Trash/suffocation warning

[mslkpage]

I've had dogs all my life, but I had never heard of this happening until my sister called me two days ago. Her dog has always had issues with the trash can in their kitchen- my sister suspected it was a behavior that carried over from her days as a stray. Anyway, her dog found a cracker box in the garbage that had a plastic lining in it. The box got stuck on her head and she suffocated. I feel terrible for her- it's bad enough when a pet dies but especially heartbreaking when it's something that could have been prevented. I know she would have put the trash can out of reach if she had any idea this might happen.

If you have a dog that sometimes goes digging, take a little extra time to get it out of their reach. When I had a trash digger, I always made sure there weren't any chicken or meat bones, chemicals, etc, that might harm him but I can't say that I ever put much thought into plastic bags.

[Margot49]

I am so sorry to read this.  I have posted this warning myself as I heard of two dogs suffocating when trying to get into cereal boxes that were left out.
Thanks for sharing and the heads up.  How sad.

[swabes]

How heart breaking! Give your sister my condolances!

Luckily our dog isn't one for going through trast (mainly because he is terrified of walking on the tiles in our kitchen). As a pup he used to be terrible for chewing on and ripping up grocery bags but he has grown out of it now thankfully.
One thing to be wary of too of course is feeding our dogs bones. Our Alfie always gets the remainders of the Sunday roast (leg of lamb ect.) but I always take it off him before he tries to chew the bone for the marrow. A stray shard of bone can puncture a dogs stomach or intestines and before we even know it's occurred the damage can be huge.

So sad, I hope many can learn from this.

[clyde2011]

Check out my facebook page.... it has happened to way too many people, feel free to share the site.
https://www.facebook.com/WatchOutPetsCanSuffocate

[Jaybay]

Oh what a terrible story!  Every one of our four dogs has tried turning into a "trash can cur"  at some point.  Early on in our dog ownership experience, we converted our trash cans to self-closing models that the dogs couldn't get into - including the bathrooms.  Aside from suffocation issues, your dogs can get fatally ill from eating some of things found in the garbage.  Some dogs are so sensitive that a little extra fat will kill them with pancreatitis.

This story makes me incredibly sad, but hopefully your posting it will remind people to check their own trash cans and prevent another accidental death.  :-(