Chocolate Orange Day

digitalscream

So...it's a year to the day when we lost our Ruby, the tiny Chihuahua who totally changed our lives (and our opinion on small dogs).

To mark the occasion, and to make sure that we always remember the crazy shit she did, we've created a new family tradition - Chocolate Orange day, in honour of said crazy shit. Yes, one day we came home to find that our bigger dog (at the time) had got a Chocolate Orange down from a shelf but decided that he didn't like it. The alternate version, which is actually more plausible, is that she wouldn't let him have it. End result was the same - she ate it.

The. Whole. Damn. Thing.

By the time we came home, she looked like she'd swallowed it whole - massive spherical bulge right where her stomach was. Cue a very ashamed, very expensive trip to the vet.

Anyway, here's to you, Rube - the biggest little dog we've ever met.

Strat_a_tat_tat

May I be the first to wish you... Happy Chocolate Orange Day.

randomhandclaps

Can't believe that was a year ago.

My wife is going out tonight and I too have a chocolate orange I haven't eaten from Christmas.  After reading this me and the boys shall devour it this evening in Ruby's honour.

Strat_a_tat_tat

randomhandclaps said:

Can't believe that was a year ago.

My wife is going out tonight and I too have a chocolate orange I haven't eaten from Christmas.  After reading this me and the boys shall devour it this evening in Ruby's honour.

It only counts if you swallow it whole... with the silver foil still intact.

underdog

That the coolest picture (the hat one) of a dog I've ever seen

Have a good evening filled with lots of cool memories mate.

digitalscream

randomhandclaps said:

Can't believe that was a year ago.

My wife is going out tonight and I too have a chocolate orange I haven't eaten from Christmas.  After reading this me and the boys shall devour it this evening in Ruby's honour.

Thanks, man. A few people are doing this, and we're chuffed to bits

underdog said:

That the coolest picture (the hat one) of a dog I've ever seen

Yep, and the thing is she was always like that. Even at the worst of times, her mantra was "Fuck yes, I'M A DOG!!!!!!".

57Deluxe

Orange missing a trick here - what a great promotion - chocolate Orange Amps...

digitalscream

Just a quick pic from last night...the first time we've ever managed to get all of our dogs in one photo:

Yes, I had chocolate in my hand...hence their focus.

Over on the right hand side, on top of the speaker next to the TV, is Ruby's cremation stone. Otherwise known as "the haunted pebble".

FazTheWookie

You do know that chocolate is toxic for dogs, don't you? :-/

digitalscream

FazTheWookie said:

You do know that chocolate is toxic for dogs, don't you? :-/

I'm fully aware of that - in fact, I'm pretty sure that it's toxic for dogs in the same proportions as it is for humans.

White chocolate - 12.5 times body weight

Milk chocolate - 6.25% of body weight

Dark chocolate - 0.625% of body weight

FazTheWookie

Yup - unlikely to be a problem, but still possible - from Dog's Trust -

"Chocolate contains theobromine, which, tolerated by humans, is extremely toxic to man's best friend. The darker the chocolate, the greater the amount of theobromine. Toxic doses vary according to the size of dog and cocoa solid content of the chocolate."

"Dogs Trust estimates that 50g of plain chocolate could be enough to kill a small dog, such as a Yorkshire Terrier, whilst just 400g could be enough to kill an average size dog, so we urge people to make sure they keep treats well out of the reach of pesky paws and make sure children don't share their Easter eggs with their furry friends".

digitalscream

Yes, I know - that's my point, but their numbers are actually higher than they should be. It would take 10 times as much milk chocolate to show toxicity in a dog (500g for a small dog, 4kg for a larger one), and 2000 times as much white chocolate.

In the case of our Akita, that would mean 250g of dark chocolate, 2.5kg of milk chocolate or 500kg of white chocolate.

In the case of our Chihuahua, that means 12.5g of dark chocolate, 125g of milk chocolate or 2.5kg of white chocolate.

As it was, the two bigger dogs had a slice of milk chocolate orange each (8.75g - 0.35% of a toxic dose), and the Chihuahua had half a slice (4.375g - 3.5% of a toxic dose).

I don't gamble with my dogs' health

Chalky

Back in the 80s-90s my rough collie regularly ate Galaxy, as my first wife was addicted yo it and used to buy a couple of big bars of the stuff with the weekly shop. He lived till he was 17, a fine age for such a dog. Maybe Galaxy had less of the toxic stuff in it in those days?

digitalscream

That day's here again - everybody raise one of these for all our furry friends who are no longer with us:

EricTheWeary

Our dog, when I was a kid, ate a whole pat of butter he'd grabbed off the table. OMG he was sick; we didn't eat a pat of butter every year to mark his passing, chocolate orange I would have.  


    

Kittyfrisk

A very Happy Chocolate Orange day to you all !!
Reminds me of when a border collie pup of ours ate a packet of loose tea & was totally wired for days.
Or the time he drank most of a bottle of cooking oil & rolled in the rest (think baby seal in tanker disaster).
Or when he ate a pair of my mother's tight's. That was an interesting extraction over what felt like days
Dammit, I miss him still...

guitartango

@digitalscream Last night our dog ate three Tesco Finest triple Chocolate Cookie's, the vets advice was to bring her in (£70) and they can make her sick or just see what happens. Apart from a few farts, the dog was fine and running around the garden like normal