How do you convince someone not to feed their dog chocolate

I keep telling my mother in law not to give chocolate to her dog ,
She never listens ...
Her reply is i have always given my dogs a bit of chocolate ....

Its never large amounts but still why risk it ..

my puppy stole a whole big bar of galaxy a few weeks back. no side effects at all... why is it meant to be bad for dogs? I never give chocolate to dogs anyway's, but only because I was taught not too not because I know why...

I don't think you can.

My sister stil gives her little JRT a malteser every night I think she has cut her down to one as she was getting porky. She will be 15 this year and has only recently had problems with her joints to be expected unlike me who does everything by the book.

I am still not feeding chocolate though. Maybe a bit of doggie chocolate on special occassions but thats it.

As I understand it, chocolate contains a toxic compound called Theobromine which affects the central nervous system and cardiovascular system. Dogs can't break it down as efficiently as humans and it can therefore be fatal if they have too much of it. Cocoa powder and dark/unsweetened chocolate are the worst as they contain the most Theobromine, whereas white chocolate has very little. Therefore the toxic dose varies according to the type of chocolate eaten, how much is eaten and how much the dog weighs.

If I heard of someone feeding chocolate to their dog I would tell them this (and also throw in information about grapes/raisins/certain nuts/onions etc being toxic too; few people seem to know about these things). If they used the argument that "a little bit of chocolate won't affect them" then this is probably true. However, the half life of Theobromine in dogs is a long time so there could be an argument for it building up over a number of small doses. If not, I would use the dietary argument. Dogs gain no nutritional value from chocolate. It is bad for them, rots their teeth and makes them fat. Although we see chocolate as such a special treat, a dog would probably be just as happy (or happier) with a tasty bit of meat or some other healthy treat

Its so annoying...whenever we go to my OH's parents house, his mum wants to feed Bella chocolate allll the time.

1) why?! Thats food for HUMANS, this is a DOG
2) I thought it was poisinous in some way

So silly. And really annoys me!

I dont think you can do much. I have control as this is my dog. You've advised your mother in law...I dont think there is much else you can do unfortunately, especially if she won't listen

My mum feeds her dog chocolate. 5 years on, I have given up trying to stop her...However, if she even thinks of giving to mine, I will not be held responsible

I dont think you can tell some people. My Great Dane ate a large bar of fruit and nut!! I didnt know til several hours after the deed I put something in the bin and the remains of the wrapper (the bits she didn't eat!) were in there. My father just didn't give a thought. I telephoned the vet and we decided that as she was so large and the chocolate was milk that just keeping an eye on her was probably all that was needed. The amount of fruit and nuts in the chocolate was negligable. She had zero after effects. It is the theobromine that causes the problem so dark chocolate etc is the worst. White chocolate is nearly all fat and calling it chocolate is a little deceiving I think.
Why not buy a large jar of doggie chocs to give to your M-i_L to encourage her to give to her dog! Just a thought..

British chocolate contains very little actual cocoa solids. It`s basically sweetened lard. That`s why old timers stoutly insist dogs aren`t harmed by chocolate.
Explaining about the difference with `proper` chocolate might do it.

My lab many years ago ate a black plastic sack full of Terry's chocolates that my ex had got off the back of a lorry---the only things we had taken out were oranges for friends childrens stocking presents.

She was sick for 24 hours and drank and drank. The vet said watch for blockages. She lived till she was 14 and was fine.

More recently Rusty the terrier I had had kit kats every day till he came here. He died aged 19.

Mine don't get it because I don't do sharing chocolate.

It isn't worth getting het up about IMO.

rune

Mine have occasionally managed to grab chocolate that's been lying on the floor outside. It's never caused them any problems. I wouldn't purposely feed it myself but I don't go into a flap about the odd half mars bar or whatever, I figure there's probably so little actual chocolate that the risk is minimal.