Mochi hearts chocolate

Mochi, Mochi, Mochi...

When mommy was about 4 months pregnant, we all went to hang out with Joey and Grandma. Mommy and daddy stepped out for a little while. Apparently while we were out, Grandma caught Mochi sniffing around the coffee table but he just scurried away when she found him. Later that night mommy, daddy, and grandma went out for a quick dinner.

We returned 45 minutes later to find 11 wrappers from a 1 lb See's chocolate truffles box strewn about. The dogs seemed fine, but mommy was worried about chocolate's toxic effect on dogs. We tried to calculate how much chocolate any single dog could have ingested. Animal poison control (888-426-4435) instructed us to induce vomiting in both Mochi and Obiee, since we didn't know who ate what. (Grandma was pretty sure Joey didn't have any chocolate.)

While daddy was out buying peroxide and peanut butter, Mochi quickly started showing signs of illness. Fast heart rate, tight stomach, general look of discomfort...and he seemed to get sicker by the minute. He did vomit a small amount initially and there was clearly chocolate present, but not much. After a check in call with the poison control vet, we headed to a local emergency vet. Obiee remained normal (well, normal for him... :-) so we didn't induce vomiting or seek treatment. Mochi got sick in the car, further confirming our suspicion that he had eaten the lion's share of the chocolate.

After a quick examination, the emergency vet recommended an overnight stay for treatment and observation. Although mommy (and remember, emotional pregnant mommy!) didn't want to leave him, we knew it was best for him.

We ended up staying with Grandma and Joey that night to be a little closer to Mochi. A near-miss on the freeway exit rattled mommy even more, but then she felt the baby move for the first time. It was a strange, emotional day (and long night), but it was like the baby was telling mommy, "everything's going to be okay."

And it was.

What we learned...
1. Chocolate can be highly addictive to some dogs, especially because if they usually don't get sick it's for couple of hours, so they don't connect chocolate with being sick.
2. Always know how to reach animal poison control! 888-426-4435
3. Mochi is even smarter than we thought - he scoped out that chocolate, then played it off when grandma noticed him sniffing around. Then he waited until we were all gone to get into it! He didn't go anywhere near it when mommy and daddy were around.
4. Be really vigilant about leaving the boys unattended with chocolate potentially within reach. Mochi is very sneaky, fast, and determined.
5. Mochi didn't sleep for the 13 hours he was at the emergency vet! He was apparently too anxious. :-(

...And then another three went by...

Well, we clearly haven't been great about keeping up with the adventures of Mochi and Obiee over the last several years. I guess we've just been too busy having fun to stop and write about our adventures. mommy will try to recap in installments.

Last time mommy wrote, we were headed into the home stretch of earning mommy's MPH. Mochi and Obiee remained great study buddies throughout that time, especially during late-night (and all-night) paper writing sessions. Mochi was particularly faithful. Obiee sometimes gave up and went to bed around 2 am looking very, very tired. Maybe as a throwback to those old days, Mochi still (3 years later!) won't get up to go to bed right away when mommy says it's time. He waits until mommy stays in the bedroom for a few minutes before he comes to bed, and even then sometimes we have to call him. Obiee, on the other hand, still jumps up to go to bed at the sound of the TV & audio receiver clicking off.

Daddy was pretty good about taking the boys out for evening and weekend walks while mommy studied. In the spring of 2012 (a few weeks before graduation), daddy started taking the boys out on long (1.5-2 hour) walks. Mommy felt a little left out, but a few times she snuck out with the family to clear her head.

After graduation, we spent a lot of weekend time on long walks/hikes in local parks and trails. We even tromped through the creek (pre-drought) during the hot summer. Obiee was ever eager to try something new. Mochi was a little hesitant but did it for mommy...and then loved it!

We also resumed family walks after dinner. Obiee was so conditioned for our nightly walks that he started coming to the dinner table to remind us when our conversation indicated we were finished eating. He's quite perceptive, and it's pretty hard to say no to his determined stare.

Besides Mochi's overnight ER stay for eating about 1 lb of See's chocolate truffles (more to come on that), our life felt like it was back to normal. And then 10 months ago we introduced a tiny human into our pack.