She got into the apple pie!

[Wicket]

Due to my stupid mistake, my Betsy jumped into a chair and ate a chunk of my Grandma's homemade apple pie prepared for Thanksgiving. What do I now? Do you dispose of a piece of it so dog germs don't fester in the pie?

[***Melissa***]

Sorry I'm laughing, but it's really funny!

I'm not really bothered by germs and whatnot, so depending on the damage I'll just cut off some of the pieces to try & make it look pretty again.

[Nettle]

If the pie was big enough, I'd slice out the dog-chomped bits and some to spare, then slice the rest and serve as individual slices.

[wvvdiup1]

Now that's funny!

However, as the others have said, just cut out the doggie bits and serve the rest to family.

[Wicket]

The rest of the night, she kept jumping on the same chair and walking--all four paws--on the table after the pie had been removed until I said "off!" When I placed it high enough, she sniffed and kept trying to jump on her back hind legs to get at it again! Silly Kong-savvy dog, trying to problem solve! When I caught her in the act earlier, she had this most blissful look in her face, like apple pie was the best thing ever....

Are there any ingredients in apple pie that would make her sick?

[***Melissa***]

I'm sure there are ingredients in apple pie that aren't exaclty very good for dogs - but if she didn't eat too much of the pie I wouldn't be worried (she doesn't have any severe allergies, does she?)

[Nettle]

I would think she'd be fine. And it's a biiig compliment to your Grandma - although she'll never know! that the dog loved her apple pie so much.

You might ask her for the recipe and share it with us here.....

[thepennywhistle]

Betsy is a clever girl and certainly knows what she likes!

We're laughing with you, Wicket! Many of us have been in that spot, needing to
serve something that has been unofficially "taste tested" by the creatures. I had
a cat eat a large divot out of the center of one layer of my sister's home-made
birthday cake before I'd got it frosted. I just piled extra frosting in the hole and
carried on like it wasn't there. The hole didn't show until it was sliced. I got a few
odd looks, but my family knew me well enough to know they didn't want to ask about
it They also never knew about my wrestling the neighbor's wolfhound to
reclaim my Easter leg of lamb, either. Fortunately, it was frozen at that time, not
off the table. He'd stolen from my freezer!

Yes, having the pie already sliced and put on plates before presentation would
eliminate any questions or funny looks. That's a great idea! I wouldn't think there
would be anything in the pie that could cause her harm, unless she'd baked it with
an inordinant number of apple seeds.

[Fundog]

Yep, like everyone else said, it's not really that much trouble to simply cut away the chomped bits-- at least you know it's been taste-tested for quality.

Now I recall something that happened much, much worse: when I was a young child, we went on a camping trip with my mom's single parents group. She had stayed up late into the night before, painstakingly shelling pecans to put into a large birthday cake for all the folks that had birthdays that month. At some point during dinner, she left me in the car, as I had suddenly taken ill and was feeling chilled and shaky. She left my two year old brother in the car with me-- I guess she expected me to watch him or something, but I was feeling rather out of it-- anyway, my brother took a whiz all over the cake! Needless to say, there was NO WAY to cut around that, so my mother had to go tell everyone what happened, and that there would be no cake afterall. Talk about feeling disappointed (and embarrassed!) Thirty years later, and she still hasn't forgiven my brother for peeing on her cake.

[Wicket]

She got into it again! The apple pie was put into an inaccessible spot (or so we thought) and she managed to get up there and eat even more! Since I get anemic while menstruating, I was in my bed, feeling tired and trusted my parents to supervise her until Dad came into my room telling me what a "bad girl" she was.

When I came down here to tell you about it, the pie was still there. Betsy used the drawing board as a a-frame/lever and jumped up onto a big bag filled with clothes. After that, she did another jump and climbed on the ice chest, walking back to where pie was. I told her "leave it" and "off" but she still persisted until I put her on the floor and then took the pie to another location. When I came back, she had managed to get herself stuck on the bottom storage shelf, trapped behind a box she'd pawed over. *sigh* My boyfriend and I have always joked that Betsy is part-cat....

Consequently, Betsy and I are in the figurative dog house with the family. I had to show my Grandma what happened to her pie and she determined that it wasn't salvageable while everyone keeps grumbling about how "bad" she is. From what I understand, dog being scavengers is normal (but not desirable) behavior? Do you think more mental exercise would help her?

Last night's apple pie didn't pass through so well; this morning, I woke up to Betsy vomiting on the floor so hopefully that won't happen again either...

[MPbandmom]

Fundog, that is hilarious. Although I'm sure it wasn't at the time, although what can you really do in a situation like that other than laugh.

Wicket, at least you had most of the pie left over. (well intitally anyway) My son once smoked a turkey. My husband and I were out on an errand, so my son sliced the turkey breast onto a plate, helped himself to some. Placed Sirius (food monster) into the dog crate, and went to another room to eat his dinner. My husband and I came home to a clean plate sitting beside the turkey carcass with a bite missing out of the turkey drumstick closest to the edge of the stove. It seems my son thought Sky was trustworthy and wouldn't touch food left sitting unattended on a counter. Seriously one leaves smoked turkey unattended and expects a dog to leave it alone? My husband and I had to scrounge for scraps of meat left on the turkey breast.

Sky has also been known to eat an entire loaf of pumpkin bread left to cool on the counter. We had no idea dogs love pumpkin. We know now!

[emmabeth]

Clever dog - shame it made her sick though!

Mine have had some stuff over the years - scarily, a fruitcake once ended up almost entirely eaten between Dill and Rocky and neither of them are big dogs and dried fruit (and all that sugar!) is v bad for dogs - fortunately they seem to have cast iron stomachs and were watched very closely and were fine (I know of one lady whose dog was hospitalized at the vets after eating two christmas cakes one year and she nearly died from it!).

Dilly can open our freezer and I used to have a big full size fridge freezer in my kitchen... he got in one day when i was out and pretty much emptied it and I came home to three dogs sat on the sofa looking horrified and very much 'It wasnt Us!' and dilly, tummy distended, groaning, lying on the floor surrounded by empty food wrappers, looking like one of those balloon dogs.... Again luckily he was fine but that cost us a trip to the vets to be sure (the vet was AMAZED when i recounted what hed eaten, given he is not a big dog at all, that he hadnt bloated!).

[thepennywhistle]

Poor Betsy, and poor you! That's just the way life goes sometimes when you share
your home with creatures that don't seem to follow the same set of manners that we
do At least you know now to what lengths she will go to reach something that
smells sooooo wonderful!

I have mannerly dogs, and a devil dog. Three of my ladies wouldn't dream of taking
something without permission, but I don't think I will ever convince Seraph
that anything not nailed down is necessarily free for the taking. She opened and ate
(yes, chewed through) two cans of cat food yesterday that I'd set down for just a moment
and the closest thing I saw to repentance was a satisfied ocean whitefish stinky belch.

Last year she managed to nab a can of whipped cream. She managed to puncture it
so that the pressurised stuff in the can came showering out. There was a mad
stampede of dogs and cats around the place, and when I ran to the scene of the
crime everyone was staring at Seraph, who had developed huge white eyebrows,
a beard, and a bib. The fridge was looking pretty coated as well. As badly as it
scared everybody, it didn't slow down her snatching one bit! I don't know why she
is such a scavenger, as she's never gone hungry a day in her life, but she seems
to feel that there is no point in waiting until that day comes to start helping herself.

[wvvdiup1]

Fundog, that is so hilarious that I forgot what I was going to say!

[Wicket]

What little 8 pound Betsy climbed on to get the apple pie on the ice chest:



What's left of the pie:


View from the top:


She's being really active tonight (maybe from the sugar high?) and been really interested in playing with her Kong. I haven't seen any strange digestive upsets, but she hasn't gone poop and been peeing frequently. It's nice to hear all your stories too and know I'm not alone with these kinds of mishaps!