Possible Dangerous Situation

[rpcrowe]

We foster multiple rescue Maltese Labradoodles and Goldendoodle dogs at any one time. I just experienced a situation that I would like to share with other dog and digital camera owners. We try to keep our house as safe as possible for our dogs but, occasionally, something happens that we did not expect.

I want to preface this by saying that most of the electrical receptacles in my home are located slightly above floor level. I understand that this is not true in all countries.

I plugged in my Canon Charger with a 7D EP-6A battery into the wall receptacle and when I returned to unplug it, the charger was still plugged into the wall but, the battery was nowhere to be seen.

The culprit was a yound Maltese-Terrier cross that we are fostering enroute to her "furever" home. She had taken the battery from the charger and brought it to her bed where she tried to chew on it. Luckily, she is a small dog and her jaws are not as strong as a larger breed. Except for scratches, the battery (and the dog) were not harmed.

In the future, I will plug my charger into a receptacle that she cannot reach. If she were a bigger dog, such as a 10-kilo (22-pound) Doodle puppy with more powerful jaws, there could have been problems for both the dog and the battery.

[tbob]

Excellent point Richard. The world for dogs falls into three categories: Can I eat it? Can I mate with it? Then I should pee on it.

To our sense of smell, that tuna sandwich you ate and got tuna juice on your fingers three hours before you changed the battery is a long forgotten memory. To a dog the battery smells strongly of tuna so ipso facto it must either BE a tuna sandwich (albeit a rather dry and hard one) or contain a tuna sandwich which can and must be extracted and eaten before someone else does.

Then there is the default position of: What is this thing? I think I should chew it to see if it might be food. Oh, oh: here comes another dog. I will swallow it now and vomit it up later if it turns out not to be food.

So caution and care is always a good idea with any potential toxins or dangerous items. Thanks for bringing it up

[Colin Southern]

I'm reminded of a little routine one of my (ex) Dobermanns used to like ... she'd wait for me to finish a (plastic) bottle of softdrink - screw the top back on - and she would then remove it (and not by unscrewing it!).

It never took her more than a minute! It never ceased to amase me of the power they have in their jaws.