They might be virtual but sometimes they make the best neighbors.

I happen to have an amazing lab mix, full of personality and apparently, bored as of late.  I had a weekend full of activities and a few late nights (interrupted by bathroom and feed breaks for her) and Liberty Belle, the wonder pooch, got creative.

I walked in late Saturday evening to find shredded garbage from one end of the living room to the other and a black dog that knew nothing on the subject, naturally.  I clean it up, we head to bed.

First thing in the am, she’s swinging from chandeliers like she’s been living on pixie sticks for the last week.  I head to the kitchen to make myself some be-nice-juice and find she has devoured the contents of a picnic basket I won earlier in the week.  Contents of her stomach included (mind you also Saturday night dinner and Sunday am feeding to boot): a bag of cheese its, two travel containers of pringles (both original and sour cream), two packs of lance crackers (one cheese, one wheat, both with peanut butter of course), a chocolate pudding cup, a pack of oreos, half a pack of trident gum (to freshen up) and three travel tubes of crystal light (the size you add to a water bottle) to wash things down.

When I got back at lunch she was in a hurt locker.  I’ll spare you the details but I do have an antique silk rug that could use a little professional tlc as Libbys impersonation of a Sick Puppy and mine as a professional carpet sweeper were not the costumes I had in mind this year.

By dinner, it was time to call the vet.  The good doc was impressed with the sheer VOLUME of what she ate and was less concerned about the chocolate intake considering how many other starches were mixed in and hopefully absorbing/preventing damage.  Not reassuring enough.

By about eleven I was doing quite the epic web search on the phone and found this great person: http://alexadry.hubpages.com/hub/Dog-upset-stomach-home-remedy .

I tried a few of the suggestions but found swapping the mashed taters for grits an easy enough swap that made the patient happy and kept me from running out to the store.  In the am, the vet also offered a trick, full fat vanilla iced cream, apparently coats their tummies like pepto does for us.  Good old fashioned napping also helped her turn the corner but there was no avoiding her being miserable for a few days.

**##Disclaimer, please read the article and please consult your vet.  Just passing along some helpful info but you should heed a professional’s advice.