bloated. Fearing the worst we set up a watch to make sure Cher didn’t expire during the night.
Until my parents went to bed and their toes touched a damp duck carcass, safely hidden under the covers. The bloating was from duck fat and the only side effect was a little loose poops.
MoCaAce
My new puppy Butters, who passed last year at 13, “disappeared “ while visiting my dad’s house. A search located him in the closet hip-deep in the dog food bag. He ate so much that you would swear he had swallowed a basketball… his belly actually dragged on the ground! Nobody thought he would keep it down but he did… and pooped like a Big Dog for three days. RESPECT!
NeenerNeener
My sister left her Lhasa Apso with us in upstate NY while she and her husband were relocating to Virginia and building a house. My mother caught the dog on the kitchen table eating a stick of butter. A few weeks after that the dog managed to get up high enough to bite the leaves on a poinsettia my mother had on a table. That required a trip to the vet and a few weeks of cottage cheese and boiled chicken as dog food. Eating the butter we understood, but why the dog thought that particular plant looked tasty I’ll never know.
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: poinsettia are very poisonous to pets – sometimes I think we are inexplicably drawn to things that are dangerous and bad for us.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
My 18 month old son ripped one of those off the toilet so he could flush his older brother’s action figure down. He’s in his 40s now & I still have PTSD from that kid.
WTFGhost
I’ve had cats who would stalk a small gift of lunchmeat ham or cheese, and would kill it before eating it.
We always thought it was cute until it turned out all cats in the household could snatch a piece of sausage from your sandwich while you were eating it, and, to them, it was was clearly as exciting as taking down a real live mouse or bird.
I’ve heard stories though – if you haven’t seen it yet, search “Dogs in elk” – two dogs crawl into an elk carcass, and, strangely, don’t want to leave their HOUSE MADE OF FOOD.
Ah, and here’s one I read a long time back, in the form of human/canine dialogue: https://littera-abactor.livejournal.com/7748.htm
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: FFS, it is not a solely political blog. There are gardening threads, sports threads (not so much anymore), music threads, recipe threads, threads about John Cole’s weird life, and so on.
Nukular Biskits
We had a polydactyl cat named Whiskers the Supreme Ruler of the United Federation of Universes.
Whiskers had an extra side-toe on both his front paws (I honestly can’t remember if he had extras on his back paws) that he had learned to use as if they were prehensile thumbs.
That cat could open doors, cabinets, drawers … and, although I never saw him do it, I wouldn’t have been surprised he would have opened the fridge.
MoCaAce
A friends dog ate 4 large smoked summer sausages that were hanging to dry age in the basement. His emanations were reportedly so foul they had to tie him up in the backyard for a few days.
Elma
Many years ago, I took Scooter a spaniel mix (RIP) to my parents for Thanksgiving. My parent’s home was very small. How five us of grew up there with one bathroom has remained a mystery to this day. At some point I went to take a nap; and one of my sisters put Scooter out on the enclosed back porch. Unfortunately, another sister had put the turkey carcass on the back porch because there wasn’t room in the fridge. When the disaster was discovered, Scooter was one happy dog and I got yelled at, even though I had been asleep and had nothing to do with it.
eclare
@NotMax:
I got one of those because of my kitty William. From Home Depot, seems to do the trick. I have never had a more food driven pet, dog or cat. I have to shut him in the back bedroom when I eat or cook, otherwise he is in my lap or jumping on the counter. He is persistent.
pat
Can we please have many more of these threads?
One does get absolutely depressed reading about the clown car of incompetence and corruption…
We need more pet stories and more LOLs!
WTFGhost
@schrodingers_cat: If political threads get acrimonious, sometimes it helps to remember *just* shared humanity, like funny cat/dog stories, videos, etc..
It’s like a morale event at work, that you can blow off if you don’t want to take part, but, you can’t argue over your disagreements with the current problem project, if you do show.
munira
@WaterGirl: Yeah, the kennel owner was impressed. He’d never had that happen before. I guess they had a camera in the room.
TBone
@kalakal: thanks, I didn’t know I needed Steve today but I do. Dottie knows just what to do as well.
zhena gogolia
@pat: Yeah.
Steve LaBonne
Holy cow. I will never complain about our counter-surfing greyhounds again.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: Yes, poinsettias are very poisonous to pets.
If you look into the history of the poinsettia, you’ll see it was introduced to the U.S. by South Carolina Congressman Joel Poinsett while he was on a diplomatic mission to Mexico. Poinsett represented South Carolina’s 1st CD back in the 1820s, and guess who holds SC01 today?
That’s right: Nancy Mace. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Trivia Man
One cat always chewed through plastic to get bread. Had to keep bread behind closed doors, never on the counter. Same cat loved peas. Drop a few on the floor and nom nom nom.
Current cat eats plastic of all kinds. Trickiest is packing tape. If tge box has some peeling off, she goes to town on it.
also have to secure the bathroom cabinet (paper towel tube through the handles) or she goes in and eats tge plastic around the TP.
DarbysMom
We were having company over for dinner. I had made a cheesy artichoke appetizer; cut into little squares; carefully arranged on a lovely plate and set them on the coffee table as the guests were about to arrive. Walked back into the living room a few minutes later, and the appies were all gone! My 15 year old stepson walked through the room, and I jumped all over him for eating them all and not waiting for our guests. Poor kid professed his innocence, but for a minute or two, I wasn’t sure. Then, in wanders the rescue lab, sniffing around the table for remnants.
First time entertaining with new dog. Lesson was learned.
I have been apologizing to my kid for 20+ years.
way2blue
Well. Does the raccoon that tries to steal Sophia’s food count? Leaving tell-tale footprints if we forget to bring her food bowls inside in the evening… And washing paws in the water bowl. Jeez.
WaterGirl
@Elma:
I’m sorry, I laughed at that, not because it was fair but because it was classic.
Timill
@Suzanne: Our (late, alas) Hatshepsut figured out how to open our breadboxes to steal bread, which is why the bread tends to live in the (closed) oven.
Her ?sister? Nefertari tries to keep up the family tradition, but mostly to get the butter.
[We got six black cats from a feral colony: Nefertiti, Nefertari, Nefret, Hatshepsut, Tiye and Cleopatra. Their tabby sister is Ankesenamun].
Yes, I have egyptologists among my friends. I threatened Nefret with a name change to Sobek-neferu as she kept nibbling me…
Omnes Omnibus
Years ago, my mom came home from the grocery story and set down a couple of bags to go change into shorts as it was a hot day. When she came back, she unloaded the rest of the groceries. She could not find a loaf of Italian bread that she had bought. She look everywhere including the trunk of the car. Finally, she concluded that it must not have gotten bagged at the store. Then, she found the paper bag that the bread had been in. She looked at our Cocker who looked as though he was heavily pregnant. He had stolen the bread, carefully opened the paper bread bag, and consumed the entire crusty loaf without leaving a single crumb. All in the time it took her to change into a pair of shorts.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: I’m willing to blame pretty much anything on her at this point. What a terrible person.
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man: Miss Willow is my “plastic” kitty. She doesn’t eat it, but she will chew at it.
RevRick
This dates back to my junior high school days. Every now and then, mom would make us Canadian bacon as a special treat, and this particular evening was one of those occasions. I was in the living room to stay out of mom’s hair. We had a pet beagle,Spot, who was clearly interested in what was on the menu, but I had already fed him his canned food so mom figured it was just the usual begging. She set up the broiler with aluminum foil and the bacon.
Shortly after, mom appeared in the living room and sat down in her chair. Moments later, we heard a crinkling sound coming from the kitchen, and my mom shouted, Spot, no! It was the crinkling of the aluminum foil.
Mom had forgotten to close the broiler and Spot helped himself to the catered second dinner.
WaterGirl
@way2blue:
That’s just rude!
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Cocker spaniels have a special gift when it comes to food.
eclare
@WaterGirl:
Kills me that lilies, my favorite flowers, are poisonous to kitties. I bought a bouquet once, hoping my kitties would ignore it. Nope. My cats were drawn to those flowers as if they were Sirens luring sailors.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: My mom was surprisingly okay with it. I think it was the amazing lack of crumbs.
Another Scott
Our mutt Sophie grabbed a loaf of raisin bread off the counter and ate half of it while we were away at work. The vet said that raisins are very bad for some dogs, and don’t bother others, but there’s no way to know in advance which is which. So, to be safe, Sophie spent 3 days at the vet hooked up to an IV to keep her kidneys flushed out. $1800 and some odd bucks.
:-/
And she didn’t even apologize!!11
I was in the doghouse for a while after that, since I had left the bread too close to the edge of the counter…
We still miss her. She was an amazingly stoic dog – nothing phased her at the vet. Everyone loved her.
Hemangiosarcoma took her from us far too soon.
[ sigh ]
Best wishes,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
My brother’s JRT will eat anything!
A few years ago, my brother and his wife were taking Glenn for a night walk, and he found a corn cob.
They took the pooch to the vet after he downed the cob. Thankfully, he had bitten it up so thoroughly that emergency surgery wasn’t needed.
Pavlov’s Man
Long ago, we had to childproof all our kitchen cabinets to protect stuff from our Yorkie. He was rescued because half the previous owner-couple used to beat him to cure his penchant for food-thievery, so he peed all over the place when he felt threatened. When we first got him I’d raise my arms to put on a T-shirt and weee…
Our current resident has PICA in a bad way – she once swallowed about 20 unused Scunchies out of a pack – then thew them up very neatly stacked, exactly as in the original packaging. There’s a pic of it somewhere.
When a young boy, our Apso would steal roasted corn rather than chicken. Takes all kinds….
Also, all our dogs have preferred raw vegs to kibble – they would get hoovered first.
Suzanne
My dearly departed kitty Scout loved to lick plastic bags. Like, for an hour at a time. She must have loved how it felt or sounded. Mr. Suzanne thought she had to have been autistic, if a cat can be autistic.
She was a brazen food thief. Would snatch food straight off your plate if she wanted it, right in front of you. The last picture I have of her, taken about three days before she passed, she had jumped onto the trash can, right on the edge, and was snorking food out of the trash.
Our cat Zelda loved green beans. Like, WTF?!
Elma
@WaterGirl: 🥰 I know, emoji disallowed.
frosty
Everyone who’s had a dog or a cat will have a story for this post. I have a few, but my favorite was this one:
We’re at my in-laws with our German Shepherd. My F-I-L is going to grill steaks for us. He’s on the patio, checking the grill, with the plate of steaks on a plate on a low table. He reaches down to put them on the grill and says, puzzled “Who’s not having one?”
Ms F spies the GSD running away trying to desperately get the steak down before someone takes it from her. She answers him “Dad, I think it’s more like ‘Who’s already had one?’ “
Omnes Omnibus
We do not need a link to that pic. Just saying.
Nukular Biskits
@Trivia Man:
Whiskers would do that.
I had forgotten about that until I saw your post.
zhena gogolia
@Trivia Man: My dear departed Louis loved to chew the blue plastic bags the New York Times used to come in. It made him very sick once when I failed to keep them away from him.
(Now the newspaper makes me sick.)
kalakal
Years ago back in England it was a lovely sunny afternoon, we were out in the back garden and the neighbours were in theirs. Through the hedge heard a child’s voice. “What a pretty cat.” For the next few minutes hear them all making a fuss of the cat. Then suddenly Clarence, our ginger tom, comes hurtling through the hedge with a big piece of chicken in his mouth as the kid says “Grandad, that cats stolen your dinner!”
We snuck into the house and pretended to be out
Clarence was a charmer and a happy, friendly soul. He loved everybody and everybody loved him. He was also a kleptomaniac.
eclare
@Suzanne:
Friends had a cat who loved edamame.
Kelly
One stormy Halloween I had an unusual amount of leftover candy. I left the candy bowl on the table and went to bed. My dear departed Australian Shepherd, Alice, picked thru the bowl and helped herself to a few dozen Reese’s Pieces. The vet said they’re mostly peanut butter, no worries. Pooped out the gold foil wrappers for a couple days.
dexwood
@pat: Agree. Plenty of political threads to fuel the needs of those who want to wallow in them. I don’t find the same old same old to be useful or helpful. I check them out but spend way less time reading the posts and comments than I once did. The beauty of BJ, for me, there is pretty much something for everyone here. You don’t like a post , oh well, something you do like will show up.
Omnes Omnibus
@kalakal: If he were human, he’d drive a Jag.
pluky
Ripple, our #2 portie, was a big strong guy, who loved to explore garbage cans, especially the one in the kitchen. So we put french doors on the previously open closet in which the bin sat. He quickly learned where to kick the doors to get them open. So, how about a latch bar? Knock bar up and off, kick door, get to can! Okay, lock the latch bar on so it can’t be knocked up. Hmm, grab bar firmly in jaws, rear back, rip doors off using bar for leverage (did I mention “big, strong guy?), get to can!!!
Final solution, build shelf in closet high enough that he can’t get to the relocated can.
Trivia Man
Adding 2 treats we give her – coffee and coconut oil. Every day when i do my pour over coffee she stands (!) next to me and (mostly) politely meows till she gets some. I put m finger under tge stream and let her lick my finger.
Every time my wife opens a specific cabinet, cat comes sprinting in from the far corners of the house for a small gob of coconut oil. Same thing, stands up tall on her hind legs like a little Rory Calhoun and shouts until she gets some.
NotMax
@Trivia Man
Not a pet story but too good not to share again.
“Peas mean something!“
WaterGirl
@eclare: I love amaryllis. Same issue, can’t have them in the house.
Annie
My cat Harry figured out how to claw a hole in the side of the cat kibble bag. Came home one day to find this out.
I moved the bag to my neighbor’s apartment and went back out and bought a plastic kibble bin.
I had had other cats before Harry but none of them ever tried that, let alone succeeded!
CaseyL
My family had a beagle, Tinker Bell, when I was a kid – not “my” dog; she was more my Dad’s dog.
When I was about 12, the last year we lived in Philadelphia, my family was hosting Passover Seder Dinner for the extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins). Mom went to a considerable amount of trouble to make homemade gefilte fish. She actually got a gutted carp from a local kosher butcher. Ran it through a blender with the other ingredients, shaped it into loaves, all that stuff.
We had a big rec room in the basement and as I recall, that’s where dinner was going to be. Big dining room table, fancy tablecloth, lovely glass dishes. While the rest of the family was upstairs socializing, Mom and I arranged the gefilte fish on lettuce leaves on the glass dishes, tiny little dishes of horse-radish nearby. Then we all went upstairs to herd the relatives to the table.
In the time we were away from the rec room, Tinker Bell went downstairs; figured out how to push the chairs out to get onto the table; and was walking along each place setting, inhaling the gefilte fish as she went. I think she got five of them before we caught her.
Trivia Man
@Omnes Omnibus:So it isn’t with the mustard?
MoCaAce
We rescued a baby raccoon whose family was killed on our road. They are incredibly smart and love to wash their food. When my mom wasn’t home we would let him in the house for treats. He would jump into the toilet to give it a quick rinse. Being boys, my brother flushed the toilet once when he was in it. He loved it and started flushing it himself then jumping in! Dinner and a spa!!
Eunicecycle
@Trivia Man: we had a cat that loved to chew on toilet paper. We had to secure the packages away from him immediately when we brought them home from the grocery. If not every roll would have teeth marks in them as well as misshapen.
WaterGirl
@dexwood: I think political BJ posts will steady themselves, so I hope you’ll get back to reading them more again when they do.
I think our coping skills are being tested right now, and some of us are coming up short. :-(
Trivia Man
@NotMax: an early performance artist!
bonus pea story from a camping trip. Wife and her sister tent camping in Wisconsin. They sat around the fire snacking on peas coated with wasabi. They forgot the bag on the table, In the morning they found a neat pile of clean peas – a chipmunk had licked tge wasabi from every one.
WaterGirl
@pluky: High points for smarts, persistence, and knowing what he wanted.
eclare
@MoCaAce:
Hahaha…
Trivia Man
@Eunicecycle:
Exactly! Not just the wrapper, shredding tp rolls is always fresh!
Fair Economist
Not exactly thievery, but once I was eating peanuts out of the shell on the couch and my rabbit Xavier smelled them and leaped up on to my chest (which he had never done) and shoved his face in my face. He wanted those peanuts! He’d never even had them (to my knowledge; he was a rescue) but he knew what he wanted.
Peanuts aren’t a great food for rabbits (too much protein) but eventually we ended up hiding a couple of peanut halves for him every morning and finding and eating them was the highlight of his morning.
He also got really excited by the smell of roses. Shortly after we got him my husband got me a dozen roses for my birthday and he literally tried to climb the walls to get at them. Those, we couldn’t give him, because who knows what pesticides they were grown with? Eventually I got some small rose bushes and gave him such roses as they produced. They weren’t really aromatic though, and I’m sorry I never managed to get him a really strongly scented rose. He loved them anyway.
WaterGirl
@Fair Economist: Your whole comment was really touching. So sweet about your rabbit.
Sally
This is such a lovely post and thread.
Thank you everyone.
Lymie
Springer spaniels will eat anything with organic carbon in it. When we had horses, they used to eagerly eat horse sweet feed….. I took a stool sample in years ago to make sure the dogges didn’t have worms. The results came back, “Dogs have no evidence of parasites. Client’s horses have large strongyles.” You know you are a horse and dog person when you are throwing frozen horse poops for the dogs to fetch…..
Interesting factoid: Folks think it is so sweet that dogs came from canids hanging around camp sites and eating the leavings from human meals. NO! The canids were eating human poop, our guts don’t process as much as many animals and a lot of nutrition is left to pass through. We know this if we think about how interested dogs are in diapers, our bathroom habits, etc etc.
CaseyL
@Fair Economist: A bunny story! Nice to know food thieving ways aren’t exclusive to dogs and cats.
It’s also interesting to note that dogs, cats, and bunnies can be hopelessly drawn to foods that are no damn good for them. Just like humans! You gotta wonder why we all seem to be wired to want to eat things that aren’t good for us.
Sally
@Fair Economist: I do that with son’s cat. I put some kibble around his various toys so he has nice surprises to find during the day. I also hope it encourages him to play with his toys. You never know where you might find something yummy!
hitchhiker
@WaterGirl: You kind of have to meet him to understand. He’s one of those calm, lovely dogs that everyone wants to pet and make a fuss over. About 70 lbs, stands at a perfect height for head rubs, and has an intelligent, soulful look to him.
I’ve had him for 12 yrs now, and walked thousands of miles. Without exception, every time we go out, at least one person will make us pause so they can touch him. His attitude — staring warmly into their eyes — always communicates something like, “Where have you been? I’ve been missing you so much! You look great!”
I sometimes think about how the world would be if everyone spoke to each other the way strangers routinely talk to my dog:
You are so beautiful! You just have such a wonderful soul, don’t you?
hitchhiker
@BretH:
LOL
WaterGirl
@hitchhiker: Those are the dogs I fall in love with, the ones where they look at you and you feel like you can see into their soul, and they can see into yours.
WTFGhost
I hope this doesn’t break the open thread, (if so, I gave it some time) but: I honestly thought this was going to be a gross story about grifting, and I’m really glad I’m wrong.
WaterGirl
@WTFGhost: Too funny.
stinger
I had a dog that loved lettuce. Especially homegrown, organic, colorful leaf lettuce. I’d be in the garden picking lettuce and putting it into a wicker basket sitting on the ground. I’d turn around and there was my 10-pound Norwich Terrier stealthily backing away from the basket, a lettuce leaf bigger than her head gripped between her teeth. No word describes it better than “filching”. She could have had had it without the thievery aspect!
Then I had a Yorkie who loved apples. If I ate an apple, she’d eat the core, stem, seeds, and all. Out in the orchard she’d head straight for the windfalls. She was a rescue I’d gotten when she was 8 years old, and had no teeth. But she managed to eat apples!
PatrickG
Not nearly as much as your cocker spaniel, but will never forget this night…
me: did you eat all the chicken wings? I wanted some!
spouse: no! I thought you did!
Eliza; *burp*
A full 12 wings, gone in the time it took one of us to go to the bathroom! Plate licked clean! turned out fine, small bones not as bad as something as thighs or breast but still pretty nerve racking, monitoring for vomiting or blood in feces.
stinger
@mrmoshpotato: Ah, the same Yorkie that loved apples also loved corncobs. She wouldn’t actually eat the whole thing, but would nom every last scrap of kernel that the humans had left on it. Again — no teeth.
karen gail
I had a rescue pit bull who would eat anything she loved apple cores and potato skins; apple cores were fine but potato skins gave her terrible gas. I learned to peel potatoes into bowl in skin and then dump in compost bin before leaving kitchen.
I lived without a dog for nearly a year after she passed, now have this white shepherd who can counter surf; I didn’t think of it until I had put butter out to warm and he had eaten it. If it is on a plate on table he won’t touch but on the counter or in the sink is fair game in his mind. I have learned to thaw meat in oven and so far he hasn’t figured out how to open oven door.
stinger
@karen gail: “so far” LOLOL
WaterGirl
@PatrickG: Loved your dialogue! But yeah, the wing bones are not big and sharp like the chicken breasts. Scary! I was also worried about the chocolate!
WaterGirl
@karen gail:
I would have guessed the other way around. Would love to know the thinking that goes on about that in his doggie brain.
Trivia Man
@WaterGirl: Easy – on a plate it has been served to YOU – it would be rude to steal that. I don’t want anyone eating out of MY bowl! But if it is still in progress… fair game.
S Cerevisiae
I was with my honey and my late GSD Bella having a nice dinner at an Italian place with an outdoor deck. Dinner was going great and as we were talking I happened to notice out of the corner of my eye a long muzzle nose up and gently steal a breadstick off my plate. She did it so deftly I couldn’t be mad. We miss that girl.
NightSky
One June, I bought Mr NightSky a 2 pound box of hand-selected dark chocolate See’s candies for Father’s Day (enough so the kids and I could share too of course). After a lovely dim sum meal out, I remembered the candies and said, “I’ve got a secret treat for us all.” I went to get the hidden stash of wrapped and double-bagged candy carefully hidden under shoe boxes in the closet — only to find a hundred teensie tiny brown paper cups all over the floor, and our 2 dogs guiltily drooling something very sticky with the unmistakable aroma of chocolate. Took both of them to the doggie ER, stomachs pumped, stayed overnight, and had to be checked by our regular vet again the next day. About $1000 nearly 40 years ago, so it’s recalled as our MOST EXPENSIVE Father’s Day gift ever!!! Luckily our best-dogs-in-the-world were fine in the end. (And yes, one was a Cocker rescue and the other probably a Cocker-Golden mix).
WG: Loved reading these comments and enjoyed the memories it brought back.
Tim in SF
My dog sneaked a $70 porterhouse off the counter when at the dog sitter when he had his back turned. He didn’t see it and thought his roommates were pranking him. He didn’t figure out it was my dog for half an hour. He refused to ever dogsit again.
Quantum man
Our Great Dane (Maya) found a full box of Viactiv (wife has osteoporosis) on the kitchen counter. It had not yet been opened. It was chocolate Viactiv, all wrapped in foil wrappers. Wife asked me to get her a couple from the box. I found the box but it was empty. Maya had gotten into it and all 100 of the Viactiv chocolate cubes had been eaten. We called our vet and rushed her in worried about all the chocolate and foil wrappers she had eaten. When our vet walked into the exam room he with difficulty asked how many Viagra pills she had eaten. The person at the vet’s office who had answered the phone thought we had said Maya ate a whole box of Viagra. It was quite a moment. Maya pooped foil wrappers for several days and in the late afternoon sun you could see foil wrappers all over the backyard shining in the afternoon sun.
mardam422
My girlfriend had an older female pit bull. Sweetest dog you’d ever want to meet. One day the dog was at my house while the woman was visiting her sister. I was working at my computer. It was lunchtime. So I made a beautiful turkey sandwich with Muenster cheese, tomatoes and spiced mayo on a kaiser roll I had left over from a package. Took the sandwich to my office, dog in tow, and realized I’d left my water in the kitchen. I left the sandwich next to the computer and went to fetch my drink. I was gone maybe 10 seconds. When I got back the plate was still on the desk. No sandwich. NOT A CRUMB.
Dog sitting on the floor with a satisfied look on her face.
pabadger
@WaterGirl: I love that! Mr Bear is quite the explorer!
pabadger
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): That is one of the sweetest things I have ever read. What a cat.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@pabadger: Artie is the best cat ever. Wonderful manners (wouldn’t think of going on the counters or table when humans are around), has taught Freddie not to use claws when interacting with humans (mostly), and while he’s not a lap cat, he comes and taps me gently on the shoulder when he wants scritches.
The last day we had our old cat, as he was very sick and weak, Artie actually stole a dryer ball out from under my husband’s nose, and dashed to the family room to set it gently down in front of a dying Loki. It was heart-breakingly sweet.
Judith
My mother’ husky escaped from the backyard and returned a few hours later with a brisket, still in it’s store packaging.
WaterGirl
@Judith: That is literally laugh out loud funny.