Saturday, March 01, 2008

D'oh!

On Monday night I thought I'd make a loaf of red pepper parmesan bread to take to work the next day.

Looks good, doesn't it? I baked this maybe a few minutes too long (the crust was just starting to burn). But that doesn't look like parmesan, does it? No, it looks more like cheddar.

That's because this is a loaf I baked today. Monday night's loaf went somewhere else.

Outside of a dog, books are a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, bread dough is Very Bad Thing.

Yes, Leo ate the dough. I went upstairs while the oven was preheating. Sophie and Lannie followed. Leo did not. I heard the oven beep and went to put the dough in. Found instead a small piece of it and lots of scattered parmesan on the floor.

I confess, I yelled. VERY LOUDLY. And got this look from Leo like, "What's your problem, lady? Can we go for a walk?" Meanwhile, Sophie and Lannie were both completely cowed. "We're sorry! Whatever it is, we're sorry! Sorry sorry!"

Then I called the emergency vet. "Is this a problem?" "Yes! Bring him in now!"
Turns out, raw bread dough is an incredibly bad thing for a dog to eat. Because it keeps rising. So you have a risk of blockage. And it keeps fermenting, which can cause the equivalent of alcohol poisoning, with liver, kidney and neurological damage.

So Leo got a shot to make him throw up, and then spent the night there and at his regular vet the next day for observation and with an IV to keep him hydrated. (Reportedly, the triage area smelled very yeasty, and they were glad I'd warned them about the red peppers.)
Happily, he's just fine, as the dog park photos attest. (Hydration? No problem!) And Beeb's getting back tonight, so she'll hear all about it before she sees this post.

I think I will dub this version "Leo Bread."

11 comments:

  1. Well thank goodness you thought to ring the vet I would just have no idea that it was such a dangerous thing. I loved the pictures of everyone playing in the park by the way. What is this dog park phrase I keep reading on American blogs do you have seperate parks for dogs? What a brilliant idea

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  2. Wow, I had no idea. How scary.

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  3. Hey Breezy. Many cities have special parks or parts of parks where dogs may legally run off-leash. They're supposed to be leashed everywhere else.

    Part of it comes from recognizing that people will let their dogs loose no matter what, so better to provide a safe place where they can do so legally. It may be just a small fenced-in area, or like the place I've been visiting, which is a section of a large state park about 20 minutes' drive away.

    I don't get there often because Sophie can be trusted off-leash around my neighborhood. She's never in her life crossed a street without first sitting at the curb/kerb and waiting for my OK. Now she does it automatically, so she's free to run ahead or linger behind as we walk. Even if a squirrel dashes in front of her, she'll stop if it goes in the street.

    Lannie and Leo are a little more exuberant and heedless, however, which necessitates a drive to the park so they can work off their excess energy.

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  4. Wow i never thought that bread dough could be so deadly! I'm glad Leo is ok! Your second loaf looks amazing! What recipe did you use for it?

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  5. Jessy, it's the no-knead dough I posted about here. This batch of dough was in the fridge about a week. I just eyeballed the amount to fit in a terrine, put a bunch of peppers and shredded cheese in the middle and folded it over, then baked it with some cheese on top. Twenty minutes with the lid on and about 10 minutes with it off.

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  6. The bread looks delicious. I had no idea about the whole bread dough being bad for the dog to eat. According to my husband (who I felt the need to share that tidbit with), raw bread dough is very bad for a human to eat as well. I'm not sure how he knows that. I didn't ask.

    I'm very glad Leo is okay.

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  7. I'm glad he's OK, too! Much as I sometimes want to wring his little neck sometimes. ;-)

    I imagine a bunch of bread dough would do the same thing to people as dogs.

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  8. That bread looks amazing! Red pepper and Parmesan sounds like a great combo for bread.

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  9. Hi Kevin! It did turn out yummy. Well, the red pepper and cheddar turned out yummy. The parmesan version was the one Leo ate, and then I was out of parmesan.

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  10. OMG. Goober dog. Good thing you called the vet!

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  11. Yeah, he's a knucklehead. Lovable, but oy.

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